I can cook this/my husband cooks better

[Rachel Adams]

In answer to the questions "what is your favourite food?" "Can you cook this food? I want to say that "my favourite food is mushroom salad. It's made with potatoes, cheese, peas, eggs, carrots, and mayonnaise. Instead of chicken I use sausage. My husband calls it "Summer Salad". I can cook this but my husband cooks better."

Shouldn't it be "sausages"? I think I should write "carrot" if I am talking about carrots that have been prepared in some way to be added to the salad (if I remember that correctly and "carrots", "mushrooms", "eggs", "potatoes", etc are not used to refer to a mass of cut food in their plural form) and does "I can cook this" sound natural with "it" being omitted in the next sentence "my husband cooks "it" better"?
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[Tdol]

For me, it could be sausage/sausages.

 

[5jj]

We don't cook salads. We make or prepare them.

 

[emsr2d2]

In answer to the questions "What is your favourite food?" and "Can you cook this food?", I want to say [STRIKE]that[/STRIKE] "My favourite food is mushroom salad. It's made with potatoes, cheese, peas, eggs, carrots, and mayonnaise. Instead of chicken, I use sausage. My husband calls it "Summer Salad". I can cook this but my husband cooks it better."

Shouldn't it be "sausages"? I think I should write "carrot" if I am talking about carrots that have been prepared in some way to be added to the salad (if I remember that correctly and "carrots", "mushrooms", "eggs", "potatoes", etc are not used to refer to a mass of cut food in their plural form). [STRIKE]and[/STRIKE] Also, does "I can cook this" sound natural with "it" being omitted in the next sentence "my husband cooks "it" better"?

I use questions [STRIKE]on[/STRIKE] from http://iteslj.org/questions/

Note my corrections above.

1. I am very confused by the fact that your mushroom salad doesn't contain any mushrooms!
2. You said "instead of chicken" but you didn't list chicken in the standard recipe.
3. You can't omit "it" in "my husband cooks it better".
4. Even though the potatoes/chicken/sausage are clearly cooked elements, using "cook" sounds odd with a salad. We usually say that we make a salad.

To clarify, here's what I suggest.

What is your favourite food/dish and can you cook it?
My favourite food is mushroom salad. It's traditionally made with mushrooms, potato, cheese, egg, carrot, mayonnaise and chicken. However, instead of chicken, I use sausage. My husband calls it "Summer Salad". I can make it but my husband makes it better.

 

[Rachel Adams]

Note my corrections above.

1. I am very confused by the fact that your mushroom salad doesn't contain any mushrooms!
2. You said "instead of chicken" but you didn't list chicken in the standard recipe.
3. You can't omit "it" in "my husband cooks it better".
4. Even though the potatoes/chicken/sausage are clearly cooked elements, using "cook" sounds odd with a salad. We usually say that we make a salad.

To clarify, here's what I suggest.

What is your favourite food/dish and can you cook it?
My favourite food is mushroom salad. It's traditionally made with mushrooms, potato, cheese, egg, carrot, mayonnaise and chicken. However, instead of chicken, I use sausage. My husband calls it "Summer Salad". I can make it but my husband makes it better.

Thank you very much for your explanation. Could you explain the use of "sausage"? I thought it should be "sausages" and could you also explain why an indefinite article is not required before "salad"? "My favourite food is mushroom salad."

 

[emsr2d2]

If you said "sausages", I would expect whole sausages in the finished dish. I don't think that's the case. I imagine that you cook sausages and then chop them up before adding them to the salad. It's hard to explain why, but in that context, the pieces of sausage are just referred to as "sausage".

You don't need the indefinite article before "mushroom salad" because you're not just talking about one single plate of food that has that name. You're talking about that particular recipe for mushroom salad as a generic thing.

 

[Rachel Adams]

If you said "sausages", I would expect whole sausages in the finished dish. I don't think that's the case. I imagine that you cook sausages and then chop them up before adding them to the salad. It's hard to explain why, but in that context, the pieces of sausage are just referred to as "sausage".

You don't need the indefinite article before "mushroom salad" because you're not just talking about one single plate of food that has that name. You're talking about that particular recipe for mushroom salad as a generic thing.

Do I remember this explanation correctly "If I remember that correctly "carrots", "mushrooms", "eggs", "potatoes", etc are not used to refer to a mass of cut food in their plural form."

You said "It's hard to explain why, but in that context, the pieces of sausage are just referred to as "sausage". Maybe that's based on the explanation I am talking about.

 

[emsr2d2]

In a list of ingredients, singular/plural is important.

Ingredients:
2 carrots
3 potatoes
1 leek
2 courgettes
1 aubergine
8 cups miso

When you're simply referring to the type of food, even if you're describing it in terms of an ingredient, you can use the inclusive singular.

My favourite miso soup consists of carrot, potato, leek, courgette and aubergine in a miso broth.

 

[Rachel Adams]

When you're simply referring to the type of food, even if you're describing it in terms of an ingredient, you can use the inclusive singular.

And never plural. Right? As in your sentence. I am not talking about the list of ingredients but about them being cooked cut fried etc. When we list them singular and plural forms are used. 1 potato or 2 potatoes. But when they changed in some way only the singular if I don't misunderstand.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

When you're simply referring to the type of food, even if you're describing it in terms of an ingredient, you can use the inclusive singular.

And never plural. Right? As in your sentence. I am not talking about the list of ingredients but about them being cooked cut fried etc. When we list them singular and plural forms are used. 1 potato or 2 potatoes. But when they changed in some way only the singular if I don't misunderstand.

Yes, often. And plural is often right, too. As explained above, it depends on (a) the food and (b) what you're doing with it.

For instance, to make a Waldorf salad, you add chopped walnuts. To make an omlet, you beat eggs.

As usual: context, context, context!

 

[Rachel Adams]

Yes, often. And plural is often right, too. As explained above, it depends on (a) the food and (b) what you're doing with it.

For instance, to make a Waldorf salad, you add chopped walnuts. To make an omlet, you beat eggs.

As usual: context, context, context!

It's interesting to know if chopped walnuts mixed with sugar can be used like this "Let walnut cool down." There is a traditional local food which is prepared this way. They are chopped and fried.

 

[emsr2d2]

I think you've found an exception (that proves a rule). We almost always use the name of a nut in the plural (except when it's being used as an adjective).

Let the walnuts cool down.

 

[probus]

I have no problem with "chopped walnut with sugar", but "let walnut cool down" bothers me for some hard-to-articulate reason. I'd definitely use the plural there.