grate the cheese

Meaning

This phrase means to shred a block of cheese into small, thin pieces using a kitchen tool called a grater. It is a very common instruction in recipes for dishes like pizza, pasta, tacos, and casseroles where melted cheese is needed.

Examples

• Could you please grate the cheese while I boil the pasta?

  Could you please grate the cheese while I boil the pasta?

• You need to grate the cheese finely so that it melts evenly over the pizza.

  You need to grate the cheese finely so that it melts evenly over the pizza.

• It's much cheaper to buy a block of cheddar and grate the cheese yourself.

  It's much cheaper to buy a block of cheddar and grate the cheese yourself.

• She used a hand grater to grate the cheese directly onto her bowl of soup.

  She used a hand grater to grate the cheese directly onto her bowl of soup.

• Be careful not to hurt your fingers when you grate the cheese.

  Be careful not to hurt your fingers when you grate the cheese.

Common Mistakes

• ✗ Please great the cheese for the lasagna.

  ✓ Please grate the cheese for the lasagna.

  'Grate' (to shred food) and 'great' (wonderful/large) are homophones. They sound identical but have completely different spellings and meanings.

• ✗ I need to scratch the cheese with this tool.

  ✓ I need to grate the cheese with this grater.

  'Scratch' means to rub a surface with claws or nails. The specific kitchen verb for shredding food using a metal tool is 'grate'.

Related Expressions

Practice

• Before we put the pizza in the oven, we need to ___.

  💡 Shred a block of cheese into small pieces.

  Show answer

  grate the cheese

• Can you help me in the kitchen? Use this grater to ___.

  💡 Prepare the cheese for melting.

  Show answer

  grate the cheese