Cooking Terms, Part XVI Trivia Quiz

Answer: to pour a thin even line of fine liquid drops

To drizzle is less than to pour. Melted butter is drizzled over vegetables. Olive oil is drizzled over salads. Balsamic vinegar is drizzled over too many things. Reduced fruit juices are drizzled on ice cream and cake.

Answer: pig parts left over at butchering

Scrapple is made by stewing the trimmings of a freshly butchered pig including the head, bones and some offal. The seasoned stock is then used to cook cornmeal which is mixed with the meat picked from the bones and formed into loaves. Scrapple is most often served sliced and fried.

A truly American dish, it derives from the German panhas and is similar to the white pudding and hog's pudding made in Great Britain.

Answer: almonds

The term "amandine" is French and is added to the end of the name of a dish to indicate its garnish, e.g. sole amandine. Cookbooks produced in the United States misspell this term "almondine" but continue to use it after the name of the dish in the French manner.

Answer: Treacle is the British word for what Americans call molasses.

Both sugar cane and sugar beets are refined by the extraction of sugar crystals; the remaining syrup is treacle or molasses. In other parts of the world, molasses or treacle is produced from berries, from dates and even from carob.

Answer: any of these

Beating is a process whereby a mixture is made smooth and light by the incorporation of air through vigorous stirring. Batters are commonly beaten. The word "batter" derives from the Old French "battre" which means "to beat."

Answer: unfermented green grape juice

Verjus was commonly used to add acid to foods in the Middle Ages in Europe. Its use was replaced by wine and vinegar. In the last few years, verjus has returned, perhaps led by Australian chef and vintner Maggie Beer.

Answer: Bread flour produces more gluten and cake flour less gluten than does all-purpose flour.

Most white flour is milled from wheat. Wheat contains gliadin and glutenin, two proteins which, when combined and activated, produce gluten. The more protein in flour, the more gluten it will produce and vice versa. Bread flour contains 14-16% protein, all-purpose (AP) flour 10-12%, pastry flour 9% and cake flour only 7-8%. Bread flour produces dense chewy bread while cake flour produces light and airy cakes.

Answer: heating and cooling it to specific temperatures

In order to produce high-quality chocolate with a beautiful gloss which snaps when it is broken (rather than crumbles), it must be tempered. Traditional temperers heat and cool the chocolate to specific temperatures, often using a stone slab. This process determines the size of crystals in the chocolate; smaller is better. Modern tempering is done by computer in a tempering machine.

Answer: Judaism

Because of the prohibition of work (including cooking) on the Sabbath, Jews developed a dish which could be set in a slow oven on Friday before sunset and eaten warm for lunch the next day. In the past, community ovens served; modernly, electric slow cookers take their place. Cholent is commonly served in synagogues after morning prayer services on Shabbat.

Answer: prebake the pie crusts without any filling in them

Blind baking is a method of prebaking pie crusts without any filling. This is especially important where the crust is to contain a very wet filling or where the filling needs to remain unbaked. Blind baking can be accomplished by fitting foil or parchment paper into the crust and then holding it down with pie weights, pastry weights, or uncooked dried beans. This apparatus is removed part way through baking to allow the crust to brown.