01 · The universal kitchen order
Échale sal.
Add salt.
Échale (throw it in) is what you'll actually hear over agrega — Mexican kitchens run on it.
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Chef
Name the tools, use the cooking verbs, and talk a recipe through — out loud.
Spanish recipes give instructions two ways, and both are correct: the infinitive (cortar, mezclar) or the informal tú imperative (corta, mezcla). Don't lean on cocinar for everything — precision comes from the specific verbs: freír (fry), hornear (bake), hervir (boil, not to be confused with servir, to serve). And spoken recipes rarely use grams: locals measure with una pizca, un chorrito, or the very Mexican tantito. In the Chef lessons there are no flashcards or fill-in-the-blanks — you learn the kitchen by talking your way through a dish, out loud.
Below: the tools, verbs, and measurements lesson by lesson, how home cooks actually phrase a recipe, the near-miss words that trip beginners up — and a way to rehearse it all out loud.
The warm-up pack
What actually gets said in a kitchen — not a recipe card in sight.
01 · The universal kitchen order
Échale sal.
Add salt.
Échale (throw it in) is what you'll actually hear over agrega — Mexican kitchens run on it.
02 · The polite word for bland
Le falta sazón.
It needs seasoning.
Softer than saying insípido outright — every home cook reaches for this instead.
03 · Low and slow
A fuego lento.
On low heat.
The exact phrase recipes use for heat level — no need to guess a temperature.
04 · Crank it up
A fuego fuerte.
On high heat.
Same pattern, opposite end — a fuego + lento or fuerte covers almost every stovetop instruction.
05 · A little bit of this
Ponle tantito comino.
Put in a little cumin.
Tantito is Mexico's go-to "a little" — swap in any spice and it still works.
06 · Keep it moving
Revolvé hasta que espese.
Stir until it thickens. (Argentina)
Revolvé is the voseo imperative — the everyday way Argentine home cooks give instructions out loud.
07 · The one warning worth hearing
Fíjate que no se pegue.
Make sure it doesn't stick.
Fíjate (pay attention) is the real-life muletilla that opens almost every kitchen warning.
08 · Give it a minute
Que se cocine tantito.
Let it cook a little longer.
The soft, unhurried way to say "not yet" without a timer in sight.
09 · Just a touch more
Agrégale un toque.
Add a touch of it.
Un toque is vaguer than a measurement on purpose — cooking by feel, not by gram.
10 · Salt, to taste
Una pizca de sal, al gusto.
A pinch of salt, to taste.
Al gusto shows up on nearly every spoken recipe — nobody's measuring exactly.
11 · Direct fix, mid-cook
Le falta sal.
It needs salt.
Plain, common, and the fastest way to fix a dish while it's still on the stove.
FLUENT
Finally, someone to talk to in Spanish.
Ten-minute spoken lessons. A teacher who answers back — and gently fixes what you got wrong.
First 10 lessons freeandbefluent.com/spanish/chefRegional Spanish
Textbooks teach one word. Locals use several — pick your region's and stay consistent.
| English | Mexico | Argentina |
|---|---|---|
| cooking pot | la cazuela | la cacerola |
| stove | la estufa | la cocina |
| spicy | enchiloso | fuerte |
Watch out
The part no drill site can do
Olivia
Your vocabulary teacher for this pack
No flashcards, no worksheet with blanks. In the Chef lessons you talk, and Olivia gets you cooking with words: explain your favourite dish step by step — cortar, mezclar, añadir, dejar reposar. She asks how much — you reach for una cucharada, una pizca, un chorrito. Then she asks how it turned out, and you tell her: picante, dulce, salado. Every verb gets said in a real exchange until the recipe flows without translating.
Blank mid-sentence and nothing bad happens — she waits. That's the practice, without unnecessary judgement.
Finish the 6 lessons and Chef is yours — earned, not given.
First 10 lessons free · 10-minute spoken lessons · your AI coaching team remembers you
Quick answers
The core five: cortar (cut), mezclar (mix), hervir (boil), freír (fry), hornear (bake). In everyday Latin American speech you'll also hear picar for fine chopping and agregar instead of añadir for adding.
Both exist. La sartén (feminine) is the standard form, but in much of Mexico and Central America the frying pan is masculine: el sartén. Nobody will blink at either.
Both are normal: written recipes often use the infinitive (cortar, mezclar), spoken ones the tú imperative (corta, mezcla). Mexicans make it warmer still with échale and ponle — "throw in", "put in".
La pimienta is the pepper you grind — the seasoning. El pimiento is the bell pepper — the vegetable. One vowel, completely different shopping list.
Una pizca is a pinch, una cucharada a tablespoon, la taza a cup, un puñado a handful. For oil or vinegar, everyone says un chorrito — a little pour, measured by eye.