Reheated Leftovers, 3rd Course Quiz

Answer: "Bombay duck"

You are seated in an East Indian restaurant enjoying a dish of crisply-fried bombil with a curry sauce. There is no "duck" in Bombay Duck. The name refers to the fish Harpadon nehereus which is also called bummalo, boomla and lizardfish. There are numerous fanciful false etymologies for the name "Bombay Duck"; none of them is authoritative.

The East Indian dish is very popular in the UK and Canada.

Answer: "Sauerbraten"

You are sitting in a Gaststätte enjoying a supper of beef which has been marinated for days in vinegar and spices, served with potato pancakes (Kartoffelpuffer), potato dumplings (Kartoffelklöße), or Spätzle. Venison, lamb and mutton, pork or horse sometimes replace the beef. Sauerbraten is invariably served with a thick flavourful gravy, made from the marinade. [Chef's secret: gravy made by thickening and flavouring the roasting pan drippings with crumbled ginger-snap cookies is terrific.]

Answer: "Swimming Rama"

You are enjoying a dish of chicken on a bed of blanched spinach (or morning glory) topped with peanut sauce alongside a bed of rice. The Thai dish "Swimming Rama" is especially popular in American Thai restaurants, often a best-seller. Its origins are in Chinese-immigrant restaurants in Bangkok.

The name of the dish may derive from the god (or deified hero) Rama, an avatar of Vishnu, who is usually depicted in Thai art as having a green skin, represented by the greens served as the base for this dish. Occasionally the chicken will be replaced by slices of tender pork. [Another chef's hint: A most luxurious sauce can be made by using Thai coconut milk (including its cream) and American smooth peanut butter.]

Answer: "Gubbeen"

You are seated in a pub in County Cork, enjoying a cow's milk cheese, semi-soft, ripened, with a pink and white rind. It is available smoked but you are enjoying the purist's version. The name of this cheese, "Gubbeen," is a contraction of the Irish word "gobín." A "gobin" is a small mouthful of something; it is also the name of a bar in County Cork.

The milk from which it is made is a mixture of British Friesian, Simmenthal, Jersey, and Kerry. Microbiologists studying this quite wonderful cheese identified a novel strain of lactic-acid producing bacteria which inheres in the ripening of this cheese and named it Microbacterium gubbeenense.

Answer: "Buddha Jumps the Wall"

You are comfortably seated in a "cānguǎn" enjoying a bowl of shark-fin soup with many ingredients including ham, pork tendon, chicken, abalone, sea cucumber, fish maw, scallops, quail eggs, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, ginseng and yellow wine. Because sharks are somewhat protected, there is a move away from using actual shark's fins in this soup.

The origin of the name for this dish is entertaining. Buddhist monks are mostly vegetarian. The story goes that a traveling scholar prepared this soup just outside the walls of a Buddhist monastery.

The smell was so enticing that a monk jumped over the wall to have some. When he was caught, he explained that even Buddha himself would have jumped over the wall for this soup. The Korean version of this soup is called Buldojang.

Some Korean Buddhists have found the name blasphemous.

Answer: "Rijsttafel"

You are settled in an "eethuis" with a plate on which rice is topped with bits of as many as forty different dishes. This is the Dutch version of the Indonesian "nasi padang" -- a sort of smorgasbord. The Dutch word for this banquet is "rijsttafel" (rice table), so named because rice is the foundation of it. The Colonial Dutch brought back to the Netherlands a taste for satay sauces, Indonesian stir-fries, curries, pickles and the like. Rijsttafel is not popular in Indonesia for historical-political reasons.

Answer: "menudo"

Nursing a hangover, you are sitting in a "fondita" addressing a steaming bowl of soup made with cow's stomach. Menudo is a traditional Mexican soup made with beef tripe and hominy in a broth flavoured with red chili peppers, lime, onions and oregano. Because of its contents, it is also known as "pancita" (meaning little stomach). Tripe takes a long time to cook, as does this soup.

It is a customary dish at wedding receptions, on weekends, at family gatherings, for Christmas and to cure hangovers. Annual menudo cook-offs are held in those parts of the United States where there is a substantial Mexican American population.

Answer: "octopus balls"

You are sitting (one cushions on the floor) of a "resutoran" enjoying spheres of minced octopus in a batter with pickled ginger and green onions. This Japanese dish is topped with two sauces: "takoyaki" sauce (comparable to Worcestershire sauce) and a creamy sauce (comparable to mayonnaise).

These are octopus balls, a name which provides pre-adolescent boys an occasion to giggle. The Japanese name is "takoyaki." "Tako" is the Japanese word for octopus; "yaki" describes a cooking process like frying or grilling. Octopus balls are so ubiquitous in Japan that they may be purchased in 24-hour convenience stores.

Answer: "Brigadeiro"

You're finishing your meal in a "restaurante" with a confection (rather like a truffle) in a mini cupcake liner. The sweet is made of condensed milk, cocoa powder, sugar, butter and a coating of chocolate sprinkles. Brazilian confectioner Heloisa Nabuco de Oliveira invented this delight in 1946 to promote the presidential candidacy of Brigadier General Eduardo Gomes. Women, who had only recently obtained the right to vote in national elections, sold the candies to support his campaign and called them brigadeiros in his honour.

They were further promoted by the makers of Nestlé condensed milk.

Answer: "Toad in the hole"

Seated in an English pub, you are prepared to eat a dish in which sausages have been baked in Yorkshire pudding batter, sauced with onion gravy. The name "toad in the hole" has been given to this dish for several centuries. When prepared with lamb's kidneys or leftover roast, it is not properly called "toad in the hole." Nor is "pigeon in the hole" which was popular from the mid-19th century. The dish is not made with toads.