Pots and pans
The recipe lesson gave you la ricetta, mescolare and the grammo; this one gives you the hardware. Water boils in a la pentola — the tall pot pasta lives in — while meat and vegetables go in a la padella, the flat frying pan. Italian drops the article for the method: cucino la carne in padella — cooked pan-style.
On the table
Le posate is what Italians call the cutlery set. You already know the knife — il coltello — and this lesson adds the rest, plus the cup:
| object | what it is for |
|---|---|
| il cucchiaio | soup, stirring sugar into coffee |
| la forchetta | pasta — never a spoon to help it |
| la tazza | a cup of caffè or tè |
| I stir the sugar with the spoon. | Mescolo lo zucchero con il cucchiaio. |
What you do vs what the food does
You already cucinare — that is the cook's activity. cuocere is what happens on the heat: the cook cooks, the pasta cuoce. Its past participle is irregular: cotto — la pasta è cotta, the pasta is done. bollire is the special case of cooking in bubbling water: first the water bolle, then in goes the pasta.
| The water is boiling, I put the pasta in. | L'acqua bolle, metto la pasta. |
Shopping for the recipe
Everything a recipe lists is an l'ingrediente. Two staples to measure: la farina, bought by the chilo like fruit, and milk or water by the il litro — the liquid measure that completes your grammo / chilo set.
| I buy a liter of milk. | Compro un litro di latte. |
