French Cuisine Quiz
Bouillabaisse, cassoulet, tarte Tatin, Escoffier: 15 questions on the kitchen that taught the world to cook.
Which restaurant guide first appeared in 1900 as a free handbook for French motorists and now awards up to three stars?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Michelin
The Michelin tire company printed its first guide in 1900 to encourage car travel in France, and it began awarding restaurant stars in 1926, adding the two and three star grades in 1931.
Michelin printed about 35,000 copies of the first guide and gave them away free until 1920, when it decided a paid guide would be taken more seriously.
Bouillabaisse, the saffron-scented fish stew, is the signature dish of which French port city?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Marseille
Bouillabaisse began as a fishermen's stew in Marseille, made from the bony rockfish that could not be sold at market and flavored with saffron, fennel and orange peel.
A Marseille charter drawn up in 1980 lists the fish a true bouillabaisse must contain and insists the broth and fish are served separately.
What is a croque-monsieur?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
A grilled ham and cheese sandwich
A croque-monsieur is a toasted or fried ham and cheese sandwich, usually made with Gruyère or Emmental and often topped with béchamel, that has been a Paris café staple since the early 1900s.
Add a fried or poached egg on top and the sandwich becomes a croque-madame, the egg supposedly resembling a lady's hat.
Ratatouille, the stewed dish of tomatoes, courgettes, aubergines and peppers, comes from which region of France?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Provence
Ratatouille is a peasant dish from Nice and the surrounding Provence region, where the summer vegetables of the Mediterranean coast are stewed in olive oil with garlic and herbs.
Pixar's 2007 film served the dish as confit byaldi, a layered version created by chef Michel Guérard and adapted for the film by Thomas Keller.
Besides eggs and cream, which ingredient defines a traditional quiche Lorraine?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Bacon
A true quiche Lorraine is filled with smoked bacon lardons set in an egg and cream custard inside a pastry case. Cheese and onions are later additions that purists in Lorraine reject.
The word quiche comes from Küche, the dialect word for cake in Lorraine, which was German-speaking for long stretches of its history.
Savory galettes made with buckwheat flour are a specialty of which French region?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Brittany
Brittany's poor soils suited buckwheat, so Bretons made galettes from it and filled them with ham, egg and cheese, saving white wheat flour crêpes for sweet fillings.
A galette complète is filled with ham, grated cheese and an egg, and is traditionally washed down with a bowl of Breton cider.
Escargots de Bourgogne are baked in butter flavored with garlic and which herb?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Parsley
The classic preparation stuffs each snail shell with beurre d'escargot, a mixture of softened butter, chopped garlic, shallots and parsley, then bakes them until the butter bubbles.
The Burgundy snail, Helix pomatia, is protected in France, so most snails served there are now farmed or imported from Eastern Europe.
Which sauce, made from butter, egg yolks, shallots, vinegar and tarragon, is the classic partner for a grilled steak?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Béarnaise
Béarnaise is an emulsion of clarified butter and egg yolks sharpened with a reduction of white wine vinegar, shallots and tarragon, and steak béarnaise is a bistro standard.
Despite its name, the sauce is said to have been created near Paris in 1836 at Le Pavillon Henri IV, named after the king who was born in Béarn.
Which slow-cooked casserole of white beans, sausage, pork and duck confit is the pride of Toulouse and Castelnaudary?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Cassoulet
Cassoulet takes its name from the cassole, the glazed earthenware pot it is baked in, and the towns of Castelnaudary, Carcassonne and Toulouse each defend their own version.
Castelnaudary legend says the dish was first cooked to feed defenders during the Hundred Years' War, a story historians treat as pure folklore.
Vichyssoise is a chilled creamy soup made from potatoes and which other vegetable?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Leek
Vichyssoise is a cold purée of leeks, potatoes, onions and cream topped with chives. It was created by French chef Louis Diat at the Ritz-Carlton in New York in the early 1900s.
Diat named it after Vichy, the spa town near his childhood home, and said he was recreating the leek and potato soup his mother cooled with milk.
Which baked dessert of black cherries set in a thick batter comes from the Limousin region?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Clafoutis
Clafoutis is a Limousin specialty in which whole sour cherries are covered with a flan-like batter and baked. Tradition leaves the stones in, as they add an almond note.
Made with any fruit other than cherries, the same dish is properly called a flaugnarde, according to the Académie française.
Which chef, nicknamed the king of chefs and chef of kings, organized the modern kitchen brigade and wrote Le Guide Culinaire?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Auguste Escoffier
Auguste Escoffier modernized French haute cuisine at the Savoy and the Carlton in London, creating the hierarchical brigade de cuisine and publishing Le Guide Culinaire in 1903.
Escoffier is credited with inventing peach Melba and Melba toast for the Australian soprano Nellie Melba while he was cooking at the Savoy.
A kir is a glass of white wine sweetened with a small measure of which liqueur?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Crème de cassis
A kir is about one part crème de cassis, the blackcurrant liqueur of Dijon, to nine parts dry white wine, traditionally the Burgundian Aligoté. Made with Champagne it becomes a kir royal.
The drink is named after Félix Kir, the priest and mayor of Dijon who served it to visiting delegations after the Second World War.
The upside-down caramelized apple tarte Tatin is named after two sisters who ran a hotel in which town?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Lamotte-Beuvron
Stéphanie and Caroline Tatin ran the Hôtel Tatin in Lamotte-Beuvron in the Sologne, south of Orléans, where the tart is said to have been created by accident in the 1880s.
The tart only became famous after the sisters' deaths, when the Paris restaurant Maxim's added it to the menu and the food writer Curnonsky praised it.
Which title, awarded in a competition held roughly every four years, entitles French chefs to wear a blue, white and red collar on their jackets?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Meilleur Ouvrier de France
Meilleur Ouvrier de France, or MOF, is a state-recognized craft title first awarded in 1924 across dozens of trades. Chefs who win may wear the tricolor collar for life, and faking it is a legal offense.
The 2009 documentary Kings of Pastry followed sixteen pastry chefs through the brutal three-day MOF final, in which only a handful were awarded the collar.
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All Food and Drink quizzes →About the French Cuisine Quiz
France gave the world the restaurant, the Michelin star and the kitchen brigade, and its regional dishes are as varied as its wines. A fish stew from the docks of Marseille, a bean and duck casserole from the southwest and an upside-down apple tart baked by two sisters in the Sologne all count as French classics, and each has a story behind it.
These 15 questions move from the dishes everyone knows, such as quiche Lorraine and croque-monsieur, to the sauces, regions and chefs that serious food lovers argue about, including Auguste Escoffier and the coveted tricolor collar of the Meilleur Ouvrier de France. It suits anyone who enjoys a good bistro and wants to know what is really on the menu.
You will find 15 multiple choice questions here, each with four options. Difficulty: Hard. 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 is considered the national dish of France?
There is no official national dish, but pot-au-feu, a boiled beef and vegetable dinner, is the one most often given that title, with coq au vin and cassoulet close behind.
Why is Lyon called the gastronomic capital of France?
Lyon sits between the produce of the Rhône valley, Bresse poultry and Charolais beef, and its bouchons and chefs such as Paul Bocuse made it the benchmark for traditional French cooking.
What are the five French mother sauces?
Béchamel, velouté, espagnole, hollandaise and tomato. Auguste Escoffier codified the list in the early twentieth century, and most classic French sauces are built from one of them.
Answer key: all 15 questions with explanations
- Which restaurant guide first appeared in 1900 as a free handbook for French motorists and now awards up to three stars?
Michelin The Michelin tire company printed its first guide in 1900 to encourage car travel in France, and it began awarding restaurant stars in 1926, adding the two and three star grades in 1931. Michelin printed about 35,000 copies of the first guide and gave them away free until 1920, when it decided a paid guide would be taken more seriously. - Bouillabaisse, the saffron-scented fish stew, is the signature dish of which French port city?
Marseille Bouillabaisse began as a fishermen's stew in Marseille, made from the bony rockfish that could not be sold at market and flavored with saffron, fennel and orange peel. A Marseille charter drawn up in 1980 lists the fish a true bouillabaisse must contain and insists the broth and fish are served separately. - What is a croque-monsieur?
A grilled ham and cheese sandwich A croque-monsieur is a toasted or fried ham and cheese sandwich, usually made with Gruyère or Emmental and often topped with béchamel, that has been a Paris café staple since the early 1900s. Add a fried or poached egg on top and the sandwich becomes a croque-madame, the egg supposedly resembling a lady's hat. - Ratatouille, the stewed dish of tomatoes, courgettes, aubergines and peppers, comes from which region of France?
Provence Ratatouille is a peasant dish from Nice and the surrounding Provence region, where the summer vegetables of the Mediterranean coast are stewed in olive oil with garlic and herbs. Pixar's 2007 film served the dish as confit byaldi, a layered version created by chef Michel Guérard and adapted for the film by Thomas Keller. - Besides eggs and cream, which ingredient defines a traditional quiche Lorraine?
Bacon A true quiche Lorraine is filled with smoked bacon lardons set in an egg and cream custard inside a pastry case. Cheese and onions are later additions that purists in Lorraine reject. The word quiche comes from Küche, the dialect word for cake in Lorraine, which was German-speaking for long stretches of its history. - Savory galettes made with buckwheat flour are a specialty of which French region?
Brittany Brittany's poor soils suited buckwheat, so Bretons made galettes from it and filled them with ham, egg and cheese, saving white wheat flour crêpes for sweet fillings. A galette complète is filled with ham, grated cheese and an egg, and is traditionally washed down with a bowl of Breton cider. - Escargots de Bourgogne are baked in butter flavored with garlic and which herb?
Parsley The classic preparation stuffs each snail shell with beurre d'escargot, a mixture of softened butter, chopped garlic, shallots and parsley, then bakes them until the butter bubbles. The Burgundy snail, Helix pomatia, is protected in France, so most snails served there are now farmed or imported from Eastern Europe. - Which sauce, made from butter, egg yolks, shallots, vinegar and tarragon, is the classic partner for a grilled steak?
Béarnaise Béarnaise is an emulsion of clarified butter and egg yolks sharpened with a reduction of white wine vinegar, shallots and tarragon, and steak béarnaise is a bistro standard. Despite its name, the sauce is said to have been created near Paris in 1836 at Le Pavillon Henri IV, named after the king who was born in Béarn. - Which slow-cooked casserole of white beans, sausage, pork and duck confit is the pride of Toulouse and Castelnaudary?
Cassoulet Cassoulet takes its name from the cassole, the glazed earthenware pot it is baked in, and the towns of Castelnaudary, Carcassonne and Toulouse each defend their own version. Castelnaudary legend says the dish was first cooked to feed defenders during the Hundred Years' War, a story historians treat as pure folklore. - Vichyssoise is a chilled creamy soup made from potatoes and which other vegetable?
Leek Vichyssoise is a cold purée of leeks, potatoes, onions and cream topped with chives. It was created by French chef Louis Diat at the Ritz-Carlton in New York in the early 1900s. Diat named it after Vichy, the spa town near his childhood home, and said he was recreating the leek and potato soup his mother cooled with milk. - Which baked dessert of black cherries set in a thick batter comes from the Limousin region?
Clafoutis Clafoutis is a Limousin specialty in which whole sour cherries are covered with a flan-like batter and baked. Tradition leaves the stones in, as they add an almond note. Made with any fruit other than cherries, the same dish is properly called a flaugnarde, according to the Académie française. - Which chef, nicknamed the king of chefs and chef of kings, organized the modern kitchen brigade and wrote Le Guide Culinaire?
Auguste Escoffier Auguste Escoffier modernized French haute cuisine at the Savoy and the Carlton in London, creating the hierarchical brigade de cuisine and publishing Le Guide Culinaire in 1903. Escoffier is credited with inventing peach Melba and Melba toast for the Australian soprano Nellie Melba while he was cooking at the Savoy. - A kir is a glass of white wine sweetened with a small measure of which liqueur?
Crème de cassis A kir is about one part crème de cassis, the blackcurrant liqueur of Dijon, to nine parts dry white wine, traditionally the Burgundian Aligoté. Made with Champagne it becomes a kir royal. The drink is named after Félix Kir, the priest and mayor of Dijon who served it to visiting delegations after the Second World War. - The upside-down caramelized apple tarte Tatin is named after two sisters who ran a hotel in which town?
Lamotte-Beuvron Stéphanie and Caroline Tatin ran the Hôtel Tatin in Lamotte-Beuvron in the Sologne, south of Orléans, where the tart is said to have been created by accident in the 1880s. The tart only became famous after the sisters' deaths, when the Paris restaurant Maxim's added it to the menu and the food writer Curnonsky praised it. - Which title, awarded in a competition held roughly every four years, entitles French chefs to wear a blue, white and red collar on their jackets?
Meilleur Ouvrier de France Meilleur Ouvrier de France, or MOF, is a state-recognized craft title first awarded in 1924 across dozens of trades. Chefs who win may wear the tricolor collar for life, and faking it is a legal offense. The 2009 documentary Kings of Pastry followed sixteen pastry chefs through the brutal three-day MOF final, in which only a handful were awarded the collar.
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