La Cuisine Française Trivia Quiz

Answer: Hot

For our appetizer course, we go with the standard of French onion soup which, fortunately for our tasting menu, did originate in France many centuries ago. The modern French onion soup is a a bit more refined-- one can imagine that back in the medieval era, it wasn't served with much tact or flavouring-- but it generally boils down to fried onions, cooked in a stock and then covered with bread and cheese of some sort. Served hot, it keeps itself warm because it's insulated on all sides. That said, considering the toppings, it might be wise to dig in quicker.

On a similar note, French onion dip is not French. In fact, it was made in the 1950s in the United States (yikes). It's only known as such because it's made with packets of French onion soup mix. Made as a party food (for chips), it might be considered a tail-gating hors d'oeuvres. Or... y'know... maybe not.

Answer: Escargot

Ah yes, the appetizer you might think twice about if you're not into heliciculture. Or maybe you are and you're just not into snails.

That's right-- the classic escargot is generally washed, cooked, and placed in a broth wherein the diner eats them, often straight from their shell, as haute cuisine. The catch is that while this dish is very commonly seen as French in origin (I mean, just look at the name!), it's been eaten all around the Mediterranean for quite some time, and early recipes have extended into Asia and Africa as well.

It might not be too far from the truth either way; countries like France, Spain, and Italy have had a history of snail-eating. At one time it was seen as a food for the lowest class (again-- it's snails), but as with lobster, quinoa, and caviar, it was a dish co-opted by the rich. Remember when chicken and waffles was diner food? How the times change.

As for the other answers, it's all still French. Épinard would be spinach, étouffée is a seafood stew, and an éclair is a creme-filled pastry.

Answer: Carbonation caused the bottles to explode

Anywhere else, it'd just be sparkling wine. Champagne, however, is only made in the Champagne Region of France.

What is there to say about champagne that hasn't already been said after years of international fascination with 'bubbly' as a celebratory drink? It's long been known that this beverage is seen by many, especially in its pricier brands, as the crème de la crème of wines, and it's partly due to its rigorous production process, its appellation restrictions, and...well... good marketing.

The Champagne Region was originally used by Roman settlers as a wine-growing destination and when French kings started inhabiting the region, the market for the drink grew. Over time, Benedictine monks like Dom Pérignon would become key figures in its production, leading to centuries of refinement as specific grapes were fermented, bottled, then fermented again for a year and a half. So technical and early was this process in the time of Pérignon that bottles would explode when they were picked up-- a consequence of leaving them to carbonate for way too long. It's why, for a time, monks had to wear metal masks when dealing with the champagne; they were getting injured while losing valuable stock.

Nowadays you're less likely to get a face full of glass than you are a cork to the eye, but we're still working out the kinks. It has, after all, only been about five hundred years. In the meantime: Cheers!

Answer: Five

You might think "hmm... maybe that's too many sauces". And all five are 'mother' sauces, or 'grandes sauces', what gives, right?

Well, we can blame (or thank) the famous French chef Auguste Escoffier, who modernized French cuisine throughout his life and established these sauces as key to the culture's food language. All of them are distinctly different and are the basis upon which nearly all savoury sauces are made. They comprise:

- Béchamel, a white sauce used in much of Europe including Italy (in lasagnas) and Greece (in moussaka).
- Espagnole, a brown sauce made with meat stock.
- Tomato, of obvious base.
- Velouté, a lighter sauce used for chicken and fish.
- Hollandaise, made with egg yolk, butter, and lemon juice, often seen on an Eggs Benedict.

Sure, your meal can't just be sauce, but with these key elements, you can't steer wrong.

Answer: Saffron

As your meal is prepared it makes sense to see that you're well-seasoned, and understanding the flavours of France is key to this. If you're tasting les herbes de Provence, you're tasting a combination of herbs that characterize a key food region. Provence, found in the southeast of France, not only borders the Mediterranean, but takes on a rich food history brought in by the villages of the Alps and the stretch along the Italian border.

Herbes de Provence go well with meat, seafood, soups, and stews since grill heat and stocks bring out the flavours of the contents. Of note, the contents generally include savory, marjoram, rosemary, thyme, and oregano (though sometimes lavender, a common herb in this part of France, is sometimes added). Saffron, though grown in some parts of Europe, is much more common in Middle Eastern, Indian, and Chinese cuisine.

Answer: Sherry

Sherry couldn't be a further stretch from French wine since it's cultivated in the southwestern corner of Spain. A fortified wine, it's simply different from what you would find in France.

And you would find quite a bit in France. Though it doesn't have more wine regions than neighbouring Italy (as an example), it does have more famous wine regions-- Bordeaux, Burgundy, and the Loire Valley, for instance.

Chardonnay is a white wine variety that originated in Burgundy and has since expanded to become one of the most common international whites. Merlot, on the other hand, is a Bordeaux wine, and a deeper red at that. Beaujolais is a wine and a region in the east of France.

Answer: Ratatouille

Let's be real-- when most people think of French cuisine they think of a richness that only butter can provide. French food actually has a much more nuanced history than that though, with a lot of meals being elevated from what was, at a time, considered more rustic fare for farmers and lower-class diners. Meals like the ones listed are common regional fare brought on by years of elevation.

A chicken stew like coq au vin, made by braising the meat and vegetables in red wine, is a classique dating back to Roman expansion into Gaul (later France) while boeuf bourguignon does much the same as a stew with beef. Andouillette, meanwhile, is a pork sausage wrapped in intestine.

Ratatouille is the odd one out not because it's a famous name for a rat-in-a-French-kitchen, but because you wouldn't make it with any meat. Instead, you'd prepare it by stewing thinly-sliced vegetables in herbs. Originating from the Provence region, you might be able to guess the types of herbs they used.

Answer: Brie

Originally produced in the Seine-et-Marne region just outside of Paris, the soft and delectable brie variety of cheese is French to its core. A very soft cheese, it's perhaps at its best when it's on its way to spreadable. Underripe brie has much less give. Part of this is because of the amount of butterfat in the cheese, making it much creamier in texture. Another French cheese variety you may know, camembert, is similarly made but contains less such butterfat.

Cheese is an important food staple for French cuisine, even if it's not introduced wholly into a lot of core recipes. After all, what's better to go with wine than cheese? French cheese is divided into eight 'families' though there's more than a thousand types of cheese across the nation.

Not amongst those are the incorrect answers. Limburger originated in Germany, havarti is a Danish cheese, and emmental is Swiss. For other French cheeses you may consider roquefort, munster, or gruyère.

Answer: Meringue

Dessert can be a multi-faceted affair, but for this meal and this course we're headed straight to the patisserie for a delicate option: the macaron, or the French macaroon. It's a bite-sized treat (maybe two bites) that can pack a lot of flavour though they require a bit of deftness to make.

The key behind a macaron is absolutely in the meringue since it is a crumbly cookie that can, if you bake them improperly, come out uneven (or with a peak, in the worse case). The examples in the photo show a solid visual-- you want a cookie on both sides that can lay flat.

The middle is often an icing (buttercream) but you could also use a jam. When thinking about the contents, you're looking for cohesion; the cookie and the contents are generally made with aesthetic in mind, and flavour affects the whole bite.

Instead of as a dessert, one might see these as a 'petit four' as well. With a name meaning 'small oven', this refers to a treat made as an bite-size appetizer, though generally these would be savoury. But hey-- dessert? Appetizer? Maybe there are no rules to French cuisine.

Answer: Chartreuse

Although all of these drinks have notable French histories (with calvados being from Normandy, Cognac being from the town of the same name in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, and absinthe having its own creation story through the Alps), chartreuse is the one we're looking for for an after-dinner glass. It, of course, has relations to the colour of the same name; chartreuse is a yellow-green, and the drink comes in yellow and green varieties. The drink came before the name.

Originally distilled by Carthusian monks in the Grenoble area in the mountains of Southeastern France, chartreuse was based on a recipe passed down to the order in the seventeenth century. The implication was that the combination of herbs and processes would create an elixir to grant eternal life.

What resulted was a recipe that only a handful of people would ever know. Two living monks at any time know the recipe, and it's still distilled and bottled using more than ten dozen herbs in France, then casked in oak barrels in the longest wine cellar anywhere in the world.

A digestif, meanwhile, is a drink that's used to settle the stomach after a filling meal. Chartreuse is one such drink; it's natural ingredients and its high proof have that effect. Bottoms up!