I’ve been grinding over a month trying to extract verbs related to food or cooking, now from five bilingual sources (3 from Mexico, 1 from Colombia, 1 from Spain) I also collect all the words and thus parts of speech from the ingredients section of the recipe (the most likely part to also appear in menus). The instructions, OTOH, are the best source for verbs.
So here I’ll describe what I’ve found for adjectives, at least for the single source (Pati Jinich) where I have processed nearly 300 recipes.
Now in Spanish there is an interesting detail about adjectives. Not only do they have gendered forms (usually, but not all) and singular/plural, usually adjectives are the same as past participles of verbs (although not the present participle), e.g. ‘cooked’ (cocido/cocida/cocidos/cocidas) is listed in standard dictionaries as an adjective, but it is also the past participle of the verb cocer. Interestingly often participles appear but, again at least to standard dictionaries, there is a no adjective tagging of exactly the same word. OTOH, ‘cooking’, cociendo, also derived from cocer only appears as the present participle, aka gerund. In the list below notice that ‘cut’ cortado only appears (in the dictionary) as a participle not an adjective and this is fairly common, but it may be an artifact of the editors of dictionaries as to how they wish to tag certain words with part-of-speech tags.
The other thing one quickly finds in almost any extractions of lexicons from any corpus is that not only are a few words much more commonly used than others but a large quantity of the words are quite rarely used. This is a pain because it means it takes a very large corpus, which for me means lots of tedious work, to find all (or at least most) of the words used in food/cooking/restaurants. And, on top of that, it means memorizing this vocabulary is a lot of work to learn words one rarely encounters, but without knowing the full diversity of the vocabulary reading either recipes or menus will be problematic.
Let’s look at this graphically
Note that I set the vertical axis to a logarithmic scale. That’s because the most common word, picado (chopped) occurs 303 times (in four forms) while there are there are 71 words that only occur once. If you plotted the word frequency on a normalized linear scale the “long tail” (low frequency words) would not show any detail like you do see in this graph. The red dotted line the the power scale regression line which doesn’t exactly fit this data, but in lots of the literature about computational linguistics usually a power curve best fits frequency data.
So with all that introduction I’ll just finish with this long list, 235 descriptive (adjectives, participles, or both); you can probably find your favorite in this list somewhere.
adj: chopped | picada(103) picado(84) picados(69) picadas(47) | 303 |
pp: to cut (cortar) | cortado(44) cortada(56) cortadas(49) cortados(58) | 207 |
adj: fresh | fresco(106) frescos(31) frescas(17) fresca(16) | 170 |
adj: white | blanca(113) blanco(43) blancas(9) blancos(4) | 169 |
adj: ground | molida(88) molido(24) molidos(3) molidas(5) | 120 |
adj: peeled | pelado(20) pelados(51) peladas(21) pelada(17) | 109 |
pp: to slice (rebanar) | rebanadas(77) rebanado(9) rebanada(13) rebanados(9) | 108 |
adj: ripe | maduro(33) maduros(63) madura(2) | 98 |
adj: black | negra(80) negros(4) negras(11) negro(1) | 96 |
adj: dry | seco(48) seca(8) secos(24) secas(8) | 88 |
adj: large | grande(28) grandes(47) | 75 |
adj: Mexican | mexicana(29) mexicano(26) mexicanos(9) | 64 |
adj: optional | opcional(42) opcionales(22) | 64 |
adj: green | verde(20) verdes(31) | 51 |
adj: grated | rallado(39) rallada(8) ralladas(2) rallados(1) | 50 |
adj: whole, entire; intact, in one piece | entero(6) enteros(19) entera(12) enteras(11) | 48 |
adj: divided, split | divididas(35) dividida(8) divididos(2) dividido(2) | 47 |
pp: to divide (dividir) | divididas(35) dividida(8) divididos(2) dividido(2) | 47 |
adj: split | partida(4) partidos(17) partido(19) partidas(7) | 47 |
adj: thin, slim; fine | delgadas(41) delgados(2) delgada(2) delgado(1) | 46 |
adj: one | una(25) unas(7) unos(4) uno(5) | 41 |
adj: necessary, inevitable | necesaria(24) necesario(11) necesarias(3) | 38 |
adj: washed | lavada(4) lavadas(7) lavados(24) lavado(2) | 37 |
pp: to wash (lavar) | lavada(4) lavadas(7) lavados(24) lavado(2) | 37 |
adj: less refined sugar | mascabada(36) | 36 |
adj: dark-skinned, dark-haired | morena(36) | 36 |
adj: toasted | tostados(5) tostadas(20) tostado(5) | 30 |
pp: to toast (tostar) | tostados(5) tostadas(20) tostado(5) | 30 |
pp: to cause to crumble (desmoronar) | desmoronada(1) desmoronado(26) | 27 |
pp: to rinse (enjuagar) | enjuagados(19) enjuagadas(5) enjuagado(3) | 27 |
adj: wide, broad | anchos(10) ancho(14) | 24 |
adj: made, done, ready | hechos(6) hecho(4) hechas(11) hecha(3) | 24 |
pp: to buy (comprar) | comprado(5) comprados(5) compradas(11) comprada(2) | 23 |
pp: to filet (filetear) | fileteada(10) fileteadas(12) fileteados(1) | 23 |
adj: extra | extra(19) extras(1) | 20 |
adj: small | pequeños(11) pequeña(6) pequeñas(3) | 20 |
adj: stuffing, filling | relleno(10) rellenas(8) rellenos(2) | 20 |
pp: to beat (batir) | batiendo(1) batido(6) batida(7) batidos(5) | 19 |
pp: to cook (cocer) | cocidos(12) cocido(4) cocida(2) cocidas(1) | 19 |
adj: cooked | cocidos(12) cocido(4) cocida(1) cocidas(1) | 18 |
adj: purple | moradas(2) morada(17) | 19 |
adj: whipped | batido(6) batida(7) batidos(5) | 18 |
adj: sweet; fresh; soft; tender, gentle, mild | dulce(17) dulces(1) | 18 |
pp: to defrost, to thaw (decongelar) | descongelados(9) descongeladas(4) descongelado(2) descongelada(1) | 16 |
adj: condensed | condensada(15) | 15 |
adj: four | cuatro(15) | 15 |
adj: drained | escurridas(3) escurrido(3) escurridos(8) escurrida(1) | 15 |
pp: to drain (escurrir) | escurridas(3) escurrido(3) escurridos(8) escurrida(1) | 15 |
adj: thick, dense | espesa(15) | 15 |
adj: medium; average | medianas(5) medianos(6) mediana(1) mediano(3) | 15 |
adj: red | rojo(8) roja(3) rojos(2) rojas(2) | 15 |
pp: to grind (triturar) | triturados(9) triturada(1) trituradas(2) triturado(3) | 15 |
adj: pressed | prensado(2) prensados(12) | 14 |
pp: to press (prensar) | prensado(2) prensados(12) | 14 |
adj: superior, excellent, top, upper | superior(10) superiores(4) | 14 |
adj: hot | calientes(13) | 13 |
adj: long, lengthy | largo(13) | 13 |
adj: refried | refritos(13) | 13 |
adj: thick, fat, coarse | gruesa(3) gruesas(7) grueso(1) | 11 |
adj: clean; clear, pure | limpios(7) limpia(2) limpias(1) limpio(1) | 11 |
adj: Roman | romana(10) romano(1) | 11 |
adj: grilled, roasted | rostizadas(1) rostizados(9) rostizado(1) | 11 |
pp: to roast (rotizar) | rostizadas(1) rostizados(9) rostizado(1) | 11 |
adj: separated | separadas(5) separados(6) | 11 |
pp: to separate (separar) | separadas(5) separados(6) | 11 |
pp: to seperate (seperar) | separadas(5) separados(6) | 11 |
adj: lukewarm, tepid | tibia(11) | 11 |
adj: grilled, roasted | asada(6) asado(1) asados(3) | 10 |
pp: to grill, to roast (asar) | asada(6) asado(1) asados(3) | 10 |
adj: clear; bright; light, pale; thin | claro(5) claras(3) clara(2) | 10 |
adj: raw, undercooked; unbleached | crudos(2) crudas(5) cruda(3) | 10 |
adj: spotted | pintos(10) | 10 |
adj: enough | suficiente(9) suficientes(1) | 10 |
adj: sour, acidic | ácida(8) ácidas(1) | 9 |
adj: evaporated | evaporada(9) | 9 |
pp: to evaporate (evaporar) | evaporada(9) | 9 |
adj: fat, thick | gorda(9) | 9 |
adj: fair-haired, blonde; bad, rotten | güeros(6) güero(3) | 9 |
adj: each, every | cada(8) | 8 |
adj: granulated | granulado(1) granulada(7) | 8 |
pp: to granulate (granular) | granulado(1) granulada(7) | 8 |
adj: sweaty | sudados(8) | 8 |
pp: to sweat (sudar) | sudados(8) | 8 |
adj: yellow | amarilla(4) amarillo(3) | 7 |
adj: small, little; young | chicos(4) chico(1) chicas(2) | 7 |
adj: red | colorados(5) colorado(2) | 7 |
adj: cold | fría(6) fríos(1) | 7 |
pp: to crush (machacar) | machacada(2) machacados(5) | 7 |
adj: spicy, hot | picante(7) | 7 |
adj: broken, cracked; uneven, rough | quebrada(7) | 7 |
pp: to break (quebrar) | quebrada(7) | 7 |
adj: salted | saladas(5) salada(1) salados(1) | 7 |
pp: to salt (salar) | saladas(5) salada(1) salados(1) | 7 |
adj: homemade | casero(2) caseras(1) casera(2) caseros(1) | 6 |
adj: any | cualquier(6) | 6 |
adj: melted, thawed | derretida(6) | 6 |
pp: to melt (derretir) | derretida(6) | 6 |
adj: diagonal | diagonales(6) | 6 |
pp: to pickle (encurtir) | encurtidas(3) encurtidos(2) encurtida(1) | 6 |
pp: to boil (hervir) | hirviendo(6) | 6 |
adj: male; tough | machos(1) macho(4) macha(1) | 6 |
adj: another; other <plural>; next | otro(4) otra(2) | 6 |
adj: his, her, its, their | su(6) | 6 |
adj: smooth, soft; mild; gentle | suave(5) suaves(1) | 6 |
adj: bitter; dark, unsweetened; tart | amargo(4) amarga(1) | 5 |
adj: strained | colado(5) | 5 |
pp: to strain (colar) | colado(5) | 5 |
adj: frozen, freezing | congelada(2) congelados(2) congeladas(1) | 5 |
pp: to freeze (congelar) | congelada(2) congelados(2) congeladas(1) | 5 |
adj: two | dos(5) | 5 |
adj: fine, thin, slender; high-quality; smooth | finas(4) fino(1) | 5 |
adj: fried | fritas(2) frito(3) | 5 |
adj: new; fresh | nuevo(5) | 5 |
pp: to dry (secar) | secadas(2) secados(3) | 5 |
adj: three | tres(5) | 5 |
adj: sour, tart, bitter | agria(4) | 4 |
adj: momentary; instantaneous, immediate, instant | instantánea(3) instantáneo(1) | 4 |
adj: half; average; middle | medias(2) medio(2) | 4 |
adj: dark | oscuro(3) oscura(1) | 4 |
adj: little, not much, few, not many | poco(4) | 4 |
adj: easy, simpler | simple(4) | 4 |
adj: your | tu(4) | 4 |
adj: virgin; unspoiled | virgen(4) | 4 |
adj: open | abiertos(2) abierto(1) | 3 |
pp: to open (abrir) | abiertos(2) abierto(1) | 3 |
pp: to flake (desmenuzar) | desmenuzada(1) desmenuzado(2) | 3 |
pp: to divide (dividir) | dividas(2) divida(1) | 3 |
adj: golden, gilded | doradas(1) dorado(1) dorada(1) | 3 |
pp: to brown, to gild (dorar) | doradas(1) dorado(1) dorada(1) | 3 |
adj: canned | enlatados(3) | 3 |
pp: to can, to prerecord (enlatar) | enlatados(3) | 3 |
adj: French | francesa(2) francés(1) | 3 |
adj: frozen, freezing; iced | helado(2) helada(1) | 3 |
pp: to freeze (helar) | helado(2) helada(1) | 3 |
pp: to marinade (marinar) | marinada(3) | 3 |
adj: Parmesan | parmesano(3) | 3 |
adj: heat resistant, fireproof, ovenproof | refractario(3) | 3 |
pp: to soften (suavizar) | suavizada(3) | 3 |
adj: tartar | tártaro(1) tártara(2) | 3 |
adj: mature, aged; old | añejo(2) | 2 |
adj: brown | café(2) | 2 |
pp: to heat (calentar) | calentados(2) | 2 |
adj: centenarian, hundred-year-old | centenario(2) | 2 |
adj: famous, well-known, familiar | conocidos(2) | 2 |
adj: creamy | cremoso(1) cremosa(1) | 2 |
adj: crunchy | crujiente(1) crujientes(1) | 2 |
pp: to dehydrate (deshidratar) | deshidratados(1) deshidratado(1) | 2 |
pp: to sweeten (endulzar) | endulzada(2) | 2 |
adj: glazed | glaseado(2) | 2 |
pp: to glaze (glasear) | glaseado(2) | 2 |
adj: chubby, plump | gorditas(2) | 2 |
adj: large | gran(2) | 2 |
adj: English | inglesa(1) inglés(1) | 2 |
adj: whole-wheat, brown <rice> | integral(2) | 2 |
adj: Latin | latina(2) | 2 |
adj: less, fewer | menos(2) | 2 |
adj: pastry | pastelera(2) | 2 |
adj: level, flat; low | rasas(1) rasa(1) | 2 |
pp: to soak (remojar) | remojados(2) | 2 |
adj: seasoning | sazonadora(2) | 2 |
adj: alone; single | solo(2) | 2 |
adj: from Guadalajara | tapatía(2) | 2 |
adj: stained, dyed; red | tinto(2) | 2 |
pp: to fight bulls, to fight (torear) | toreados(2) | 2 |
adj: marinated | adobados(1) | 1 |
pp: to marinate (adobar) | adobados(1) | 1 |
adj: smoked, smoky | ahumado(1) | 1 |
pp: to smoke (ahumar) | ahumado(1) | 1 |
adj: some, any, a few | algunas(1) | 1 |
pp: to alternate, to socialize (alternar) | alternando(1) | 1 |
adj: stingy | amarradas(1) | 1 |
adj: leveled | aplanadas(1) | 1 |
pp: to level (aplanar) | aplanadas(1) | 1 |
adj: tight, cramped, narrow, close | apretadas(1) | 1 |
pp: to press, to squeeze (apretar) | apretadas(1) | 1 |
adj: sugary, sweet, sweetened | azucaradas(1) | 1 |
adj: blue | azules(1) | 1 |
adj: balsámico | balsámico(1) | 1 |
adj: good | buena(1) | 1 |
adj: street | callejera(1) | 1 |
adj: coated with caramel, caramelized | caramelizadas(1) | 1 |
adj: compact | compactas(1) | 1 |
adj: complete, full | completo(1) | 1 |
adj: decaffeinated | descafeinado(1) | 1 |
adj: skimmed | descremada(1) | 1 |
pp: to skim (descremar) | descremada(1) | 1 |
adj: boned; pited, stoned | deshuesada(1) | 1 |
pp: to devein (desvenar) | desvenados(1) | 1 |
adj: different; several, various | diferentes(1) | 1 |
adj: direct, straight | directo(1) | 1 |
adj: special; peculiar | especial(1) | 1 |
adj: smashed; fried | estrellados(1) | 1 |
pp: to smash, to crash (estrellar) | estrellados(1) | 1 |
adj: external; outside; outer; outward | externas(1) | 1 |
adj: easy; likely | fácil(1) | 1 |
adj: final, ultimate | final(1) | 1 |
adj: finite | finito(1) | 1 |
adj: firm, solid, steady, sturdy, stable | firme(1) | 1 |
adj: sugar-coated, candied | garapiñadas(1) | 1 |
adj: generous; magnanimous | generosa(1) | 1 |
adj: baked | horneado(1) | 1 |
pp: to bake (hornear) | horneado(1) | 1 |
adj: ideal, perfect | ideales(1) | 1 |
adj: equal, identical, the same | iguales(1) | 1 |
pp: to include (incluir) | incluyendo(1) | 1 |
adj: individual, single, personal | individuales(1) | 1 |
adj: Italian | italianas(1) | 1 |
adj: young, youthful | joven(1) | 1 |
adj: slow | lento(1) | 1 |
adj: letter; writing; lyrics | letras(1) | 1 |
adj: low-calorie, diet | light(1) | 1 |
adj: freeze-dried | liofilizado(1) | 1 |
pp: to lyophilize (liofilizar) | liofilizado(1) | 1 |
pp: to mix (mezclar) | mezclado(1) | 1 |
adj: Peruvian | peruanos(1) | 1 |
adj: slow roasted with achiote <Mex> | pibil(1) | 1 |
adj: Portuguese | portugueses(1) | 1 |
adj: prepared, ready; qualified, trained | preparada(1) | 1 |
adj: country, farm | ranchero(1) | 1 |
adj: regional, local | regional(1) | 1 |
adj: blonde | rubias(1) | 1 |
adj: rustic, rural, country; rough, crude | rústico(1) | 1 |
adj: sautéed | salteados(1) | 1 |
pp: to sauté (saltear) | salteados(1) | 1 |
adj: holy, saintly | santas(1) | 1 |
adj: seasoned | sazonada(1) | 1 |
adj: second | segundos(1) | 1 |
adj: supreme | supremas(1) | 1 |
adj: tender; not ripe | tiernas(1) | 1 |
adj: all, all of, whole, the whole of; every | toda(1) | 1 |
adj: leading, best, top | top(1) | 1 |
adj: turbinado | turbinada(1) | 1 |
adj: Valencian | valentina(1) | 1 |
adj: varied; assorted | variados(1) | 1 |
pp: to alter (variar) | variados(1) | 1 |