Food Preparation & Kitchen Tools — B1 Essential Words
Ten essential B1 words (Food) with the complete apparatus: pronunciation, simple definitions, natural American examples, collocations, family, the common mistake and spoken usage — plus a 15-question practice quiz. Mark your status on every word.
peel /piːl/ verb B1 Food
Meaning: To remove the outer skin or covering of fruit and vegetables; the skin itself (orange peel) is the noun.
Example: Peel the potatoes before cooking.
Another example: She peeled the orange in one spiral.
Collocations: peel the potatoes · peel an orange · peel off
Synonyms: skin, strip, pare
Word family: peels (v) · peel (n) · peeler (n)
⚠ Common mistake: Banana peels are slapstick's oldest prop. 'Keep your eyes peeled' means watch carefully — skins off, eyes open, by the idiom's logic.
🗣 In spoken American English: Its tool (the peeler) is the kitchen drawer's smallest blade.
Register: Neutral — kitchen essential.
grate /ɡreɪt/ verb B1 Food
Meaning: To rub food against a metal tool with sharp holes to cut it into very small pieces (grated cheese, grated carrots); the tool is a grater.
Example: Grate the cheese over the pasta.
Another example: She grated two carrots.
Collocations: grate the cheese · grated parmesan · grate carrots
Synonyms: shred, grind (finer), rub down
Word family: grates (v) · grater (n) · grated (adj)
⚠ Common mistake: Its twin GREAT sounds identical — spelling sorts the cheese from the excellence. Fingertips fear its last centimeter respectfully.
🗣 In spoken American English: 'It grates on me' means it annoys steadily — sound as irritation.
Register: Neutral — kitchen essential.
grill /ɡrɪl/ verb / noun B1 Food
Meaning: To cook food on a metal frame over direct heat, or under a strong heat source; the frame or device itself; also to question someone intensely (the police grilled him).
Example: We grilled burgers outside.
Another example: Grill the chicken for ten minutes.
Collocations: grill the burgers · on the grill · a grilled sandwich
Synonyms: barbecue (outdoor twin), broil (US oven heat), cook over fire
Word family: grills (n pl) · grilled (adj) · grilling (n)
⚠ Common mistake: Questions borrowed it: to grill a suspect is to cook answers out slowly. Its marks (grill lines) are steak photography's signature.
🗣 In spoken American English: Its season opens with the first warm weekend nationally.
Register: Neutral — kitchen essential.
chopsticks /ˈtʃɒpstɪks/ noun B1 Food
Meaning: A pair of thin sticks of wood, plastic, or metal used for eating food, held in one hand, common across East Asia.
Example: He eats noodles with chopsticks.
Another example: Chopsticks take practice.
Collocations: chopsticks · with chopsticks · a pair of chopsticks
Synonyms: sticks, eating sticks, utensils
Word family: chopsticks (n plural form)
⚠ Common mistake: Beginners get the rubber-banded training kind. The piano piece 'Chopsticks' is every child's first two-finger performance — forks on keys, named by the sticks.
🗣 In spoken American English: Their rest position (on the chopstick rest) is table etiquette's quiet lesson.
Register: Neutral — kitchen essential.
oven mitt /ˈʌvən mɪt/ noun B1 Food
Meaning: A thick padded glove worn to protect the hand when taking hot dishes out of the oven.
Example: Use an oven mitt — the pan is hot.
Another example: The oven mitt hangs by the stove.
Collocations: an oven mitt · oven mitt on · wear an oven mitt
Synonyms: potholder, glove, mitt
Word family: oven mitts (n pl)
⚠ Common mistake: Baseball borrowed its shape for the catcher's mitt family resemblance. Its thumb placement divides left-handed cooks' loyalties.
🗣 In spoken American English: Burnt ones tell kitchen histories honestly.
Register: Neutral — kitchen essential.
spatula /ˈspætʃələ/ noun B1 Food
Meaning: A kitchen tool with a wide flat end, used for lifting, flipping, spreading, and mixing food (pancakes, eggs, frosting).
Example: Flip the pancakes with a spatula.
Another example: The spatula spread the frosting.
Collocations: a spatula · spatula for · flip with a spatula
Synonyms: turner, lifter, scraper
Word family: spatulas (n pl)
⚠ Common mistake: Two tools share the name (the flipper and the rubber scraper) — kitchens settle it by pointing. Pancakes decide its morning shift.
🗣 In spoken American English: Painters and dentists keep cousins of it in other drawers.
Register: Neutral — kitchen essential.
whisk /wɪsk/ noun / verb B1 Food
Meaning: A tool of wire loops used to beat eggs and cream quickly by hand; to beat with it; also to move someone quickly away ('whisked to the airport').
Example: Whisk the eggs until light.
Another example: The whisk hangs by the bowls.
Collocations: whisk the eggs · a whisk · whisk away
Synonyms: beater, mixer tool, whip (verb)
Word family: whisks (n pl) · whisk (v)
⚠ Common mistake: Its balloon shape is whisked air made visible. Limos 'whisk' celebrities in its verb branch — speed with a swirl.
🗣 In spoken American English: Egg whites judge it mercilessly.
Register: Neutral — kitchen essential.
cutting board /ˈkʌtɪŋ bɔːrd/ noun B1 Food
Meaning: A flat piece of wood or plastic on which food is placed for cutting, protecting the counter and the knife.
Example: Chop the onions on the cutting board.
Another example: Wash the cutting board well.
Collocations: the cutting board · on the cutting board · cutting board for
Synonyms: chopping board, block, board
Word family: cutting boards (n pl)
⚠ Common mistake: Separate ones for meat and vegetables are food safety's first commandment. Its scars are a kitchen's service record.
🗣 In spoken American English: End-grain butcher blocks are its luxury elders.
Register: Neutral — kitchen essential.
leftovers /ˈleftoʊvərz/ noun B1 Food
Meaning: Food remaining from a meal, saved to be eaten later; anything remaining unused after the main use.
Example: We ate leftovers for lunch.
Another example: The fridge is full of leftovers.
Collocations: leftovers · eat leftovers · leftover night
Synonyms: remains, extras, second-day food
Antonyms: fresh meal
Word family: leftovers (n plural form) · leftover (adj)
⚠ Common mistake: Thanksgiving builds its Friday on them. Fridges hold their archaeology in containers of forgotten dates — a universal domestic science.
🗣 In spoken American English: 'Leftover' as adjective dresses anything remaining ('leftover paint').
Register: Neutral — kitchen essential.
takeout /ˈteɪkaʊt/ noun B1 Food
Meaning: Food cooked in a restaurant and taken home (or to another place) to eat; British English says 'takeaway'.
Example: Let's order takeout tonight.
Another example: The takeout arrived in twenty minutes.
Collocations: takeout food · order takeout · takeout night
Synonyms: takeaway (UK), delivery (brought to you), to-go food
Antonyms: dine-in
Word family: takeout (uncountable) · take-out (adj)
⚠ Common mistake: Its cousin DELIVERY rides to your door; takeout waits for you at the counter. Friday nights run on the pair across the country.
🗣 In spoken American English: Its menus colonize fridge doors with magnets.
Register: Neutral (US) — kitchen essential.
Practice — Food Preparation & Kitchen Tools
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