Hello, lovely people of the world.
I'm Maria.
And my name is Rory, and we are the hosts of the IELTS Speaking for Success podcast, the podcast that aims to help you improve your speaking skills, as well as your listening skills along the way.
We started this podcast to give you a look at how a native English speaker an educated and experienced native speaker would answer some of the most common IELTS speaking questions.
Rory, are you ready for my questions?
Yeah, I'll try not to give you any half-baked answers.
Wow, what a coincidence!
Because today we're going to be talking about baking.
Yes, dear listener, in IELTS Speaking Part 1 they can ask you questions about baking.
Rory, do you bake?
Well, up until recently, I couldn't bake at all, but I learned how to make syrniki, which is like this Russian cheese.
Well dessert, I suppose.
It gives me a sense of achievement, actually, because, well, I learned how to do it myself.
And it reminds me of different times.
Although I suppose other than that I'm a bit useless in the kitchen, I'm afraid.
Do you like baking?
Well, like I said, yeah, I get a real kick out of it.
It's nice to be able to do something, especially if you can make food for other people.
But I'm very aware of the fact that I'm not very good at it.
Do you know how to bake cakes?
Sort of.
Like I said, I'm a wee bit useless, but I have a vague idea how to do it.
And it would be a fun thing to do with friends, but it's not something that I would put on a CV, for example.
Rory the baker.
Rory, have you ever made any cakes?
Well, like a really long time ago, in high school probably.
To be honest, my home economics teacher didn't think much of my skills then either.
Have you ever baked anything recently?
I don't know.
I made syrniki about two months ago and then since then I've been at camp and on holiday, so I haven't really had much time to bake.
Does two months ago count as recent?
Yeah, quite recently.
Okay.
What do people usually bake in your country?
I don't think.
Well, there are a few things that are specific to Scotland, but if we talk about what people usually make, I think first of all people have fun trying out different things and making different desserts.
Although if I had to pick one thing that's quite popular, I suppose it's probably spaghetti, sponge cakes maybe.
Although I'm not really crazy about baking, so I don't know too much about what's popular and what's not in Scotland.
Sorry.
What about other countries?
What do people usually bake, just in general, all over the world?
I suppose, if we talk about well, if we talk about Russia, for example again, cakes are quite popular.
Although then, cakes are popular everywhere in the world and they always seem to be some kind of sponge cake.
I'm guessing.
I think that's what they are.
But you have other things like different pastry dishes, for example.
And I think...
People like to make muffins and cupcakes.
I think that's quite popular in America.
I'm not so sure about in the UK.
But it's definitely something that comes up in a lot of American media.
So that would be my guess.
Do you think you'll be baking more in the future?
I'd like to try to.
I suppose it's a good skill to have in general to be able to cook something or to be able to bake something.
So I'd like to try it more, definitely.
If I'll have enough time, on the other hand, is another matter entirely.
What would you like to bake?
Well, I need to, I can make syrniki, but they're a little bit burned all the time.
So I should probably learn how to perfect that first.
And then moving on from there, maybe I could get into making cakes again.
This is all very vague because it's not something that is a priority for me right now.
But those two things, I think, are good ideas.
Rory, thank you very much for your delicious answers.
Thank you.
Let's go over all this vocabulary you've just used.
So, Rory, when we talk about baking, it's the verb to bake.
Yes.
If I bake something, what do I do with my food?
Well, you bake it, which means it's like exposed to high temperatures in order to complete the recipe that you've put together.
Yeah, but if I bake something, I put it in the oven, right?
Yes.
That's interesting because you were talking about сырники and I'd say it's kind of cottage cheese thingies that we can have for breakfast in Russia.
Do you bake them in the oven?
No, you make them in a frying pan.
But I think when it comes to baking, you usually use a cooker or an oven.
And then you can use a frying pan for other things.
But the most common thing in my experience has been an oven.
That's why I said expose it to high temperatures, because there's different options.
Yeah, and when we bake, so we bake, you said people bake muffins, sponge cakes, right?
Yeah.
It's interesting because pancakes are also something that people consider to be baked, but you don't make pancakes in an oven.
You also make them in a kind of frying pan situation.
Really?
You say bake pancakes?
I'd say make pancakes.
No, I said make pancakes, but they're considered to be a kind of baked good.
Oh, wow.
Gosh, it's so confusing.
Okay.
We can also bake cookies, brownies, apple pies, banana bread.
Bake banana bread.
Oh, Rory, by the way, do you enjoy banana bread?
I don't like banana bread at all.
I could probably eat it if there was nothing else there, but no, no, no, no.
Dear listeners, Rory doesn't like bananas and he hates banana bread.
No one's perfect.
Yes.
You've mentioned pastry dishes.
What are they, pastry dishes?
They're dishes made of pastry.
Again, I'm really, really bad at cooking and baking.
So pastry dishes are made of a kind of dough that's flakier than the kind that you use to make cakes.
You'll probably notice that my voice is kind of focused right now because I have to think about this a lot.
It's not something I've got a lot of experience with, but that's how I would describe the difference between the two.
Yeah, so pastry all these brownies muffins, all this you know, comfort food that we bake and we make.
We can go to a bakery right.
So if Rory doesn't know how to bake, he goes to a bakery.
How often do you go to a bakery?
Well, I don't really go to bakeries in Russia.
I think the last time I went to one in Moscow was about three months ago.
No, no, it wasn't.
It was five months ago.
I was going to visit somebody and they wanted a cake.
And I tried to find something, but I couldn't.
So that was not a very successful visit to a bakery.
But back home, we've got a lot of bakeries in our hometown.
So it's actually easier to find what you want because there's more variety.
So you're not fond of these muffins, pastry products, no?
Not really, no.
I like syrniki because it's got a lot of protein in it.
But other than that, I'm not a big fan of the other things.
What about in the IELTS exam?
Can I actually use a Russian word and can I say syrniki because it's a Russian word?
Or should I translate it like cottage cheese thingies?
Well, you could say that, I suppose.
Everybody's got some limit to their vocabulary.
I am...
If you.
It's actually quite a good idea, because you get to say Syrniki and then explain what it is.
Like, just say, which is a Russian cheese dessert or cheese thing.
So, while the vocabulary is not very good...
The fact that you used a relative clause by saying which is blah blah, blah is actually quite good for your grammar score.
So it's still not necessarily a complete disaster.
Yes, absolutely.
So it's much better to use some English words explaining what you mean.
Or just use an English phrase, like a translated version.
Rory, you said that you get a real kick out of baking, of making syrniki.
I probably get a real kick out of being successful more than the actual baking process.
So, yes, if you get a kick out of something, it's just something that makes you feel good.
Could you give us an example?
Yes.
I get a kick out of working on the podcast.
Yes.
Or can you say, like, kick yourself out?
I've never heard that expression before.
Can you say that?
Yeah.
For example, like you say oh Maria, I'm going to have some quality time in my kitchen making syrniki for you.
And I go, kick yourself out.
No, isn't that knock yourself out?
Knock yourself out.
Knock yourself out.
Yeah.
So yeah, if you knock yourself out, then you're well, obviously you're having a lot of fun doing something.
Don't say kick yourself out.
Kick the hell out of you.
Yeah.
So we say have a real kick out of something or knock yourself out.
If you are not so fond of baking, if you don't like baking, you can say I'm not crazy about baking.
Exactly.
Yeah.
Or I'm a bit useless or I have a vague idea about how something works, but not an exact idea.
So at the very least, you're using some fixed expressions.
If not for the topic, then fixed expressions to describe not knowing much about the topic.
Yeah, that's a good one.
I have a vague idea of baking.
Of how to bake or something like that.
What about dancing?
Well, in my case, I can't dance, but I suppose people who are reasonably good at it have a vague idea how to do it.
Maybe more than a vague idea.
Can you say I have a vague idea of how English grammar works?
Well, I have more than a vague idea of how it works because it's my job, but yes, you can say that.
Yeah.
So when you talk about baking, you can say well, I'm not a pastry chef, but I'd like to try my hand at baking.
So I'd like to try out baking.
I'd like to try my hand at baking.
Rory, what would you like to try your hand at?
Well, now that we've talked about it, I'd kind of like to try my hand at baking.
But there aren't many other skills right now that I want to try my hand at.
I think I'll stick to that one thing now that I've realised how bad I am at it.
Yeah, you said that you would like to perfect your сырники, right?
Yes.
Yeah, to perfect as a verb?
Yeah, just to make it perfect.
If you perfect something, then you make it perfect.
And those syrniki, did you make them from scratch or did you use a recipe?
Well, I used a recipe, but I brought the ingredients myself.
I thought making something from scratch just means that you buy all the ingredients in their most basic form and then you put them together.
So you did have a recipe?
I did, yeah.
You can also mention that when you bake something, this smell of fresh baked goodies make the house the cozy home of your dreams.
Well, unless you burn it like I do, and then it doesn't smell so good.
Did you eat those?
Of course I did.
I made them and I spent money on it, so of course I ate them.
Yum, yum, yum.
Yes, he spent money on the stuff, he burnt it all and then he ate it.
Yes.
Okay, that's the way the cookie crumbles.
Oh, God.
All right, Rory, you've used the second conditional, remember?
If I had to pick, that would be a sponge cake, yeah, you said?
Yes, but that's only because that's one of the few ones I actually know the name of.
I'm not very good when it comes to terminology about baking.
Yeah, dear listener, if the examiner asks you to make a choice like what do people usually bake in your country?
Or what's the most delicious pastry?
I don't know.
You can say, if I had to pick or if i had to choose, i'd go for a sponge cake.
Yeah, that's a nice uh, the sec, the second conditioner here a nice structure.
You've also used present perfect, like i made the syrniki.
Since then I've never baked anything else, right?
Yes.
Could you give us another example?
Was the present perfect and since?
I haven't been in my apartment to bake anything since last month.
Yeah, but you usually bake for yourself or for other people?
Only myself right now.
Like I say, I've got to get this recipe perfected before I inflict it on other people.
We've talked about syrniki a lot, so do listen.
If you have no idea what's going on, this syrniki, it's a traditional Russian food.
So could you Google it?
We sometimes call it творожники.
Yes.
So, like cottage cheese, again, this is like a Russian product.
Do you have like Tvorog in Scotland?
We have cottage cheese, but we don't have Tvorog.
Actually, apparently this is a very serious problem for Russians who live outside of Russia, because Tvorog is not really sold anywhere, apart from, sort of, in russia and countries around russia.
We have cottage cheese, but i think you'd have to drain it um, because it's very wet, whereas torog tends to be a lot drier.
Yeah, we have difficulties with translation here in this episode.
Rory, we made a joke at the beginning of the episode with half-baked answers.
What did you mean?
Well, it's not about baking.
It's about just giving answers to questions.
A half-baked answer isn't really something that you've thought through before you've said it.
So as it comes out, it doesn't sound very clear or very sure.
And the other thing is it's not very believable for the other person involved.
So make sure that when you're answering things that you don't give half-baked answers.
Yeah, you bake them properly.
Rory, what about another meaning of to bake, to be baked?
If I tell you, oh, last weekend I was baked.
I am not talking about this.
It's all from us for today.
Thank you very much for listening.
We hope that you try your hand at baking delicious muffins and spend some quality time in your kitchen.
Bye, bye.
Oh my god Robby, do you bake?
Well, up until recently, I couldn't bake at all, but I learned how to make syrniki, which is like this Russian cheese dessert, I suppose.
It gives me a sense of achievement, actually, because I learned how to do it myself.
And it reminds me of different times.
Although I suppose other than that, I'm a bit useless in the kitchen, I'm afraid.
Do you like baking?
Well, like I said, yeah, I get a real kick out of it.
It's nice to be able to do something, especially if you can make food for other people.
But I'm very aware of the fact that I'm not very good at it.
Do you know how to bake cakes?
Sort of.
Like I said, I'm a wee bit useless, but I have a vague idea how to do it, and it would be a fun thing to do with friends, but it's not something that I would put on a CV, for example.
Rory the baker.
Rory, have you ever made any cakes?
Well, like a really long time ago, in high school probably.
To be honest, my home economics teacher didn't think much of my skills then either.
Have you ever baked anything recently?
I don't know.
I made syrniki about two months ago and then since then I've been at camp and on holiday, so I haven't really had much time to bake.
Does two months ago count as recent?
Yeah, quite recently.
Okay.
What do people usually bake in your country?
I don't think.
Well, there are a few things that are specific to Scotland, but if we talk about what people usually make, I think first of all people have fun trying out different things and making different desserts.
Although if I had to pick one thing that's quite popular, I suppose it's probably spaghetti, sponge cakes maybe.
Although I'm not really crazy about baking, so I don't know too much about what's popular and what's not in Scotland.
Sorry.
What about other countries?
What do people usually bake, just in general, all over the world?
I suppose, if we talk about well, if we talk about Russia, for example again, cakes are quite popular.
Although then, cakes are popular everywhere in the world and they always seem to be some kind of sponge cake.
I'm guessing.
I think that's what they are um, but you have other things, like um different pastry dishes, for example um, and i think People like to make muffins and cupcakes.
I think that's quite popular in America.
I'm not so sure about in the UK, but it's definitely something that comes up in a lot of American media.
So that would be my guess.
Do you think you'll be baking more in the future?
I'd like to try to.
I suppose it's a good skill to have in general to be able to cook something or to be able to bake something.
So I'd like to try it more, definitely.
If I'll have enough time, on the other hand, is another matter entirely.
What would you like to bake?
Well, I need to, I can make syrniki, but they're a little bit burned all the time.
So I should probably learn how to perfect that first.
And then moving on from there, maybe I could get into making cakes again.
This is all very vague because it's not something that is a priority for me right now.
But those two things, I think, are good ideas.
