Edible Images (q-s) Trivia Quiz

Answer: Sweet and sour pork

China is the source of this dish and it became known to Westerners through early traders living in Guangdong province during the Qing dynasty. The dish underwent some development for Western tastes and emigrated with Guangdong expats with the Western public enjoying the fare in Cantonese restaurants such as during the mid-19th century Californian gold rush.

Although the image shows honey comb and lemons to represent sweet and sour, the sweet and sour sauce usually involves a blend of rice vinegar, sugar, soy sauce and tomato paste with perhaps pineapple juice, garlic and ginger for flavour enhancement. A Cantonese name for the dish is gu lou juk (in effect, meat that makes people salivate or gulp and swallow). The Japanese version is subuta (vinegar pork) with other names and variations around Asia. The other dishes listed as possible answers come from Indonesia, Italy and Germany.

Answer: Stuffed peppers

Rather than hand bells stuffed with peppercorns, this one is about stuffed capsicums or bell peppers. There are many versions of this recipe with capsicum availability no doubt having something to do with it. Three fried stuffed treasures is a form of Cantonese street food which also involve stuffed aubergines (eggplant) and stuffed sausage, which are all deep fried.

The stuffing is dace fish paste. Others include pimientos rellenos (Spain), bhavran mirch (India), dolma (Middle East) and chile relleno (Mexico). To some extent it depends on what the local preference is; the Hungarian variant, for example, uses the Hungarian wax pepper which has some Scoville heat built in.

Answer: Steak tartare

The image refers to the reported Mongol practice of tenderising a steak by having it wedged under a saddle during the riding day. The story goes that it was then eaten raw. More often than not, it would have been horse flesh. The terms 'Mongols' and 'Tartars' (or Tatars) are often conflated.

The story was promoted by the 13th century Frenchman Jean de Joinville, although he never met any Turco-Mongol warriors. The modern French version tends to use raw beef, perhaps with a raw egg on top. Other meats or fish may also have the 'tartare' name appended. Being raw, there are potential issues such as bacteria and parasites to consider.

Answer: Ragout

Coming from the French word 'ragoûter' (meaning to revive the taste), it is a stew with a long history. The cookbook "Apicius", a 5th century compilation of Roman recipes, uses ostrich as the meat, however there are versions made without meat. Slow cooking over a low heat is a common element.

The 1731 ballad "The Roast Beef of Old England" blames ragout for the demise of British military prowess. On the other hand, Mr Hurst has nothing to say to Elizabeth Bennet when learning that she chose a plain meal over ragout in Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" (1813).

The image shows a 'rag' being shaken 'out' of a window.

Answer: Ratatouille

This image is a reference to the 2007 Pixar-animated film "Ratatouille" which stars a rat named Remy with aspirations to become a chef. The title of the film is taken from the name of the dish that he reinterprets at one point. The stew itself originated in Nice, France and has changed over the years.

The modern version appeared around the 1930s and commonly includes tomatoes, courgettes (zucchini), onions, garlic, aubergine (eggplant) and some leafy herbs. There are many similar stews in different regions and countries.

Answer: Saksong

Typically made from minced pork, it can also be made using dog meat or, more rarely, water buffalo. Yes, there are a few places where dog meat is eaten, mainly in some Asian and African countries. Apparently it is legal to do so in some European countries. Back to saksang, the dish is widely consumed by Batak tribes.

It is one of four obligatory dishes during Batak weddings, the others being panggang (a grilled dish), arsik (spicy fish) and daun ubi tumbuk (pounded cassava leaves). Rendang is similar to saksong but made with beef and no blood.

The image shows a saxophone (or sax) with music notes emerging, suggesting a song.

Answer: Shchi

The Russian roots of this soup can be traced back to the 9th century shortly after the cabbage was introduced from the Byzantine Empire (although they called themselves Romans at the time). Meat and cabbage survive as ingredients to this day however the original wheat ingredient has dropped out. Adding a puree of aubergines or courgettes can help improve the soup's thickness. Variants made with sauerkraut (fermented cabbage) becomes sour shchi. Made with such plants as sorrel, spinach and nettles and it becomes green shchi. Shchi comes from an Old East Slavic word for 'something satisfying'.

The image shows a couple of cabbages. Against the wall is a couple of wooden skis, which is the hint.

Answer: Salmorejo

This is another of those Spanish soups served cold, along with gazpacho (and its numerous variants) and ajo blanco. It comes from Andalusia and it is made with tomatoes, olive oil and bread, producing a thicker, creamier soup than gazpacho. There is also a Canary Island marinade called salmorejo, used to flavour meat such as rabbit (conejo en salmorejo).

The image shows Sally (or Sal) pouring more coffee (or Joe). Joe is one of the many alternative names for coffee and arose in the US. There are a number of origin stories for the nickname floating around. It seems to have taken hold during the first half of the 20th century.

Answer: Scaloppine

The Italians borrowed the French term 'escalope' and produced 'scaloppine', a diminutive and plural form (small escalopes). The US term is 'scallop', tying in with the image which shows one half of a scallop shell. The Italian term applies to a dish with many forms and with many different sauces. The meat is typically beef, veal or chicken, and traditionally pounded thin to tenderise it, but these days is perhaps just sliced thin. The meat is dredged in flour and sautéed.

Answer: Shark fin soup

This is a Chinese dish where the shark fin provides the soup with some texture with the flavour supplied by other ingredients. It is considered a luxury item, used on special occasions such as weddings. No particular species of shark is used and an estimated 72 million sharks are killed annually for their fins. High concentrations of the neurotoxin Β-Methylamino-L-alanine (BMMA) are found in shark fins and so consuming the soup should perhaps come with a health warning. Shark fin soup has a long history in China, documented since the Ming dynasty. Imitation shark fin soup, using vermicelli, is perhaps a more ethical (and safer) solution to the growing demand.

Shishen soup is also known as four herb soup, the tempura is Japanese and she-crab soup hails from the US.