Kitchen Nightmares Trivia Quiz

Answer: Savory

Soufflés really only come in two types-- sweet and savory-- and as a baked dish they're quite difficult to master. Sweet soufflés usually involve chocolate or fruit, usually berries, and are, by-and-by, a matter of chemistry; soufflés require that very specific steps be followed, right down to the bake time, otherwise they could fall flat or be undercooked. What you want is a dish that poofs up and out over a coquette/ramekin that's fluffy on the outside and creamier on the inside. Savory soufflés make use of non-sweet ingredients. Some of the most common are cheese and bacon. These still require intense specifics to bake and, more importantly, precise measurements. Putting too much cheese into a soufflé can be overpowering or, technically, dish-ruining.

Fun Fact: The term 'soufflé' is derived from the French verb 'to blow up'. How does it do this? Egg whites.

Answer: Chicken

Coq au vin consists of chicken and vegetables of all sorts (usually including mushrooms) braised in red wine and served like a stew. Although early recipes for the dish involve burgundy, an indicator of its original French origins, many other wines will suffice for the meal; the wine is a basic marinade which adds sweetness and creates the basis of a roux. Coq au vin was popularized by famous chef Julia Child.

Fun Fact: The dish's name calls for rooster, but due to the availability of chicken it makes sense to go with the latter. The reason rooster was cooked with wine was to braise out the toughness found when removing the meat from the bone.

Answer: Chili pepper

Mole is actually a variety of different sauces-- there are many different versions out there representative of varied styles and availability/tastes of different Mexican states. A Puebla mole is different from an Oaxaca mole, for instance. The basics are typically the same though-- Mole is a chili pepper-based sauce with different spices, herbs, and ingredients thrown in to create new flavour; getting the right combination and the right amounts of each is the tricky part.

Fun Fact: Firstly, you would not typically find any hints of mole meat in a mole sauce. Secondly, several variants of mole contain chocolate!

Answer: Baking

The beef Wellington is an English dish consisting of...well...beef fillet seasoned then wrapped in pastry and baked until the proper cook of meat. The whole process is daunting. On one hand, the meat on the inside needs to be cooked to perfection; on the other, the delicate pastry on the outside can not be burnt. In other words, you're cooking two major components, both of which need to synergize and both of which would typically require completely different approaches.

Fun Fact:, The beef Wellington is Gordon Ramsey's signature dish; according to the chef, it took him decades to master the process. It's no surprise he uses it to test hopeful contestants on "Hell's Kitchen"; it can be a stressor in and of itself.

Answer: Napoleon

The mille-feuilles is a French dessert consisting of flaky pastry, custard, and either cream or jam. Usually quite light, the dish is meant to crackle under a fork but taste creamy on the tongue. It's not unreasonable to consider this a difficult dish as it's a very delicate layer cake; getting the light layers just right and keeping the pastry intact can be a hassle. But the result is heavenly.

Fun Fact: The Napoleon variant of the dish usually contains almond and, unsurprisingly, the dish can be made savory with unconventionally non-sweet ingredients such as cream cheese. In other countries, the pastry can be replaced with graham crackers.

Answer: Paella

Paella is particularly noteworthy because it has the ability to be flavoured with impeccable care-- a good paella is a symphony of different spices and ingredients ranging from saffron to rosemary, shrimp to rabbit, meat to vegetables. Risotto is made with short-grain bomba rice (usually) and hails from the Valencia region, a part of Spain also known for its allioli sauce and oranges. Cabidela, while similar, originated in Portugal while Risotto is an Italian dish made with different rice and creamier consistency. Horchata is a Mexican rice drink.

Fun Fact: Arròs negre, another dish similar to paella (and from Valencia), is served with cuttlefish and squid. The dish appears black (instead of the typical golden-yellow of a paella) as a result of the ink.

Answer: Shortening

Puff pastry is a difficult one, partly because it's a key ingredient in several already-hard-to-make dishes and partly because it requires a great amount of care to turn out. Firstly, the dough needs to be kneaded and folded at a specific temperature to both prevent from running and from thickening. Folding must be done with breaks in between because the amount of folds and layers in the pastry determine the thickness and texture. Some recipes do, indeed, call for thicker pastries. Puff pastry is used as the outer shell of beef wellingtons, certain pies, pastry turnovers, and, in many cases, strudel.

Fun Fact: While shortening is typically used to make well-layered puff pastry, you're more likely to find it made with butter, not only for flavour, but for time; a proper puff pastry can take a great deal of time simply for the folding procedure. Butter will make the crust flaky, but it won't be as puffy (which is part of the point, right?)

Answer: Meringue

Meringue, made with egg whites, sugar, and an acid of some sort, is not the hard part of this dish; it's the general construction. The dish contains a spongy cake as a base then topped with ice cream. The ice cream is then covered with meringue which, when the dish is baked, solidifies and protects the ice cream from the intense heat. You end up with a hot outside and cold inside. Delectable!

Fun Fact: The dish was not originally made in Alaska. If you're intrigued, you may also try deep-fried ice cream. Think about that one for a while. ;)

Answer: Austria

Similar to the hassle-driven puff pastry, the croissant is a layered roll made with dough baked in the shape of a crescent. Often very buttery and flaky, the croissant has been attributed to French bakeries for ages, but it originated as a Viennoiserie, a pastry made with ingredients baked into the dough to enhance the flavour-- brioche is another one of these, and so are apple turnovers. Leave these to the bakers of the world though-- they can burn very easily and take a great deal of care to make. But they're oh so good!

Fun Fact: The word 'croissant' is French for 'crescent'; it can be made with all sorts of additional ingredients from cheese to meat to chocolate to nuts and everything in between. Despite this, many consider it to be a breakfast bread.

Answer: Lactic acid

The lactic acid, sure enough, results from the leavened starter-- the flour, yeast, and water, when leavened properly, will create the sour part of the bread by creating more lactic acid than usual. This is a process that can take many days to perfect. The more yeast fermented, the sourer the bread will taste due to the breakdown of natural bacteria. With more flour and water, then baked, it will make its way to the bread stage soon enough. Getting the chemistry and biology correct, however, is the tough part.

Fun Fact: Sourdough bread has been around for thousands of years dating back to Ancient Egyptian times. There are countless recipes from around the world involving this particular type of baked delight, each with different leavening agents and starter pre-fermentation times; some guard the secret closely.