Piggies Trivia Quiz

Answer: Cassoulet

Cassoulet is traditionally made with white beans, sausage and pork skin. It also contains other meats such as duck confit, partridge, mutton or goose. It originates from the historic province of Languedoc (now Occitanie) in the south of France, and takes its name from the cassole, a type of earthenware pot with slanted sides, in which it is traditionally cooked. Canned varieties are available in French supermarkets.

Answer: Stegt flaesk

Stegt flæsk med persillesovs (literally 'fried pork belly with parsley'), to gives it its full name, is the national dish of Denmark, and consists of strips of fried pork belly, potatoes and a white sauce made with parsley. It is of rural origin, and is popular due to being relatively cheap.

Although Denmark is famous for its bacon, and 'flæsk' is sometimes translated as 'bacon', there is a distinction between flæsk and bacon; flæsk is traditionally not smoked or salted. As well as parsley sauce, it can also be served with apple compote.

Answer: Feijoada

Feijoada contains beef, sausage and black beans, and is consumed in Brazil, Portugal and other Portuguese colonies such as Angola and Cape Verde. There are many regional variations, but the Brazilian version is customarily served with rice and oranges, and sometimes collard greens and manioc flour as well. 'Feijão com arroz' is a vegetarian version.

The type of meats in feijoada can include jerked beef, tongue, salt pork or beef, smoked sausage, bacon, pig feet or smoked pork ribs. It is traditionally eaten at weekends.

Answer: Tonkatsu

'Ton' means 'pig' (if you're a 'Naruto' fan, you might remember that the character Tsunade had a pet pig called Tonton), and 'katsu', short for 'katsuretsu', means 'cutlet'. Katsuretsu was initially a beef dish, but a pork version was invented in a Tokyo restaurant in 1899, and soon caught on. To make tonkatsu, pork is dredged in flour, dipped in egg, coated with panko breadcrumbs and deep fried.

It is traditionally eaten with a thick brown sauce similar to Worcestershire sauce and shredded cabbage, with rice, miso soup and tsukemono (pickled vegetables) on the side.

It can either be eaten alone, in a curry or as a sandwich filling.

Answer: Siu yuk

Specifically, siu yuk is a Cantonese dish, a type of siu mei (roasted meat dish). To make siu yuk, an entire pig is seasoned with salt and vinegar and roasted in a charcoal furnace at a high temperature. If it is served in pieces, it is siu yuk, but if the whole pig is served without being cut up, it is known as siu jyu. Ideally, it should have very crispy skin, while the meat should be juicy and tender.

It can be served plain, or with a condiment such as soy sauce or hoisin sauce.

Answer: Prdelacka

Pigs' blood is an ingredient in various types of sausage, such as black pudding, but prdelačka is a soup rather than a sausage. It contains pork blood pudding (a type of curd made with pigs' blood, also used in East Asian cuisine), potatoes, onions and garlic.

It is traditionally eaten during the winter months, when it is the Czech pig slaughtering season, and made after a pig has been slaughtered. In the olden days, the process of pig slaughtering - zabijačka - would take place over several days; village men would visit friends and relatives with gifts of meat and soup, and a party known as a 'karmina' would take place at the end. Zabijačka is still celebrated in some Czech towns and villages around the time of Mardi Gras.

Answer: Lechon

As well as the Philippines, lechón is also eaten in Puerto Rico - where it is the national dish - Cuba, Spain and the Dominican Republic. 'Lechón' is Spanish for 'roast suckling pig', a suckling pig being a piglet fed on its mother's milk. In the Philippines, lechón is traditionally eaten on special occasions, and is usually cooked on a spit over a charcoal fire. Before roasting, the pig is rubbed with seasoning.

The two main regional variants are Manila or Luzon lechon, and Cebu lechón. Manila lechón is cooked over a wood fire instead and served with a sauce made from vinegar, salt and pepper, sugar, liver, garlic, onion and breadcrumbs. Cebu lechón is stuffed with herbs such as bay leaves, lemongrass and green onions, and served with dipping sauce.

The leftover parts of the pig are used to make paksiw na lechón, a vinegary broth.

Answer: Currywurst

I should point out that 'chips' in this context are what Americans call 'French fries', and what Germans call 'Pommes Frites'. Currywurst is an archetypal German snack, often found at fast food stands, diners or restaurants. The (sometimes rather lurid, at least in the case of the Currywurst I ate in Aachen) orange sauce is known as 'curry ketchup', a ketchup-like sauce with curry powder It was said to be invented by Herta Heuer in West Berlin in 1949, when she acquired ketchup and curry powder from American soldiers, mixed them together and poured them over sausages.

They are also sometimes served with paprika or fried onions. A halal version is made with beef sausage. There was even a Currywurst Museum in Berlin dedicated to the dish, though it sadly closed in 2018.

Answer: Devils on horseback

Devils on horseback are pitted prunes wrapped in bacon, sometimes stuffed with mango chutney, cheese or whole almonds. They are a Christmas favour, and are traditionally served on toast, sometimes with watercress. Liver is sometimes used as a substitute for prunes, and a variation called 'angels on horseback' uses oysters instead of prunes.

A recipe by English chef Nigel Slater suggests apricots as an alternative to prunes, and that the prunes should be soaked in brandy beforehand. As for the name, it's thought to be a reference to the black and red colour scheme of the dish.

Answer: Budae-jjigae

'Jjigae' means 'stew' in Korean, and 'budae-jjigae' is known as 'army stew' ('budae' meaning 'military unit' or 'troop'). It is a mishmash of American and Korean foods, containing spam, sausage, baked beans, ham, kimchi (fermented vegetables) and gochujang (red chilli paste).

It was created at the end of the Korean War, using ingredients which had been scrounged from US Army bases. More recent versions also contain ingredients such as mozzarella, tofu, minced beef, macaroni or Vienna sausage. The city of Uijeongbu in Gyeonggi Province is particularly noted for its local budae-jjigae, although some restaurants prefer to call it 'Uijeongbu-jjigae' to avoid the military associations.