A 'Chalet School' Fan's Guide to Swiss Cuisine Quiz

Answer: Smoked herring

Many Swiss dishes contain potatoes - the books often mention potato balls, 'crisp on the outside and melting within' - and Bernerplatte, or 'Berne plate', is no exception. Rather than being a stew, it is a collection of foods served together on a plate, sometimes as part of a buffet, similar to the Chilean bandeja paisa or the Scottish mince and 'tatties' (potatoes).

The Bernerplatte served in the books is described as 'cabbage boiled together with thin strips of smoked ham, smoked sausages, potatoes and carrot'; the dish may also include pork belly, pig's ears or bacon.

The cabbage in the dish may also be sauerkraut (fermented cabbage, also popular in Poland and Germany), flavoured with juniper. A similar French dish is choucroute garnie, which contains cabbage, potatoes and various charcuterie (cooked meat products).

Answer: fondue

Cheese is another staple food in Swiss cuisine. The fondue that the girls eat in 'Feud' is a mixture of cheese, Neuchâtel white wine and a little bit of Kirsch. Many recipes use different types of cheese, but in Switzerland, Gruyère is the most popular choice. Fondue is traditionally served in a pot called a caquelon which is kept heated, and guests use long forks to dip their morsels of food.

The mixture should be kept at a consistent temperature; hot enough to melt, but not hot enough to burn. Fondue parties were all the rage in the '70s, and involved guests taking turns to dip pieces of bread, meat and vegetables in the melted cheese. Variations include chocolate fondue, with chocolate instead of cheese and marshmallows, fruit - usually strawberries - and bits of cake instead of cheese, and fondue Bourguignonne, where meat is cooked in hot oil.

Answer: Raclette

Raclette is a semi-hard cheese from the Valais region. It comes in large wheels and is traditionally heated before a fire, before either a server or the guests themselves scrape pieces of the cheese off onto their plates. As is the custom, the girls eat their raclette with potatoes and gherkins, though other typical raclette accompaniments are pickled onions and cold cuts of meat.

The meal is traditionally accompanied by white wine or tea. A more modern way of serving raclette involves heating it on a raclonette, a type of grill, with the cheese already sliced and placed in small pans called coupelles.

Answer: A cake

Full disclosure: I had trouble doing the interesting info for this question because of the German Krapfen being completely different to the Swiss one, and more well-known! The Swiss Krapfen is a rich fruit cake, made with pears and nuts, and iced with marzipan; a similar cake is Fladen, a Swiss apple tart. If you want a filled doughnut in Switzerland, ask for a Berliner.

Answer: Apricot

The 'jam' bit is a clue, as citrus fruits are used to make marmalade, and apricots aren't citrus fruits! The vast majority of Swiss apricots are cultivated in the Valais, where they are known in German as 'Walliser Aprikosen'. Apricot season typically lasts from June to August; the combination of glacier water and the sandy ground of the Rhône Valley create good conditions for growing apricots.

The local Luizet variety is one of the most popular, though it must be eaten quickly as it ripens fast.

The apricot flan in the book is also flavoured with Kirsch, a cherry liqueur; Valais has its own apricot liqueur known as Abricotine.

Answer: Leckerli

'Lecker' is the German word for 'delicious'. Elinor M Brent-Dyer described Basler Leckerli as 'a kind of spiced honey cake with a thin coating of icing on top', but it's actually more like a biscuit. Leckerli traditionally contains hazelnuts, almonds, honey, candied peel and Kirsch.

They were originally created by spice merchants in Basle in the medieval period, and taste similar to gingerbread. (As for the other answers, Mäsmogge is a colourful sugar candy filled with hazelnut praline, Toblerone is a triangular chocolate bar flavoured with honey and nuts, and Tirggel is a Christmas biscuit.)

Answer: Millefeuille

Being a major producer of dairy products, it stands to reason that Swiss pastries and puddings would feature whipped cream! Millefeuille is actually French in origin, BUT is enjoyed in Switzerland, amongst other places. The name 'millefeuille' literally means 'thousand leaves', a reference to the thin layers of puff pastry; it is also known as a custard or vanilla slice, as it can be filled with custard instead of cream.

Some versions also contain jam, and the top layer usually has fondant icing or icing sugar as a topping. An attempt at making the world's longest millefeuille was actually made in Switzerland - in Geneva, to be exact - in 2012, with the sweet pastry clocking in at a massive 1221.67 m (a little over 4008 feet).

Answer: Cheese

'Kassuppe' or 'Käsesuppe' literally means 'cheese soup', and is also eaten in 'Two Sams at the Chalet School'. It is a specialty of central Switzerland, and uses local cheeses such as Gruyère or Emmenthal. The cheese is cut into chunks or grated before being added to the soup, which usually uses chicken stock or milk as a base.

Some variants may contain wine, vegetables or meat, such as bacon. Some recipes call for cooking the soup in a bain-marie to avoid burning the cheese. A similar type of soup called 'sopa de queso' exists in Spain.

Answer: A beef casserole with macaroni and tomato sauce

Elinor M Brent-Dyer describes Zürchertopf as 'a sausage made of macaroni, minced veal, spices and a dash of tomato sauce', but the dish is actually more of a casserole - 'Topf' is German for 'pot', and 'Zürchertopf' literally means 'Zürich pot'. It is traditionally made with beef, tomatoes and macaroni, cooked together in - yep - a pot. Speaking of pasta, 'Dampfnudeln' has nothing to do with noodles - they're actually sweet rolls or dumplings, cooked in plum (Pflaumen) syrup.

Answer: Veal

Many 'Chalet School' books feature veal being served both as a school dinner and in the various restaurants the girls visit on school trips. Luzerner Kugelipastete, to give it its full name, is the local speciality; its filling is made of chopped mushrooms and veal in a cream sauce.

It is thought to have been imported from Spain, and is traditionally served as a main dish at the annual Bärteli Meal of the Lucerne Safran Guild (a grocers' guild). another veal dish which crops up in 'Chalet School' books is Kalbsbraten, or roast veal; the type the Maynard triplets eat in 'The Chalet School Triplets' contains a stuffing made from lemon, eggs, barley meal and herbs.