Chefs and Cooks Trivia Quiz

Answer: Henri-Paul Pellaprat

Henri-Paul Pellaprat was the author of several cookery texts in France. His early career started as a pastry boy at age twelve, when he learned his trade at many of the most famous restaurants in France. He eventually ended up teaching at l'École du Cordon bleu for 32 years. One of the most favourite table sauces in the UK is HP sauce.

Answer: Graham Kerr

Graham Kerr was born in London. He became General Manager of the Royal Ascot Hotel in England, and spent five years as a catering manager in the British army, all before moving to New Zealand at the age of 24. In New Zealand, he was chief catering adviser for the New Zealand Air Force.

He started writing cookery books and then moved into TV where he made "The Galloping Gourmet" series, produced by his wife in Canada.

Answer: Heston Blumenthal

Heston Blumenthal has taken cooking into a completely new direction, often involving the use of science in innovative ways to produce completely new dishes. He uses strange combinations of flavours which seem to work, rather surprisingly, such as salmon poached in a liquorice gel.

He also loves to cook things in a vacuum-sealed bag. In these bags, he can poach things over a long period at a constant temperature to achieve consistent results--without losing any of the flavour-filled juices (which are retained in the bag).

Answer: Auguste Escoffier

According to Auguste Escoffier, the five mother sauces are: Sauce Béchamel, Sauce Espagnole, Sauce Veloute, Sauce Hollandaise and Sauce Tomate. Many sauces are created using one of the mother sauces and adding other ingredients. These are known as a "daughter sauces" or secondary sauces.

Answer: Jamie Oliver

In 1997, Jamie Oliver made an unscripted appearance in a BBC documentary about the restaurant he was working in. Soon he was picked up to make his own series, "The Naked Chef". By 2000, he was the face of the British supermarket chain Sainsbury's. He continued to make successful TV series and even had his own series in America, "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution", which won an Emmy in 2010 for Outstanding Reality Program.

Answer: Lucien Olivier

An Olivier salad is usually made with vegetables such as diced boiled potatoes, carrots, peas, eggs, pickles and diced boiled chicken, to name just a few of the ingredients. It is popular in several European countries and also in South America.

Answer: Fanny Cradock

Fanny Cradock had a rather acerbic character and would often criticise, on air, Johnny or any assistant who made the most trifling error or who kept her waiting for something for more than a moment. She finally lost her contract when hired to help a housewife who had won a contest to create a banquet to be attended by the Prime Minister, members of the Royal Family and other VIPs.

The preparation was the subject of another TV programme. Fanny mocked the contestant's menu, even faking retching, and declared, "You're among professionals now, dear".

She also forced a change of dessert on the poor lady which proved disastrous. The general consensus was that the original dessert would have been perfect. Having wrecked what should have been a great day for the competition winner, she never presented a cookery programme for the BBC again.

Answer: Wolfgang Puck

He opened his first restaurant, Spago, in 1982 on the Sunset Strip in California. It moved to Beverly Hills in 1997 and has been on the list of America's top restaurants for many years. You will also find pizzerias, steak houses, etc. bearing his name.

Answer: Keith Floyd

Keith Floyd wasn't very good at looking after the financial side of being a restaurateur and was bankrupt in 1996. His cooking style, however, made him a much loved character on TV. He had a string of medical problems in the 2000s related to drink and tobacco.

He collapsed several times, ending up on life support machines. In July 2009, he was diagnosed with bowel cancer and underwent five major operations to remove it. He died of a heart attack in September shortly after having attended a lunch to celebrate the success of those operations.

Answer: Rick Stein

Rick Stein opened a nightclub/seafood restaurant in Padstow, Cornwall. The nightclub failed but he persevered with the restaurant and it became very successful. He later opened several restaurants in Padstow and a cookery school, not to mention another restaurant in New South Wales, Australia.

He has made several TV series over the years, travelling the world to find great dishes. Of course, if it involves seafood, so much the better.