Eat Your Way Round China Trivia Quiz

Answer: Peking Duck

Quanjude is one of Beijing's best known duck restaurants, and has been in business for almost 150 years. The duck is roasted in a wood-fired oven, using fruit wood for extra flavour, for about 45 minutes. The whole duck is brought out and sliced at the table. The duck is eaten wrapped in a thin pancake, with a little spring onion, cucumber and sweet plum sauce.

Answer: Stewed Vegetable

Di San Xian means three treasures of the earth. This dish sounds simple - fried and stewed green pepper, eggplant and potato - and it is. But it is also very tasty!

Answer: Mutton Hot Pot

In the middle of the table is a large bowl of boiling broth, and in fromt of us are piles of thinly sliced fatty mutton. We cook the mutton in the broth and dip it in a sesame, coriander and spring onion sauce. Trust me - it tastes much better than it sounds!

Answer: Stewed Rice and Vegetables

Shou Zhua Fan literally means - rice grabbed with your hands. This dish is rice steamed in mutton broth, with the addition of vegetables and meat. I tend to think of it as Xinjiang's version of paella or risotto! Traditionally eaten with your hands, it is rich and extremely filling.

Answer: Spicy Boiled Fish

Shui Zhu Yu is now eaten all across China. A whole fish is sliced thinly and placed into a huge bowl of boiling oil,filled with chilis, sichuan peppercorns and bean sprouts. When the dish reaches the table, all the chilis are taken out, and you just pick the fish out of the bowl. Delicious, but oh it's spicy! I have literally cried eating this dish!

Answer: Rice Noodles in Soup

The name of the dish means 'Across the Bridge Rice Noodles'. The noodles are served in a large bowl filled with clear chicken broth, sliced meat and other seasonings. On top of the broth is a layer of hot oil, which keeps the soup very hot. The story is that in ancient times a hermit lived on an island and the insulating layer of hot oil meant that his wife could walk all the way across the bridge to give the hermit his food, and it would still be warm!

Answer: Shrimp Dumplings

Yum - my favourite of all dim sum. Delicately steamed shrimp and bamboo pieces wrapped in a light rice flour skin. Shao Mai or Siu Mai, pork and shrimp dumplings in a yellow skin are also excellent.

I have always found that two to three orders of dim sum per person is just about the right amount.

Answer: Seafood, meat and chicken broth

Fo Tiao Qiang means 'Buddha jumps over the wall' - the legend goes that when the dish was first made, a scholar announced that it was so tasty and fragrant that as soon as you take the top of the pot, even Buddha would interrupt his meditation to hop over the wall for a bowl!

This dish combines over 20 ingredients, from sea cucumber and shark's fin, to pigs trotter, mushrooms and pork. It is cooked for two days in chicken broth, plenty of shaoxing rice wine, and sealed in a eartehware pot.

Answer: Steamed Hairy Crab

This is a special type of freshwater crab, usually eaten in the winter. Very little preparation is required. The crabs are tied up with bamboo fibre, and placed in a bamboo steamer until cooked. All that is required then is a bit of manual dexterity to get the flesh out, and to use a touch of vinegar for dipping.

Answer: Steamed buns

Baozi are steamed buns filled with a variety of ingredients, usually minced pork and vegetables.

Thgis restaurant in Tianjin has the alarming literal translation of 'dogs won't touch them', but there is an explanation! Apparently the founder of the shop was not exactly a handsome man, and had the nickname 'Gouzi', or 'Dog'. But he worked so hard at making his steamed buns that when he was in the kitchen, he ignored everybody around him, hence the name "Gou Bu Li' or 'Dog-face ignores everyone'.