I’m enjoying these very much, but why is the dog in the pan? A cooking pan?
It’s one of the weirder German idioms, and I had to look up its roots myself. Apparently, it’s based on a short story in the 16th (!) century picaresque Till Eulenspiegel.
A character in it who is brewing beer mistakenly puts a dog named “hops” in the brew pan vs. actual hops.
The idiom itself didn’t really become popular until the first half of the 20th century.
Somehow, this explanation makes the idiom less funny to me 
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Ha! “Hey Friedrich, time to put hops in the pan.”
“OK boss!”
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Act 1, scene 2:
CASSIUS: Did Cicero say anything?
CASCA: Ay, he spoke Greek.
CASSIUS: To what effect?
CASCA: Nay, an I tell you that, I’ll ne’er look you i’ the face again: but those that understood him smiled at one another and shook their heads; but, for mine own part, it was Greek to me.
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Some more from Cantonese that popped into my head recently (these are transliterated from Cantonese, and not using official romanization):
大鍋 - daai wok - literally, a big wok. Means a big problem, or something has hit the fan. Can be used as an exclamation or an adjective.
食過夜粥 - sik guo yeh jook - lit., to have eaten late night congee. Used to describe someone who is experienced. For a more extreme version of this, you can say 姜越老,越辣 (geung yuet loh, yuet laht) - or the older the ginger, the spicier it is. If you have a badass or spicy older person, you can describe them with this.
飯桶 - faan tung - lit., a cooked rice (vs the raw grain) bucket. Used to describe someone incompetent or useless.
呷醋 - haap cho - lit, sip vinegar. Means to be jealous. “Cho”/vinegar is also used generically to note sour feelings, or general feelings of uneasiness due to emotions. Similarly, you can experience a “sour heart”, 心酸 (sum suen).
殺雞不要斬牛刀 - saat gai but yiu zaam ngau doh - lit, you don’t need a meat/cow butchering knife to slaughter a chicken. Means overkill - something too powerful applied to light or easy task.
雞啄唔斷 - gai deung mm tuen - lit., a chicken pecking nonstop. To describe incessant chattering.
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Love these! The vinegar one seems similar to our “sour grapes.”
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Σας ευχαριστώ πολύ!
(thanks!)
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M’waukee talk:'Eh, yah wanna head out fer a few?" translation: “Would you like to accompany me to a nearby public house, where we’ll consume beers and shots until we can’t safely get off the barstool.”
Not quite food, but hock a chainik. It literally means to bang on a teakettle, and it means when someone keeps bothering you about something (pushier than noodge). Think of a toddler banging on pots and pans or a teakettle left on the stove so long that all the water has evaporated.
Best employed by saying “Stop hocking me about XYZ!”
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I had an ex who used to say that; I remember it as “stop hocking my cup!”, but I preferred the sound of the original version. I thought it sounded something like " hock menishkum cupf !".
English:
Oil and water don’t mix. - Two things or people are incompatible.
Can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen - If you can’t handle the pressure of a challenging situation don’t complain, remove yourself from it.
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I was just going to mention that!! Chainik is Russian; I always thought it was don’t rattle a teakettle at me.
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And of course the “too many chefs spoil the broth”, but often used in a shorter form “too many chefs/cooks in the kitchen”. Meaning too many ideas or inputs that ruin the results you wanted.
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We have that in Germany as well (with “brei” instead of broth). I didn’t include any idioms that are the same in English.
From ancient times, possibly Rome (Latin) but very much used in English:
Worth your weight in salt - someone or something is valuable and/or deserving of respect and compensation.
African-American:
Don’t throw salt in my game - Warning someone not to ruin a good thing or interfere with someone’s plans or efforts, especially in romantic or social situations.
You have to break some eggs to make an omelet.
