Leek-y Onions Trivia Quiz

Answer: Gruyere

Beef stock is the most common stock used when preparing French onion soup, to which the star ingredient is added. Yellow onions are the most recommended variety to use, though professional chefs often use a combination of yellow and sweet onions to achieve their desired flavor. Before serving, the top of the soup is layered with croutons and cheese and baked as a gratin. Creamy, nutty white cheeses, such as Gruyere or Emmental, are the most typical choices. Dig in!

Answer: fairy

A creamy concoction whipped with butter, milk, and scallions, champ is an entirely Irish creation, sometimes served as a side dish with meat. The image here shows it covered with gravy, but it is actually more common to top the dish with a bit of additional butter, which melts atop the potatoes into a shallow pool.

During Samhain, according to Irish folk custom, people would cook up a pot and leave a bowl out for the fairies as an offering to keep themselves in the creatures' good graces. Not sure how the fairies felt about it, but a bowl of creamy champ would probably work on me.

Answer: soy sauce

Pajeon, and other Korean jeon more broadly, are served as appetizers, as banchan (Korean side dishes), as anju (small Korean dishes ordered while drinking), and even simply as a quick snack made at home. They are not always dipped in a sauce, but when they are, it is usually a soy sauce-based mixture combined with ingredients such as vinegar, chili flakes, sesame oil, and sometimes a sweetener.

One famous legend associated with pajeon comes from the events of the Imjin War (1592-1598), in which Japanese invaders attacked the southern coastal city of Busan. Once the invaders had been repelled, people in Dongnae were said to have thrown scallions at the retreating forces, leading to Dongnae pajeon, a version of this dish made with whole scallions.

Answer: prunes

Considered a national dish, cock-a-leekie soup is a prime example of Scottish cuisine's reputation for deep, sumptuous broths. Various vegetables, such as carrots and celery, are sometimes also added, and many versions add rice or barley to thicken things up. Yet, if you are entertaining your Scottish friends during a Scottish holiday, you should probably top the soup off with the traditional diced prunes if you really want to impress them.

Answer: Indonesia

When preparing bumbu, the ingredients are traditionally ground down using a mortar and pestle, with fresh ingredients being preferred. This results in a paste-like consistency rather than a dry powder. The list of ingredients is as varied as the recipes that use the paste. Shallots and garlic almost always appear, but some others include ginger, chili peppers, tamarind, candlenut, coriander, mace, turmeric, cinnamon, cloves, star anise, and the list goes on.

While there are innumerable versions of bumbu, Indonesian chefs often group basic bumbu pastes into four major variations: white, yellow, orange, and red. Rendang is often associated with the orange or red versions, while nasi goreng is usually prepared with the red.

Answer: wine festivals

The German regions mentioned in the question are famous for being wine-producing regions, with Mosel and the Rhine known for their whites, particularly Riesling, and Baden for its reds.

As for Zwiebelkuchen, you will find it a popular dish to order during the various wine festivals around the country. It is usually paired with Federweisser, also called Neuer Wein, a type of very young wine that consists of only partially fermented grape juice. The "weisser" in the name refers to the wine's cloudy whitish color, and it is usually made from white grape must. It also has a red-grape counterpart, Federroter.

Answer: leek and potato soup

A creation that first appeared at the Ritz-Carlton in the 1910s, vichyssoise became popular in the U.S. and the U.K., but, despite its very French name, never really caught on in chef Louis Diat's home country of France. It is made with a smoothly blended combination of cooked leeks, potatoes, onions, and cream. Chopped chives (another allium) are sprinkled on top. Unlike most leek and potato soups, it is served chilled.

Chef Diat once remarked that he based it on the simple French leek and potato soup of his childhood, which he and his brother would cool with cold milk in the summer before he created a richer version for Ritz patrons.

Answer: carrots and celery

Used to flavor countless stocks and sauces, these mixtures are cooked slowly over heat so as not to brown them. The difference between soffritto and mirepoix lies partly in the method of cooking: French mirepoix is most often cooked in butter or another fat, while Italian soffritto is often cooked in olive oil and may have garlic added to it. If you have been served a French stew or Italian ragu dish, chances are the chef started it by chopping up these three vegetables.

Answer: False

While the blooming onion became synonymous with the restaurant Outback Steakhouse, the dish, like the restaurant itself, is an American invention. Founder Tim Gannon had previously worked with New Orleans restaurants, and he is believed to have gotten his inspiration for this deep-fried behemoth from a dish served at Russell's Marina Grill in New Orleans.

There is very little that is authentically Australian about the chain Outback Steakhouse, which was founded in Tampa, Florida. You might even be hard-pressed to find an Australian who has consumed a blooming onion.

Answer: Japan

Of all the offerings that Japanese yakitori has to offer, negima yakitori is my personal favorite. The alternating bits of chicken and scallion are a perfect combination with the tare sauce and grilled flavor. These incredible skewers are most often found in two places: in yakitori-ya, specialized shops dedicated to yakitori skewers, or in izakaya, drinking establishments that serve food along with drinks.