Learn Italian: Cucino la carne in padella. - I cook the meat in the frying pan.

In Italian, when describing the method or tool used to cook something, you usually use the preposition in without an article. You will see this in idiomatic phrases like in padella (pan-fried) or in forno (baked in the oven). You would only use nella padella if you were talking about a specific pan's physical location, like saying your keys are in the pan!

I've also learned the verb 'cuocere' for cooking. Why use 'cucinare' here?

Cucinare refers to the overall preparation of a dish or meal, while cuocere refers to the physical action of heat transforming the raw food (like baking or boiling). In everyday conversation, Italians frequently use cucinare when talking about preparing a specific ingredient for a meal, so cucino la carne is perfectly natural.

How can I tell the gender of 'carne' since it ends in an -e?

Nouns ending in -e can be either masculine or feminine in Italian, so you just have to memorize their gender as you learn them. Here, the feminine article la is your biggest clue that carne is a feminine noun.

Why is there an article before 'carne'? Could this sentence just mean 'I cook meat' in general?

Yes! Italian uses definite articles (like la) much more often than English. When talking about a general category or a whole concept, like meat in general, Italian still requires the article. Depending on the context of the conversation, this sentence translates to either 'I cook the specific meat' or just 'I cook meat'.