Na cozinha (ferver, fritar, descascar)

The Verbs of the Stove

Portuguese cooking splits neatly by what the heat does:

verbwhat it does
ferverto boil (water bubbles)
fritarto fry (in oil, in the frigideira)
grelharto grill
assarto roast (in the forno)
torrarto toast
Boil the water for the tea.
Ferve a água para o chá.

The Knife Work

Before the stove comes the board: descascar is to peel (descasca a cebola), picar is to chop finely (pica o alho). Both are regular -ar verbs, so their commands are the forms you learned in the last lessons.

Peel the onion, please.
Descasca a cebola, por favor.

What Goes In

O ingrediente is anything the recipe calls for; o tempero is the seasoning. A farinha (flour) and o vinagre (vinegar) join the azeite and sal you already know. A louça is the crockery as a whole — lavar a louça is THE after-dinner chore — and a caneca is the big handled mug your morning milk comes in.

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