Edible Images (m-n) Trivia Quiz

Answer: Mechado

Inspired by the Mexican dish Menudo, soy sauce and calamansi fruit are key elements of the marinade for this braised beef dish where the beef is larded and braised in the marinade. The sour calamansi fruit is a citrus hybrid also known as Philippine lime or calamondin, amongst other names. For the hint, the name of the "Mikado" opera sounds a bit like the soup.

Answer: Menudo

Also known as pancita, the Mexican version has in time meant using tripe or the stomach lining of animals like cows and pigs. In northern Mexico, hominy is often added. Hominy is made from maize kernels treated with alkali such as lye. The Mexican version often has a chili pepper base. Similar dishes exist in Europe, South America and the Philippines.

The image shows a menu with a pen to mark it up.

Answer: Marble cake

Also known as Marmor (German for marble), the streaking or marbling comes from using a lightly-blended mixture of light and dark batters. Colouring of batters might come from using vanilla (light) and chocolate or coffee (dark). The recipe seems to have emerged in German bakeries during the early 19th century, making it across to the US by 1859 judging from a printed mention of the cake.

The image shows a marble statue in a cake tin.

Answer: Mustacciuole

Getting a mention by a 16th century celebrity chef, this Neapolitan pastry in the shape of a parallelogram has a soft spiced cake-like interior covered in chocolate. The chef, Bartolomeo Scappi, was personal cook to both Pope Pius IV and Pope Pius V. He also wrote a recipe book in 1570 with around 1,000 recipes in it. The image showing a mustache is intended as an oral hint.

Answer: Nun's puffs

This deep-fried puff pastry dessert, sometimes cream-filled, is said to have originally been called 'paix-de-nonne' (or nun's peace). In France they now have the similar sounding, and probably more eye-catching, name of 'pets de nonne' (or nun's farts).

The recipe dates from mediaeval times and versions are made in French Canada, the US, Britain and Spain. The image hint is of a nun blowing bubbles.

Answer: Nilaga

A relatively simple dish, nilaga is made from boiled beef (in which case it is called nilagang baka) or pork (when it is named nilagang baboy). Various vegetables are included, such as sweet corn, potatoes and kale, and it is typically served on a bed of rice with flavourings such as soy sauce, fish sauce, chili peppers or calamansi, according to taste. Chicken or seafood versions are normally called tinola.

It is distinguished from similar dishes by having a bouillon base. The image shows a near-empty glass of lager.

Answer: Mami soup

Attributed to Ma Mon Luk, a Chinese immigrant to the Philippines in the early 20th century, he used to peddle his own version of chicken noodle soup on the streets of Manila from two metal containers he carried around on a bamboo pole, before opening a restaurant bearing his name.

At one time there were six such restaurants. He claimed that "mami" was named after himself, literally meaning "Ma's noodles". The image shows a restaurant bearing his name.

Answer: Maccu

Maccu (sometimes macco) is an ancient soup made from crushed fava beans and fennel amongst other ingredients. There is a version, maccu di San Giuseppe (St Joseph), created to honour the saint for timely rain which avoided a threatened famine in the Middle Ages.

The fava bean crop saved the day. Maccu is also a foodstuff made from crushed and dried fava beans, used in recipes such as rigatoncini con maccu di fave and bruschetta al maccú . The soup itself can be a foodstuff, allowed to cool and solidify then cut into strips for use in other recipes.

The image shows a shark with one such species being mako.

Answer: Minestrone

Minestrone is one form of thick vegetable soup, usually made just with vegetables although some recipes include meat, and sometimes pasta or rice. There is no exact recipe. There are several words for soup in Italian such as zuppa and minestra. Etymologically, minestrone is an augmentative form of 'minestra', similar in effect to the prefix 'super' when added to 'market'. Just to confuse things, there are dishes like zuppa inglese (meaning 'English soup') which is actually a dessert with the 'zuppa' in this case probably coming from inzuppare ('to dunk').

The image shows an above-ground structure typically associated with mines, which word forms part of the name of the soup.

Answer: Mulligatawny

The name of this soup with curry seasoning comes from the Tamil words 'milagu' (meaning 'pepper') and 'thanneer' ('water') and was popular in India from the 18th century. British influence, through the presence of the British East India Company in India, included adding meat such as chicken or pork. Back in Britain, adding cream and butter became the norm.

The image points to the 'tawny' part of the soup's name, the bird being a tawny owl.