Cooking Terms, Part IX Trivia Quiz

Answer: To soak the meat in saltwater

Brine is a mixture of water and salt, to which sugar, molasses, soy sauce, peppercorns, allspice berries, cloves, honey, candied ginger and/or garlic may be added. This both hydrates the meat (preventing drying out during roasting) and flavours the meat, as the brine carries seasoning into the meat's cells. Brining also tends to shorten cooking time.

Answer: Ground dried hominy

Grits are ground dried hominy. Hominy is corn which has been treated with an alkali. European settlers learned to make and eat grits from Native Americans. Grits are boiled with water or stock to make something a bit like polenta or farina. Leftover grits may be formed into a block which can later be sliced and fried in bacon grease (authentically), butter or vegetable oil (less so).

Answer: 175 F / 79 C

Curdling is less likely to occur if (1) the mixture is brought up to temperature very slowly, (2) one begins with room temperature eggs rather than ones cold from the refrigerator, (3) fat, water or lemon juice is added to the egg mixture, and (4) the mixture is continuously stirred after it reaches 160 degrees F / 72 degrees C.

Answer: Smoked haddock

Named for the Scottish fishing village of Findon (or Finnan) near Aberdeen, Finnan Haddie is haddock preserved by smoking. The original was cold-smoked over burning peat. With migration, it became popular in New England where it was served poached in milk as a breakfast food. It is also an ingredient in the English-Indian dish kedgeree.

Answer: A two-chambered lidded metal pot, one atop the other, with myriad tiny holes perforating the bottom of the top one

Couscous is a Berber food integral to Moroccan cuisine. It is made of fine roughly-spherical bits of ground semolina wheat. This may be steamed over water or broth in a couscousier or precooked and finished over a slow-simmering stew in the lower chamber of the same vessel.

Answer: Mix gently by cutting down through the mixture with a spatula, lifting and smoothing it over the rest.

Lighter mixtures, such as beaten egg whites or whipped cream, are often folded into heavier mixtures, such as batters, in order to combine them without losing the airy texture. This is a process better left incomplete than overcomplete.

Answer: South America

Quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wah) originated in the Andes of South America and fed the ancient Incas. It is of growing importance once again in that it contains a balanced set of amino acids important to humans and is gluten-free, which is important to people who cannot abide foods containing gluten.

Answer: A Scots kitchen utensil used to stir oatmeal

A spurtle (sometimes spelled spirtle) is a dowel designed to stir porridge to keep it from becoming lumpy during the cooking process. According to ancient Scots folklore, stirring widdershins (that is, anti-clockwise) invokes the devil and brings bad luck. The winner of the annual World Porridge Making Championships in Carrbridge, Scotland, is given The Golden Spurtle as a trophy.

Answer: Legumes which are seeds produced in pods

Common pulses include beans, dry peas, lentils, and garbanzos or chick peas. They are nutritionally important because they contain the amino acids necessary for the body to build complete proteins. They are sometimes eaten whole and sometimes ground into a flour.

Answer: whole milk

Clarification is the process of removing impurities from a liquid to make it pure and pellucid. Butter is clarified by melting it and removing the water and milk solids from the clear butter fat. Stocks are clarified by skimming, straining and sometimes by an elaborate process of cooking with a egg-white raft. Fruit juice is sometimes clarified before being made into jelly.

In some parts of England, since the 1700s, alcoholic milk punch has been made by "milk-washing." Acidic juice (lemon, lime, grapefruit, orange, pineapple, pomello) is added to whole milk to coagulate the solids (curds) and leave only the whey. This is the same process used to make farmers cheese and paneer. The curds are discarded (pity) and the filtered whey used in punch or cocktails. This not at all widespread nor common.