Food Quiz

I only missed one of these - bet some would get a perfect score.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/sarahaspler/this-cooking-quiz-has-only-9-questions-and-i-bet-you-cant?utm_source=dynamic&utm_campaign=bfsharepinterest

I only missed one of these - bet some would get a perfect score.

I missed the one about Swiss/German/French/Italian because I momentarily forgot it was limited to food, and thought about language.

I only missed one of these - bet some would get a perfect score.

I missed the one about Swiss/German/French/Italian because I momentarily forgot it was limited to food, and thought about language.

I missed the same one because I thought there are French, Italian and German bread styles, but no "Swiss bread" style.

I missed January King. No surprise. Clever quiz.

Let me stick in a food mistake term that always riles me. In most of the world, the culinary term 'au jus' means that an item is served with a broth or sauce for dipping the menu item in. In the US, they say 'served with au jus' instead of 'served au jus'. as if 'au jus' was a type of sauce. I wonder how that got started....(I'd say that it surely didn't originate in Louisiana...)

That's only one phrase that comes from the Department of Redundancy Department. "ATM Machine" is another one. And "please RSVP". There's a good discussion of such things in the Unusual Words topic in the Friends and Fun forum.

Another food malapropism that drives me nuts is the use of "marinade" as a verb in recipes, as in "marinade for up to 2 hours". The verbal is "to marinate", folks.

-Paul W.

Got 9/9, but totally guessed on the French/German etc and the actual answer was a total surprise to me (not my forte)

[Jenise]

I missed January King. No surprise. Clever quiz.

I did too, thinking 'fingerling' a generic word, small 'f', but not a brand name. Same as what a Yukon Gold and Red Bliss are to the categories of red and yellow potatoes.

I got 7 out of 9

I missed 1, thinking that Swiss, German and French were referring to chocolates. Didn't consider meringues!

I got 7 out of 9

Some I got right for different reasons than the setter intended, e.g. I picked mushrooms as the odd one out because the other 3 are vegetables.

I got the potato/cabbage thing wrong because they are all names unknown in the UK.

I wrongly picked Swiss as the odd one out as the other 3 have well-known distinctive cuisines. I have never heard of meringues named after the other countries. I've not heard of any named meringue.

In most of the world, the culinary term 'au jus' means that an item is served with a broth or sauce for dipping the menu item in.

I didn't encounter 'au jus' until I visited the USA, and I didn't know what it meant (although I new the words meant 'with juice'.

Over here meat is served with gravy, which is poured over the meat. 'Jus' is meat juices, 'gravy' is thickened meat juices.

Let me stick in a food mistake term that always riles me.

What about 'entree'? How did that come to mean the main course in the USA rather than the starter?

I got all 9, but freely admit that the country question was a flat-out guess for me. (In a strictly geographical sense, either Germany or Italy could plausibly be the "odd one out")

As late as the 1800s your classic French dinner had five or six courses: soup; hour d'ouvres (and/or fish); an entree or entrees; a roast (the star feature of the meal); a final course; and a dessert. The entree was a meat dish, but less substantial than the roast. Of course only the rich could afford to eat this way on a regular basis.

Urbanization in 20th century America resulted in a growing middle class that adopted more continental tastes, but with simplification of the traditional order of courses. The great depression and WW II essentially did in the expensive formal meal even for the wealthy. What had been entree dishes now became main courses, but the name entree was retained.

Elsewhere in the English-speaking world, my experience is that entree now means any sort of starter course, what we in the US call an appetizer. As what used to be entrees became main courses, the term entree has slid upwards in the course of dishes to cover the category of hors d'ouvres and other light first courses.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

I wrongly picked Swiss as the odd one out as the other 3 have well-known distinctive cuisines. I have never heard of meringues named after the other countries. I've not heard of any named meringue.

I got it right for the wrong reason, never heard of meringues this way either.

9 of 9, but I also guessed on the German thing. I had no logic to my guess; German just seemed the odd one out. I tried to think of why, but I couldn't come up with a reason.

[Jenise]

I didn't encounter 'au jus' until I visited the USA, and I didn't know what it meant (although I new the words meant 'with juice. Over here meat is served with gravy, which is poured over the meat. 'Jus' is meat juices, 'gravy' is thickened meat juices.

Ridiculous as 'au jus' is (the ignorance of foreign languages is an embarrassment), it basically only applies to prime rib and, I suppose, sometimes the dipping sauce served with a French dip sandwich. Otherwise, gravy here is the same as there.