The measure of a chef lies in the precise and careful measuring of ingredients to achieve consistent quality in every cooking endeavor. Rest assured: every cook can obtain good results, too, with the help of a few simple weighing and measuring devices readily available around the kitchen. Let’s find out what this equipment is called in French and how the system works.

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As you may have noticed in Yabla's cooking videos, all the recipes use the French metric system as opposed to the imperial system. So, everything is given to you in grammes, kilogrammes (grams, kilograms) and mililitres, litres (milliliters, liters) instead of cups, pints, and ounces. In the video below, the chocolate log recipe calls for many ingredients, all of them measured in grammes (grams):

Ensuite, vous ajoutez cinquante grammes de beurre en morceaux

Then, you add fifty grams of butter cut in pieces

Captions 34-35, Il était une fois la pâtisserie Bûche de Noël

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That same recipe uses mililitres (mililiters) for liquids:

Vous ajoutez deux cent cinquante millilitres de crème chaude

You add two hundred fifty milliliters of hot cream

Caption 31, Il était une fois la pâtisserie Bûche de Noël

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If you are not familiar with the metric system, you can choose to convert measurements, which can be a complicated process, or you can simply use une balance (a kitchen scale) set to grammes. In the video below, the baker uses une balance électronique (an electronic scale):

Le boulanger a tout d'abord mesuré les ingrédients sur une balance électronique.

First of all, the baker measured the ingredients on an electronic scale.

Captions 5-6, Apprends les métiers Boulanger

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Alternatively, you can use a variety of devices such as un verre doseur (a measuring cup):

Tu rajoutes de la farine sans verre doseur, pas besoin

You add some flour without a measuring cup, no need

Captions 26-27, Sophie et Patrice Les crêpes

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Or, if precision is not crucial, you can resort to a drinking verre (glass), which is roughly equivalent to une tasse à mesurer (one measuring cup). (In France, drinking glasses generally come in smaller sizes than American ones.) In the video below, JB uses un verre d’eau (a glass of water) for his tarte aux mirabelles (mirabelle plum tart):

Et ensuite ajouter l'équivalent d'un verre d'eau

And then add the equivalent of a glass of water

Caption 17, JB La tarte aux mirabelles

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To measure smaller quantities, you can use une cuiller à mesurer (a measuring spoon). “A teaspoon” is une cuiller à café (“a coffee spoon") or une petite cuiller ("a small spoon"). Une cuiller à café holds cinq millilitres (five milliliters). In the video below, the cook adds a little flavor to his crêpes with une petite cuiller de rhum (a teaspoon of rum):

Comme on est entre adultes, une petite cuiller de rhum.

Since we're among adults, a teaspoon of rum.

Caption 77, LCM Recette: Crêpes

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The same recipe calls for deux cuillers à soupe (two tablespoons, literally "soup spoons") of melted butter:

Et deux cuillers à soupe de beurre demi-sel fondu.

And two tablespoons of melted, lightly salted butter.

Caption 49, LCM Recette: Crêpes

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Note that cuiller (spoon) has two spellings that are equally common: une cuiller or une cuillère. The pronunciation and gender remain the same.

You can also say une cuillerée (a spoonful) for indicating quantities, as in this natural remedy for sore throats:

Presser un citron bio. Ajouter deux cuillerées à café de miel pour les maux de gorge.

Squeeze an organic lemon. Add two teaspoons of honey for a sore throat.

Now that you know how to measure ingredients, you need to be able to turn on votre four (your oven) at the correct temperature. The oven can be set at various temperatures: doux, moyen, chaud (cool, medium, hot). In the video below, Sophie bakes her madeleines in un four chaud (a hot oven), approximately equivalent to 230-250 Celsius:

Et ensuite je mets à four chaud

And then I put it in a hot oven

Caption 63, Sophie et Patrice Les madeleines

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Indeed, France uses the metric system, which includes Celsius, while the US and a few other countries use Fahrenheit. To give you an idea, the most common baking temperature is 180 degrés Celsius, which is almost equivalent to 400 degrees Fahrenheit:

Et vous pouvez préchauffer votre four à cent quatre-vingts degrés.

And you can preheat your oven to one hundred eighty degrees [Celsius].

Caption 56, Il était une fois la pâtisserie Bûche de Noël

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In addition to oven temperatures set in Celsius, some gas ovens have un thermostat (a thermostat) ranging from 1 to 6. As indicated in the video below, thermostat cinq (thermostat five) is equivalent to 160 degrees Celsius:

On les placera au four à cent soixante degrés ou thermostat cinq, pendant quinze minutes.

We'll place them in the oven at one hundred sixty degrees [Celsius] or thermostat five, for fifteen minutes.

Captions 40-41, Aurélien et Automne Oreo fait maison - Part 2

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Now you that you can calculate quantities in French recipes, it’s time to measure your success in the kitchen and… in French!

Happy measuring!

In our previous lesson, we focused on vocabulary associated with the verb cuire (to cook). But cooking doesn’t happen in a vacuum. You will need a few essentials such as baking pans, bowls, and other kitchen utensils. Let’s find out what these things are called in French.

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One of the must-have kitchen utensils is un saladier. Un saladier comes from the word salade (salad), so it’s “a salad bowl,” as its name would suggest. Having said that, un saladier can also accommodate any type of food or even liquids, acting as a mixing bowl. In the following video, Patrice and Sophie use un saladier (a mixing bowl) for their crêpe batter:

Tu rajoutes de la farine sans verre doseur, pas besoin, directement dans le saladier.

You add some flour without a measuring cup, no need, directly into the mixing bowl.

Captions 26-28, Sophie et Patrice Les crêpes

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Instead of un saladier, you can use un bol (a bowl) for mélanger (mixing) ingredients:

Mélange au bol oignons, mozzarella, on se gêne pas, champignons...

Mix in the bowl onions, mozzarella, don't be shy, mushrooms...

Caption 18, F&F Pizza Chez F&F - Part 2

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Traditionally, though, un bol is what most French people use to drink their café au lait (coffee with milk). In the video below, the restaurant owner shows us where the breakfast bols (bowls) and assiettes (plates) are available:

Nous avons des assiettes et des bols

We have plates and bowls

Caption 38, Nils L'auberge de jeunesse à Avignon

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In any case, you will need a utensil to stir the contents of your bol or saladier. You might use une cuillère/cuiller (a spoon) or un fouet (a whisk) to mix your ingredients. Automne isn’t sure which one she should use:

Tu mélanges, Automne. -Avec une cuiller ou un fouet? -Avec une cuiller.

You mix, Automne. -With a spoon or a whisk? -With a spoon.

Captions 24-25, Aurélien et Automne Oreo fait maison - Part 1

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Or to speed things along, you can use un batteur (a hand mixer):

Tu n'as pas un batteur fantastique à nous proposer? -Si.

Don't you have a fantastic mixer to suggest to us? -Yes I do.

Captions 31-32, Aurélien et Automne Oreo fait maison - Part 1

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Un batteur électrique is an "electric mixer," used for fouetter les blancs en neige (beating egg whites until stiff):

Vous fouettez les blancs en neige

You beat the egg whites until stiff

Caption 44, Il était une fois la pâtisserie Bûche de Noël

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To mix cake batter, you might prefer a more robust appliance like un robot ménager (yes, a robot!). Un robot (a food processor) is a more modern device that can perform many functions, from mixing cake batter to making soups and even baking bread:

Quel robot de cuisine choisir? Découvrez notre sélection des meilleurs robots de cuisine, accompagné d'un comparatif détaillé.

Which food processor should you choose? Discover our top selection of food processors, with a detailed comparison.

Once your mixture is ready to be taken out of your robot, you will need une spatule to scrape the batter off the bowl. In the video below the chef is removing the dough from the cookie cutter using une spatule (a spatula):

On le défait, avec une petite spatule. Et on vient le poser à côté, prêt à aller au four.

We take it out, with a little spatula. And we go and place it aside, ready to go into the oven.

Caption 52, Alsace 20 Grain de Sel: le Lycée hôtelier Alexandre Dumas

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Then it’s time to mettre au four (bake) your creation. For this, you will need un moule à gâteau (a baking pan). (In other contexts, un moule can mean “a mold” as well.)

Et une fois cette action réalisée, je vais placer la pâte sur un papier sulfurisé, la mettre dans un moule

And once this is done, I'm going to place the dough on a piece of parchment paper, place it in a baking pan

Captions 20-22, JB La tarte aux mirabelles

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When you bake cookies or even a chocolate log, you will use une plaque (a baking tray):

Vous versez la préparation sur une plaque recouverte de papier cuisson.

You pour the mixture onto a baking tray covered with baking paper.

Caption 57, Il était une fois la pâtisserie Bûche de Noël

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Once this is done, you can serve your dessert in un plat (a dish):

Je la mets dans un plat.

I put it in a dish.

Caption 19, JB La polenta

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Now that you are familiar with some ustensiles (utensils) and kitchen essentials, you're all set to explore Yabla’s delicious food and cooking videos. Bonne cuisine! (Happy cooking!)

The mention of French cuisine conjures up images of mouthwatering food prepared with loving care. How do ordinary French people manage to produce delicious meals every day? One of the key ingredients to success is how you cook the food. In this lesson, you will learn various expressions associated with cuire (cooking). À vos fourneaux! (Let’s get cooking!)

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As mentioned earlier, the generic verb for “cooking” is cuire. In the video below, JB explains how he prefers to cuire ses légumes ensemble (cook his vegetables together) for his ratatouille:

En effet selon certaines traditions il faut les cuire séparément ou tous ensemble. Moi, je préfère les cuire tous ensemble.

Indeed, according to certain traditions, you have to cook them separately or all together. As for me, I prefer to cook them all together

Captions 16-18, JB La ratatouille

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As for Lucette, who is making apricot jam, she uses the expression faire cuire, which means the same thing as cuire (to cook):

Dans le temps, on les faisait cuire dans la bassine en cuivre,

In past times, we used to cook them in a copper basin,

Caption 6, Lucette La confiture d'abricots

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Lucette puts her apricots in une cocotte de cuisson (a cooker), a kind of Dutch oven for slow cooking: 

Je vais les mettre dans la cocotte de cuisson.

I'm going to put them in the cooker.

Caption 30, Lucette La confiture d'abricots

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On its own, the verb mettre usually means “to put," but mettre à cuire is yet another equivalent to cuire and faire cuire. Having said that, note that in the context of the video below, mettre à cuire departs from its usual meaning and translates as “to bake” since it’s implied that the food is going in the oven:

Et nous allons la mettre à cuire

And we're going to bake it

Caption 89, Christian Le Squer Comment cuisiner les figues

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In fact, there is no concise French equivalent of the verb “to bake”! You have to say cuire/faire cuire au four (literally, “to cook in the oven”). Watch JB bake a delicious Mirabelle plum tart in the video below:

Il s'agit de la faire cuire au four

It's a matter of baking it in the oven

Caption 36, JB La tarte aux mirabelles

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On the other hand, the verb enfourner is much more concise than its English translation, “to put/load into the oven." This skilled baker is going to enfourner les madeleines (put the madeleines in the oven):

Steven va à présent enfourner les madeleines.

Steven is now going to put the madeleines in the oven.

Caption 57, Lionel L'usine de madeleines de Liverdun - Part 2

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Then again, English has a verb for “steaming,” which doesn’t exist in French. You have to use the construction cuire + noun + à la vapeur (literally, “to cook with steam”):

Cuire les légumes à la vapeur permet de conserver les vitamines.

Steaming vegetables helps preserve vitamins.

Not only can you use the verb cuire to talk about steaming and baking, but you can also cuire at various temperatures: à feu doux (on low heat) or à feu vif (on high heat):

Tout dépend de la chaleur du feu; il faut toujours le faire à feu doux.

It all depends on the stove temperature; it always has to be done on low heat.

Caption 40, Alsace 20 Grain de Sel: Au Caveau de l'étable à Niederbronn-les-Bains

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Je fais revenir le tout à feu vif pendant trois minutes.

I brown everything over high heat for three minutes.

Caption 24, JB La ratatouille

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After browning (faire revenir) everything, JB turns down the heat to mijoter (simmer) his ratatouille:

Je laisse encore mijoter pour une quinzaine de minutes.

I let it simmer again for fifteen minutes or so.

Captions 38-39, JB La ratatouille

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You'll often see mijoter or its synonym, mitonner, in the expression mijoter/mitonner de bons petits plats, which translates as “cooking up nice little dishes." Yet no expression in English quite conveys the love, care, and time that goes into mijoter/mitonner des bons petits plats, which is exactly what the chef and his staff are doing in the video below:

En effet, le chef et l'équipe de cuisine s'emploient à leur mitonner de bons petits plats chaque jour.

Indeed, the chef and the kitchen staff are working on cooking up nice little dishes for them every day.

Caption 22, TV Tours Défendre les fromages au lait cru

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If spending hours in the kitchen is not for you, you can resort to le micro-ondes (the microvave). The grandmother in the video below needs a little technical help with son micro-ondes (her microwave):

Rien... savoir comment marcher le micro-ondes.

Nothing... just how to work the microwave.

Caption 66, Le Jour où tout a basculé Mes grands-parents sont infidèles - Part 7

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The word “microwave” only exists as a noun in French. If you want “to microwave," you have to again resort to the construction cuire + noun: cuire/faire cuire au micro-ondes (literally, "to cook in the microwave”):

Faire cuire au micro-ondes 5 à 10 minutes suivant la puissance du four. Mélanger.

Microwave for 5 to 10 minutes depending on the oven. Mix.

In conclusion, whatever cooking method you may prefer, you’re likely to use the verb cuire (to cook). Yabla cooking videos will help you mijoter de bons petits plats (cook up nice little dishes) while learning French. Thank you for spending time in our Yabla “kitchen”! Stay tuned for another lesson on kitchen-related vocabulary. 

À vos fourneaux! (Get cooking!)