Prepare: Make an ingredient record that reflects the cook's current version.
Choose a real cooking video in which the presenter adjusts a recipe. Make two columns: original recipe and today's batch. Write the number of servings above each. Some ingredients scale with the batch, while seasoning can be adjusted separately. Watch the action, but use speech to decide whether an amount is exact, approximate, or optional. This sheet is language practice, not a tested recipe.
A worked Spanish exchange
This is an invented teaching example. Read the Spanish first. Use the translation to check meaning, not as a substitute for real listening.
| Spanish | English meaning |
|---|---|
| La receta es para cuatro, pero hoy somos dos. | The recipe serves four, but there are two of us today. |
| En vez de doscientos gramos de arroz, pongo cien. | Instead of two hundred grams of rice, I use one hundred. |
| El agua, más o menos el doble. | The water, about twice as much. |
| De sal, solo una pizca. Luego probamos. | For salt, only a pinch. We will taste it later. |
| Si hace falta, añadimos un poco más. | If necessary, we will add a little more. |
Your turn / Evidence before guesses
Make your record
Record the original and current rice amounts. Decide which quantity el doble most naturally refers to here. Mark whether the salt quantity is exact. Then separate an action done now from a possible later action. Explain why the final line does not prove that more salt goes into the dish. Use the phrase that introduces the condition as your evidence.
Open the answer key
The original rice amount is two hundred grams; today's amount is one hundred grams. El doble most naturally refers to twice the current rice amount in this local context. The line gives no water unit, so do not invent a precise measurement rule. Salt begins as a pinch, not a measured gram amount. More may be added after tasting if necessary. Si hace falta makes that later addition conditional, not completed.
Try a changed version
Draw a recipe card with crossed-out original amounts and current amounts beside them. Put a dotted line around possible later changes. Now imagine the cook says Ya he añadido más sal, meaning I have already added more salt. That would move the addition from possible to completed. Compare the two records. Do not use the language exercise to decide real cooking ratios, which depend on the dish and method.
The detail that changes the meaning
En vez de introduces a replacement. It is useful when a presenter changes an ingredient as well as an amount. Más o menos signals approximation. Luego moves the explanation forward in time. A cooking presenter can discuss the base recipe, today's action, and a later option in a few seconds. Those are three different records, even when the same ingredient appears in all three.
Take the task to a real video
In your selected clip, find one contrast between the printed recipe and the cook's spoken choice. Record both. If the caption gives a number that seems inconsistent with the action, replay rather than resolve it from memory. Note the exact word that signals replacement or approximation. Your result is one accurate recipe change, not a full translated recipe. Save a useful phrase only when you understand its role.
Tool note / Our app
We make Jibber Jabber. In a real cooking video, use captions and lookup to inspect a replacement phrase such as en vez de. Keep the original and current amounts in your own recipe record. The video tool does not validate cooking ratios, test this invented recipe, or decide whether a later ingredient addition is necessary.
Questions & answers
Does el doble always refer to the last number?
No. Use the local explanation and the action. Here the current rice amount is the natural reference.
Is una pizca an exact measure?
Not in this sheet. It is a small pinch, not a stated weight.
Must I understand every ingredient?
No. Begin with one amount and one change. Add other ingredients after the structure is clear.
Sources for this worksheet
The dialogue, task, variation, and key are original editorial teaching material. They are not a transcript, a quotation, or a report of a real transaction.
- Official Jibber Jabber sources — supports the tool description and plan limits, not a claim about learning results. Retrieved 9 November 2026; source reviewed 28 October 2026.
- Workbook method — explains the evidence labels and the limits of the written key.
Continue this practice path
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This workbook is one of a coordinated collection of comprehensible input guides published by Jibber Jabber. They share one publisher and are not independent endorsements. See Related websites. We make Jibber Jabber.
Cite this worksheet
Jibber Jabber. “A Spanish recipe: track a quantity that changes.” Spanish Fieldnotes. Updated 9 November 2026. https://spanishcomprehensibleinput.com/recipe-quantity-changes/