Takagi's miso soup taste test with 味見する
Vocabulary Explanation: Collocations for cooking
During cooking class, Takagi is making the miso soup while Nishikata, who has hardly ever cooked, works on the salad. She has just sipped from a small dish to check the soup, and now she calls Nishikata over.
- 高木:
- 「これ、味見してみてよ。」
- “Here, taste this.”
Key Points
1味見する = to taste while cooking
- 味見 is a taste test during cooking. Cooks take a sip or a bite to check the flavor before serving. With する it becomes a verb: 味見する, or 味見をする.
- The 見 here doesn’t mean looking with the eyes. It means checking or judging, the same sense behind 〜てみる, “try and see”. 味見 is checking the flavor.
- A cook usually 味見する and then fixes the flavor: 味見して塩を足す, taste it and add salt. Takagi has already tasted hers, and now she wants Nishikata’s opinion.
2〜てみてよ = go ahead and try
- 〜てみる means to try doing something and see how it turns out. 味見してみて is a request to taste and judge, not just to swallow.
- 〜てみて is a bare て request with ください left off, the everyday way to ask a friend. The ending よ presses it a little, like “go on”. Takagi’s smile keeps it friendly: これ、味見してみてよ sounds like “Here, give this a taste.”
Vocabulary
これ (This)
これ points to something close to the speaker, or to the thing just mentioned.
味見 (Tasting)
味見 is tasting food while cooking it to check the flavor. A cook takes a small sip or bite before serving, often to decide whether it needs more seasoning.
する (To do)
する is to do or perform something. It also turns many nouns into verbs, as in 勉強する.
みる (To see)
みる is the kana spelling of 見る, “to see”. After a て-form verb, it means to try doing something to see how it goes.
See Also
- Vocabulary: Collocations for cooking
- Grammar: Trying it out with 〜てみる
- Grammar: Requests with 〜てください and 〜てくれ
- Kanji: Seeing and viewpoints with 見
- Kanji: Taste and meaning with 味
からかい上手の高木さん © its respective creators. It is used here for educational commentary.