Flambé! Flambé! - Cooking with Fire Quiz

Answer: Caribbean

The origins are somewhat obscure, but all are located around the Caribbean area. The language from which the word is believed to derive was spoken on a number of Caribbean islands, as well as in Florida and Mexico. Some suggest the Mexican word 'barbacoa' is derived from Barbados, which is then identified as the origin of the practice and the word.

The original practice involved digging a hole in the ground and placing meat, often a whole animal such as a goat, in the hole, on top of a pot to catch the cooking juices, before covering it with leaves chosen to impart flavor during the cooking process.

The fire is then lit on top and the process left to run for several hours.

Answer: Jerk

The mixture called Jamaican jerk spice, traditionally applied to chicken and pork before cooking, is now applied to other protein-based foods such as fish, shellfish, beef, even tofu. The spice mixture is based on allspice, called pimento in Jamaica, and Scotch bonnet peppers, one of the hottest peppers according to the Scoville scale. Every chef has a personal recipe for jerk mix, and other ingredients can include cloves, cinnamon, scallions, nutmeg, thyme, garlic, salt and pepper. Traditional jerk cooking involved smoking over a charcoal fire that has the wood, leaves and berries of the pimento plant mixed in for aromatic impact, but modern cooking is more likely to involve grilling over charcoal (still with the added pimento material) using a steel drum jerk pan.

Answer: kidneys

Cabrito is popular in northern Mexico, and the flavor released by the kidneys as the kid is slowly grilled or smoked over the open fire is considered a delicacy. Mexican barbacoa traditionally involves cooking with a fire pit. In Mexico and Central America, there is also a barbecue tradition of roasting halved chickens which have been marinated overnight in adobo sauce, a mixture of chipotles (smoked jalapeno peppers) and other peppers, stewed with tomatoes, garlic, vinegar, spices such as cumin, and herbs such as oregano.

Answer: North Texas barbecue

East Texas barbecue involves slow cooking over hickory wood, and a sweet tomato-based marinade. West Texas barbecue uses mesquite wood, producing a bitter taste. South Texas barbecue uses thick sauces, often prepared with molasses. The fourth distinctive regional style of Texas barbecue, Central Texas style, involves rubbing the meat with spices before cooking it over indirect heat from pecan or oak wood. All of these styles traditionally use beef as the meat. Mexican barbacoa is often popular in Texas.

Answer: Pork

Pigs arrived with the early settlers and quickly established themselves as a feral population. In addition, farmers often turned their domestic pigs loose to forage for themselves, saving on the expense of their upkeep. Hunting wild and semi-wild pigs was a cheap source of food. Barbecued ribs are the most commonly-used cut of meat, although pulled pork (from the shoulder) is also popular.

The sauce used varies from region to region.

Answer: Braai

The word Braai is Afrikaans for barbecue or roast. It originated with the Afrikaner people, but has since been taken on and used by South Africans of many cultural backgrounds. As a social occasion, a braai involves cooking by the men (one of whom is the braaier, or head cook).

The meat to be cooked may include boerewors (sausages), sosaties (meat on skewers), marinated chicken, pork and lamb chops, steaks, spareribs, fish and Rock Lobster (commonly called 'crayfish').

Answer: Char siu

Char siu (literally 'fork roast') is a popular way to prepare pork in Cantonese cuisine. Traditionally, long strips of seasoned boneless pork are skewered with long forks and placed in a covered oven or over a fire. Before cooking, the meat is seasoned with a glaze made of honey, five-spice powder, fermented tofu, dark soy sauce, hoisin sauce, sherry or rice wine, and (non-traditional, but common) red food coloring.

The outside of the meat turns a dark red. Maltose may be added to produce a shine on the finished product.

Answer: Khorkhog

To cook Khorkhog, heated stones are placed in the cooking container along with the meat and selected vegetables. When serving, the stones are distributed along with the meat, and are said to have health-giving properties. Boodog is another traditional Mongolian barbecue technique, in which the whole carcass of a marmot or goat is cooked over the fire.

It should be noted that restaurants offering Mongolian barbecue as a cooking method are usually using a technique that originated in Taiwan during the twentieth century.

Answer: Barbie

All of these are underground oven cooking techniques. The imu is found in Hawaii, where it is used to cook the Kalua pig commonly found at a luau. Traditionally, heated lava rocks are placed in a hole that has been lined with banana leaves; the salted pig is placed in the hole and covered with more banana leaves.

The hole is the covered with burlap and soil, and left to steam all day. The New Zealand hangi is similar, but without the banana leaves. Earth ovens called umu are found in Samoa, Tonga, Easter Island and the Cook Islands.

Answer: Sausage

The barbecued sausage, served with fried onions and tomato sauce on a slice of white bread, is sold outside supermarkets and hardware stores (anywhere you are likely to find families with small children) on Saturday mornings all across Australia. Selling them is also a popular fund-raising activity for schools. Sad to say, the Sausage Sizzle often uses a gas-fired or electric hotplate these days, but the spirit of the barbecue still infuses the ritual.