This episode’s vocabulary
Cook
noun — someone who prepares and cooks food.
To potter
verb — to move around without hurrying, and in a relaxed and pleasant way.
Recipe
noun — a set of instructions telling you how to prepare and cook food, including a list of what food is needed for this.
Pastry
noun — a food made from a mixture of flour, fat, and water, rolled flat and either wrapped around or put over or under other foods, and then baked.
Beef Wellington
noun — a dish of beef (= meat from a cow) cooked in pastry.
To prompt someone to do something
verb — to make someone decide to say or do something.
Latterly
adverb — recently.
Up/down your alley
idiom — to be the type of thing that you are interested in or that you enjoy doing.
Domestic
adj. — belonging or relating to the home, house, or family.
Orderliness
noun — the quality of being well-arranged or organized.
Questions and answers
Well, my brother has always been a good cook. Ever since he was a child he's always liked pottering about in the kitchen and experimenting with different recipes and combinations. I think he even entered a few competitions when he was younger now I think about it. I suppose saying he's my younger brother answers the part about how I know him pretty effectively. He's only a few years younger than me. So we grew up together. When it comes to the kinds of things he cooks up, I honestly struggle to remember them all. I think he's tried out just about everything you might care to name over the years. However, I think he was particularly good at baking. So things like cakes and berries pastries would be a regular feature at dinner. And at least when we were younger, not so much now. Another thing that stands out in my mind is when he used to cook beef Wellington on the regular. I have no idea what prompted him to do that, since it's usually an English dish, but he was pretty good at it. And then latterly he became vegan. So there were lots of different vegan dishes, including a vegan Beef Wellington. Although I've still no idea how that works, but it seemed to be quite nice. As for the why behind his being so into it, I honestly don't know for sure. Hammy is a pretty by the book kind of guy. So I suppose just taking things from recipe books, making them and achieving some kind of result might be right up his alley. And with recipe books, it's a very straightforward process. Another reason why it might be that he takes up after mum in terms of domestic chores, so that would include cooking, and as in terms of orderliness, so that might explain it. Otherwise, I think most people like to cook things and get a sense of achievement from being able to provide for people this way. So that could be a more generally applicable thing. Regardless, honestly, I'm so glad it's his thing, because if it wasn't, then I'd have had nobody to talk about, and that wouldn't have been very good, would it?
And what about your friends? Do they agree?
I don't think they know about it, frankly.