Cooking Terms Quiz
Julienne, blanch, roux, sous vide, mise en place: 15 questions on the words every cook should know.
What does the French kitchen phrase mise en place mean in practice?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
All ingredients prepped before cooking
Mise en place translates as putting in place. Cooks measure, chop and arrange all their ingredients and tools before heat is applied, so a fast recipe never stalls while you hunt for the garlic.
Restaurant cooks spend most of their shift on mise en place, and chefs often judge a new recruit by how organised their station looks.
A vegetable cut into julienne has been cut into what shape?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Thin matchstick strips
Julienne is the classic French matchstick cut, strips roughly 3 mm thick and 5 cm long (1/8 by 2 inches). It is used for carrot, celery and pepper in salads, stir-fries and garnishes.
The cut shares its name with potage julienne, a clear vegetable soup that appears in French cookbooks from the early eighteenth century.
The cooking term sauté comes from a French verb meaning what?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
To jump
Sauter means to jump, and sautéing cooks small pieces of food fast in a little hot fat while they are tossed so they leap in the pan. The quick movement keeps everything browning evenly without burning.
A sauté pan has straight sides to hold sauces, while a frying pan's sloped sides make the tossing motion easier.
What does it mean to blanch a vegetable?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Boil it briefly, then plunge it into iced water
Blanching gives vegetables a short dip in boiling water followed by an ice bath to stop the cooking. It sets bright colour, loosens skins on tomatoes and almonds, and preps vegetables for freezing.
The ice bath step is called shocking or refreshing, and skipping it lets the vegetables carry on cooking and turn dull.
A roux, the base for many classic sauces, is made from which two ingredients?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Flour and fat
A roux is equal parts flour and fat, usually butter, cooked together before liquid is added. The longer it cooks, the darker it gets: white roux for béchamel, blond for velouté and brown for gumbo.
Cajun cooks take a roux almost to chocolate brown over 30 to 45 minutes of constant stirring, trading thickening power for deep toasted flavour.
A classic French mirepoix is a mix of which three vegetables?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Onion, carrot and celery
Mirepoix is diced onion, carrot and celery, traditionally in a two to one to one ratio, sweated gently in fat as the flavour base for stocks, soups and braises. It is named after an eighteenth-century French duke.
The Cajun version, the holy trinity, swaps the carrot for green bell pepper, while Italian soffritto often adds garlic.
What does it mean to deglaze a pan?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Add liquid to dissolve the browned bits stuck to it
Deglazing pours wine, stock or water into a hot pan after searing, lifting the caramelised residue, called fond, off the bottom. Those scrapings dissolve into the liquid and become the base of a pan sauce.
Avoid deglazing a non-stick pan: it rarely develops much fond because the browned bits never stick in the first place.
In sous vide cooking, how is the food cooked?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Sealed in a bag in a precisely heated water bath
Sous vide, French for under vacuum, seals food in a plastic pouch and holds it in water at an exact temperature, often for hours. Because the water never exceeds the target, the food cannot overcook.
A sous vide steak cooked at 54°C (130°F) comes out pink edge to edge and is then seared quickly for a crust.
Which of the five French mother sauces is made from a white roux and milk?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Béchamel
Béchamel is a white sauce of milk thickened with a butter and flour roux, often infused with onion, bay and nutmeg. It becomes mornay with cheese and forms the creamy layers in lasagne and moussaka.
Chef Auguste Escoffier codified the five mother sauces in the early 1900s: béchamel, velouté, espagnole, hollandaise and tomato.
What is braising?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Searing food, then cooking it slowly in a little liquid
Braising browns meat or vegetables first, then simmers them gently in a covered pot with a small amount of liquid, often for hours. Tough cuts like beef shin and pork shoulder turn meltingly tender.
A stew is a close cousin, but the pieces are smaller and fully covered by liquid, while a braise sits only partly submerged.
What is a bain-marie in the kitchen?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
A water bath used for gentle, even heating
A bain-marie is a container of hot water that cushions a dish from direct heat. It is used to melt chocolate, keep hollandaise warm, and bake custards and cheesecakes without curdling or cracking them.
The name honours Mary the Jewess, an alchemist of the early centuries AD who is credited with inventing the water bath.
What does the chiffonade cut produce?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Thin ribbons of leafy herbs or greens
For a chiffonade, leaves such as basil, mint or spinach are stacked, rolled tightly into a cigar and sliced crossways into fine ribbons. The name comes from the French for rags or little strips.
Cutting basil this way just before serving limits bruising, since the leaves blacken quickly once their cells are crushed.
A duck leg confit is cooked by which method?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Slowly submerged in its own fat
Confit comes from the French confire, to preserve. The salted duck legs are cooked very slowly while submerged in duck fat, then stored under that fat, which keeps the meat for months in a cool larder.
The method is a speciality of Gascony in southwest France, where confit is the traditional ingredient in cassoulet.
A brunoise is a fine dice of roughly what size?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
About 3 mm (1/8 inch)
Brunoise is the smallest standard French dice, made by cutting julienne strips crossways into cubes of around 3 mm (1/8 inch). It is used for garnishes and refined sauces where every piece should cook evenly.
The next size up is the macédoine at about 5 mm (1/4 inch), and the larger dice is sometimes called a parmentier.
What does tempering mean when adding beaten eggs to a hot custard base?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Slowly whisking hot liquid into the eggs first
Tempering gradually raises the temperature of the eggs by whisking in a little of the hot liquid before combining everything, so the proteins do not seize into scrambled lumps when they meet the heat.
The same word describes the careful heating and cooling of chocolate so that it sets glossy and snaps cleanly.
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All Food and Drink quizzes →About the Cooking Terms Quiz
Professional kitchens run on a shared vocabulary, much of it French. Mise en place means everything is prepped before the first pan goes on, a roux of flour and butter thickens half the sauces in the classic repertoire, and sous vide cooks a steak in a sealed bag at a precise temperature that an oven could never hold.
These 15 questions cover knife cuts like julienne and brunoise, techniques like blanching, braising and deglazing, and the kitchen terms that trip up home cooks, including bain-marie, confit and tempering. It suits anyone learning to cook, watching cooking shows or trying to follow a recipe without reaching for a glossary.
You will find 15 multiple choice questions here, each with four options. Difficulty: Medium. Most people finish in about 6 minutes, and every answer comes with a short explanation and one extra fact worth keeping.
How to play
Read the question and pick one of the four answers. The correct answer is revealed straight away with a short explanation, then press Next question to keep going. At the end you get your score out of 15 and a full review of your round. Play again any time and the questions arrive in a fresh order. There is no timer and no account.
Good to know before you play
What does mise en place mean?
It is French for everything in its place: measuring, chopping and arranging every ingredient and tool before you start cooking so the recipe runs smoothly.
What is the difference between julienne and brunoise?
Julienne is a thin matchstick cut; brunoise is that julienne cut again crossways into tiny cubes of about 3 mm (1/8 inch).
What is sous vide cooking?
Food is vacuum sealed in a bag and cooked in a water bath held at an exact temperature, so it cannot overcook and comes out evenly done from edge to centre.
Answer key: all 15 questions with explanations
- What does the French kitchen phrase mise en place mean in practice?
All ingredients prepped before cooking Mise en place translates as putting in place. Cooks measure, chop and arrange all their ingredients and tools before heat is applied, so a fast recipe never stalls while you hunt for the garlic. Restaurant cooks spend most of their shift on mise en place, and chefs often judge a new recruit by how organised their station looks. - A vegetable cut into julienne has been cut into what shape?
Thin matchstick strips Julienne is the classic French matchstick cut, strips roughly 3 mm thick and 5 cm long (1/8 by 2 inches). It is used for carrot, celery and pepper in salads, stir-fries and garnishes. The cut shares its name with potage julienne, a clear vegetable soup that appears in French cookbooks from the early eighteenth century. - The cooking term sauté comes from a French verb meaning what?
To jump Sauter means to jump, and sautéing cooks small pieces of food fast in a little hot fat while they are tossed so they leap in the pan. The quick movement keeps everything browning evenly without burning. A sauté pan has straight sides to hold sauces, while a frying pan's sloped sides make the tossing motion easier. - What does it mean to blanch a vegetable?
Boil it briefly, then plunge it into iced water Blanching gives vegetables a short dip in boiling water followed by an ice bath to stop the cooking. It sets bright colour, loosens skins on tomatoes and almonds, and preps vegetables for freezing. The ice bath step is called shocking or refreshing, and skipping it lets the vegetables carry on cooking and turn dull. - A roux, the base for many classic sauces, is made from which two ingredients?
Flour and fat A roux is equal parts flour and fat, usually butter, cooked together before liquid is added. The longer it cooks, the darker it gets: white roux for béchamel, blond for velouté and brown for gumbo. Cajun cooks take a roux almost to chocolate brown over 30 to 45 minutes of constant stirring, trading thickening power for deep toasted flavour. - A classic French mirepoix is a mix of which three vegetables?
Onion, carrot and celery Mirepoix is diced onion, carrot and celery, traditionally in a two to one to one ratio, sweated gently in fat as the flavour base for stocks, soups and braises. It is named after an eighteenth-century French duke. The Cajun version, the holy trinity, swaps the carrot for green bell pepper, while Italian soffritto often adds garlic. - What does it mean to deglaze a pan?
Add liquid to dissolve the browned bits stuck to it Deglazing pours wine, stock or water into a hot pan after searing, lifting the caramelised residue, called fond, off the bottom. Those scrapings dissolve into the liquid and become the base of a pan sauce. Avoid deglazing a non-stick pan: it rarely develops much fond because the browned bits never stick in the first place. - In sous vide cooking, how is the food cooked?
Sealed in a bag in a precisely heated water bath Sous vide, French for under vacuum, seals food in a plastic pouch and holds it in water at an exact temperature, often for hours. Because the water never exceeds the target, the food cannot overcook. A sous vide steak cooked at 54°C (130°F) comes out pink edge to edge and is then seared quickly for a crust. - Which of the five French mother sauces is made from a white roux and milk?
Béchamel Béchamel is a white sauce of milk thickened with a butter and flour roux, often infused with onion, bay and nutmeg. It becomes mornay with cheese and forms the creamy layers in lasagne and moussaka. Chef Auguste Escoffier codified the five mother sauces in the early 1900s: béchamel, velouté, espagnole, hollandaise and tomato. - What is braising?
Searing food, then cooking it slowly in a little liquid Braising browns meat or vegetables first, then simmers them gently in a covered pot with a small amount of liquid, often for hours. Tough cuts like beef shin and pork shoulder turn meltingly tender. A stew is a close cousin, but the pieces are smaller and fully covered by liquid, while a braise sits only partly submerged. - What is a bain-marie in the kitchen?
A water bath used for gentle, even heating A bain-marie is a container of hot water that cushions a dish from direct heat. It is used to melt chocolate, keep hollandaise warm, and bake custards and cheesecakes without curdling or cracking them. The name honours Mary the Jewess, an alchemist of the early centuries AD who is credited with inventing the water bath. - What does the chiffonade cut produce?
Thin ribbons of leafy herbs or greens For a chiffonade, leaves such as basil, mint or spinach are stacked, rolled tightly into a cigar and sliced crossways into fine ribbons. The name comes from the French for rags or little strips. Cutting basil this way just before serving limits bruising, since the leaves blacken quickly once their cells are crushed. - A duck leg confit is cooked by which method?
Slowly submerged in its own fat Confit comes from the French confire, to preserve. The salted duck legs are cooked very slowly while submerged in duck fat, then stored under that fat, which keeps the meat for months in a cool larder. The method is a speciality of Gascony in southwest France, where confit is the traditional ingredient in cassoulet. - A brunoise is a fine dice of roughly what size?
About 3 mm (1/8 inch) Brunoise is the smallest standard French dice, made by cutting julienne strips crossways into cubes of around 3 mm (1/8 inch). It is used for garnishes and refined sauces where every piece should cook evenly. The next size up is the macédoine at about 5 mm (1/4 inch), and the larger dice is sometimes called a parmentier. - What does tempering mean when adding beaten eggs to a hot custard base?
Slowly whisking hot liquid into the eggs first Tempering gradually raises the temperature of the eggs by whisking in a little of the hot liquid before combining everything, so the proteins do not seize into scrambled lumps when they meet the heat. The same word describes the careful heating and cooling of chocolate so that it sets glossy and snaps cleanly.
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