Lamb for Dinner Trivia Quiz

Answer: Crown of lamb

A rack of lamb is cut from the spine of the animal and includes eight ribs or chops on each side. Normally, only one side is used and it can be roasted as it is. For a fancier dish, and to serve more people, two or three racks are tied into a circle to make the crown roast of lamb.

The rib bones are normally exposed, which is called 'French style', and are often decorated with paper hats in the form of a chef's toque. Two racks can also be prepared facing each other, when the dish is called a 'guard of honour'.

Answer: Mint sauce

Mint sauce is made from finely chopped mint leaves, mixed with vinegar and a tiny amount of sugar. Some sources say the tradition may date from Biblical times, when the Israelites ate lamb with bitter herbs, but there seems to be no definitive answer. Rosemary is also commonly used to flavour lamb during cooking and redcurrant jelly is sometimes used as an accompaniment. Parsley sauce, based on a white sauce, can accompany fish or gammon and bread sauce is usually served with poultry. Tartare sauce is used with fish and scampi.

Answer: Lancashire

The traditional Lancashire hotpot was prepared early and left to cook for several hours in a large, heavy, pot on a low heat. As well as onions, many other vegetables can be included but the covering must be of sliced potatoes. Cornwall is famous for its pasties, consisting of meat and vegetables cooked in pastry. Devon is associated with cream teas, including scones with jam and cream. Derbyshire is best known for the Bakewell tart, a pastry base covered with jam and topped with an almond flavoured sponge.

Answer: Neck

Meat from the neck region is one of the cheaper cuts, as it is tougher and fattier than most others. It is good for use in stews or casseroles as the longer cooker time for these dishes makes the meat more tender. Well known British cookery writer Delia Smith recommends the use of scrag end for hotpots, so who am I to disagree?

Answer: Oats

Haggis is usually served at dinners to celebrate Scotland's national poet, Robert Burns, on 25 January annually. He wrote a famous poem in 1787, called 'Address to a Haggis'. The offal meat for the dish is minced and onions, suet, oatmeal and seasoning are added. Stock is then added to the mixture before being cooked in a casing, which is normally sausage casing rather than a stomach in modern times.

Much fun has been had by locals convincing tourists (often Americans) that the haggis is a real animal.

Answer: France

The name of the dish has been ascribed to the Battle of Navarino, in 1827, or, more prosaically, to the French name for turnip, which is 'navet'. The stew is made from a mixture of lamb shoulder or neck with vegetables and includes red wine for flavouring.

The recipe is very similar to that for Irish stew, but the latter does not include wine, although stout is occasionally added for extra flavour.

Answer: Asia

The kebab began life in Persia, now Iran, and spread into Turkey and the Middle East. Kebabs have made their way into many parts of the world nowadays, and are part of the takeaway scene in many British towns. There are several types, with the shish kebab consisting of meat and vegetables threaded on a skewer (the name of shish comes from the Turkish word for skewer).

The doner kebab comes from meat cooked on a rotating spit, with slices being cut from it for serving. There are other variations, but these two are the best known.

Answer: Rogan Josh

In Kashmir itself, the name of the dish is said to mean 'colour' (rogan) and 'moderate heat' (josh), which reflects the red colour of the sauce and the slow cooking needed for the meal. There are other interpretations, so I have used the one for the region of origin.

The colour comes from ground red pepper, called Kashmiri mirch, and this also gives a spicy but not too hot flavour to the dish. The other options are vegetarian dishes. Aloo Gobi is made from potato (aloo), cauliflower and spices. Sarson Da Saag is made from mustard leaves (sarson) and spices and Dal or Dhal (just two of the spellings around) is made from pulses, including beans, peas and lentils.

Answer: Shepherd's pie

Making a shepherd's pie is a good way of using up left-over roast lamb, and the name should only be used when mutton or lamb is the meat. However, it is often used for pies made with other minced up meat topped with potato, which should be called cottage pies.

There are many articles about the semantics of the names as the name of cottage pie was in use for nearly a century before the name of shepherd's pie made an appearance. The other pies do exist, according to my research, but are not as well known.

Answer: Roquefort

Roquefort is made in the south of France, in Roquefort-sur-Soulzon, and only cheeses made in the region can bear the name as it is protected by law. The cheese is white and crumbly, with veins of mould. The cheeses are matured in the nearby caves and visitors to the area can see the caves and follow the whole process of manufacture. Camembert and Brie are both made from cows' milk and Chèvre is made from the milk of goats. If you know any French, you may have realised that chèvre is the French word for goat.