Only a Cooking Genius Can Name All of These Kitchen Items. Can You?

By: Jody Mabry
Image: Shutterstock

About This Quiz

For those addicted to culinary shows such as Hell's Kitchen, Iron Chef, Chopped, and Chew, or who enjoy cooking up difficult gourmet recipes, this is the quiz for you. As a cooking genius, you're sure to know what's needed in the kitchen in order to grace your table with savory and delectable treats. And with your know-how of drinkware, silverware and china, setting a table to match the food style should be a breeze.

When it’s time to make the perfect pasta meal, you would automatically know to pair spaghetti, angel hair, capellini and spaghettini with light sauces that coat the strands evenly. Whereas if you serve a spicy or heavier meat sauce you would choose a pasta that stands up to it, such as shells, tubular pasta, or thicker long pasta like tagliatelle. Similarly, you would know which cheeses have edible rinds, and which meats are better in the slow cooker or on the grill. And to put your feast on the table, your kitchen is probably stocked with the latest gadgets, whether it’s an immersion blender, a splatter guard or spiralizer. You should have a taste for this quiz by now. Go ahead and take it. You’ll prove your culinary genius in no time.







 


Penne is one of the biggest workhorses in the pasta world. It's tossed with sauce, baked in lasagna-type dishes and used as a base for grilled meats.

In 2002 the USDA decided to reduce the size for the holes in Swiss cheese by 50% because modern slicing machines had problems slicing the Swiss with its larger holes. During the manufacturing process, a particular bacteria that produces the flavor and texture of Swiss also produces carbon dioxide gas as its by product, which produces the holes.

The bread knife will greatly help you when you're trying to cut a loaf of bread. Its serrated edges allow it to cut such even slices.

The Mozzarella most people know and love in America isn't considered authentic by Italian standards. Even so, it is the most popular cheese in the United States. The USDA estimates that per-capita, mozzarella consumption comes to 11.5 pounds a year. As one of the freshest cheeses in the world, it should be eaten as soon as possible after it's made.

Cheese lovers will tell you to never, ever use plastic wrap, but a little plastic is key to protecting Brie’s creamy interior. Wrap the cut side in plastic and then put it in a box to preserve the rind. Brie is a textbook bloomy cheese, and you can eat the rind. There are three main types of rinds: bloomy, washed, and natural.

The Imperial pint is nearly cylindrical, with a slight taper and wide mouth. It is intended to accommodate more beer or beers with large crowning heads. A Becker is the German equivalent, tapering at the top. Benefits: Cheap to make. Easy to store. Easy to drink out of.

Pepper Jack is a derivative of Monterey Jack, the original “American” cheese. As its name suggests, the cheese is flavored with different spices, like sweet peppers, rosemary, habañero chilies, garlic, and spicy jalapeños, all of which are added for an extra kick. Pepper jack goes well with jalapeño peppers, melons, grapes, pickled vegetables, and olives.

The country-style chuck ribs came to be recognized as a legitimate meat cut in the 1960s, when a butcher named Cliff Bowes came up with a novel method to sell a pork loin’s rib end. He cut the fat-filled meat in the form of strips that bore similarity to ribs. This is the same cut that was introduced for beef as well.

The first American blue cheese plant was founded by Felix Frederickson in 1936 in Faribault, Minnesota. Roquefort cheese is a specific type of bleu cheese that is made in the south of France. Other bleu/blue cheeses are Stilton (England), Gorgonzola (Italy), Danablu (Denmark), and Maytag Blue Cheese (US).

A giant wheel of cheddar was given to Queen Victoria (1837-1901) as a wedding gift. It weighed over 1,000 pounds, massively bigger than a normal Cheddar wheel, which weighs between 60-75 pounds. Cheshire cheese is the oldest cheddar type cheese and the oldest named cheese in Britain.

Shells are kind of like the tortillas of the pasta world. They're mainly defined by what's stuffed inside them, and those fillings run the gamut from cheese to meat to dessert creations.

A faulty or rusted can opener is quite frustrating when trying to cook or eat canned goods. There are few functional alternatives for this gadget though; so make sure to have one on hand.

A lamb chop is known for its tenderness and unmatched flavor. It comprises meat from the rib eye, surrounded by a layer of fat. A rib chop is narrower in appearance than a loin chop and is regarded by many as the more flavorful of the two.

Drumsticks are perhaps the most popular cut of chicken. They are the lower part of a chicken’s leg. Drumsticks are well-liked the world over for their succulent dark meat and incredible flavor. Being a moist cut of chicken, they can be cooked in a variety of ways, yielding great-tasting dishes.

This is the pasta most of us eat first, and it was surprising to me as a teenager to learn that there WERE other shapes of pasta. It's a medium-sized long noodle, and has roughly a zillion uses.

The stock pot is named for exactly what it cooks; soup stock. Make sure to have hours, or even most of the day, available before you make stock, as it takes a while.

If messes while cooking really bother you, you'll get a lot of use out of the splatter guard. They come in different shapes and sizes; one style looks like a funnel, others look like a large, round fly swatter.

Chicken wings are ideal for parties and dinners. Some restaurants make them extra spicy and challenge people to eat as many as possible!

A stein is an English neologism for either traditional beer mugs made out of stoneware, or specifically ornamental beer mugs that are usually sold as souvenirs or collectibles. In German, the word stein means stone and is not used to refer to a beverage container. Throughout the 1900s, collecting antique and replicated beer steins became a very popular hobby, not only among individuals, but also in museums. Production of beer steins has increased in America, but the largest producer of beer steins is Ceramarte of Brazil.

Thermometers can be used in many other places in addition to the kitchen. Oral, car and outdoor temperature gauges are some that we use to check for health, safety and curiosity.

Pork loin is a good choice for those who want a flavorful portion of meat at an economical price. The roast is available both boneless and bone-in, and it can be rolled if bought de-boned.

Parmesan - Parmigiano in Italian - is the cheese which boasts the highest number of imitations worldwide. In 2012, a disastrous earthquake hit the region of Emilia and thousands of Parmesan wheels were destroyed: thanks to the web, the dairies managed to sell the cheese at a lower price, which saved one of Italy's most flourishing food industries from bankruptcy.

Colby is a Wisconsin Original cheese, first crafted in the central Wisconsin town of Colby back in 1885 by Joseph F. Steinwand. Wisconsin is home to 38 manufacturers of colby cheese and has 12 Master Cheesemakers of colby. Wisconsin makes 40 different types and styles of colby, including cranberry, dill, garlic & onion, jalapeño, olive & chive, taco, smoked and more. Colby-Jack is a combo of colby and Monterey Jack.

This tool is versatile and easy to use; just hold it in your hand and click a button to blend ingredients together. Be aware that this is different than a hand mixer, which is used more for beating eggs and making batters.

The lowball glass, or rocks glass, is a short tumbler used for serving an alcoholic beverage, such as whiskey, with ice cubes - on the rocks. It is also normally used to serve certain specific cocktails, such as the old fashioned.

The most popular processed cheese in the U.S. is American cheese. In most people's minds, the term means a smooth, mild flavored cheese. Processed cheese was invented over 100 years ago in Switzerland, but an American, James L. Kraft, manufactured the first commercially available sliced processed cheese, shortly after World War II.

While you can certainly get by with one set of wine glasses, if you expect to drink a number of different varietals you may find that the glassware is diminishing your experience, particularly if you opt to drink red wine out of a smaller white wine glass.

Some newer drinks include the word "martini" or the suffix "-tini" in the name (e.g., appletini, peach martini, chocolate martini, espresso martini). These are named after the martini cocktail glass they use and generally contain vodka, but they share little else in common with the original drink. The closest relation and best known of these is the "vodka martini," which previously existed starting in the 1950s under the name kangaroo cocktail.

Casseroles are a great dinner to make when you want to just 'throw it in the oven.' Some examples of casseroles are hamburger, Mexican, breakfast and cheesy chicken Alfredo. Yum!

These big pasta tubes are a blank slate upon which Italian chefs write their creative signatures. They can be filled with mixtures of meat, cheese, vegetables or just about anything.

These "little pies" can be filled with all manner of mixtures. They're usually served in a buttery, herbal sauce that complements the flavor of the filling.

Lasagna is one of my favorite Italian dishes, simply because it can be made roughly a million ways. Like meatloaf here in the U.S., everyone has their own recipe and sequence for the layers, but they're all pretty tasty.

There are a ton of pastas out there designed to be stuffed, and tortellini is one of the most versatile. They can take just about any stuffing, although cheeses are the most common, and swim best in buttery sauces.

Typically red wine glasses will be a bit taller and have a larger bowl than white wine glasses. In general, reds are bigger and bolder wines, so they require a larger glass to allow the aromas and flavors to emerge.

A highball glass is a glass tumbler that can contain 8.1 to 11.8 fl oz. It is used to serve highball cocktails and other mixed drinks. A highball glass is taller than an old fashioned glass, and shorter and wider than a collins glass.

Top sirloin steaks differ from sirloin steaks in that the bone and the tenderloin and bottom round muscles have been removed; the remaining major muscles are the gluteus medius and biceps femoris (top sirloin cap steak). Some American butchers call a thick top sirloin steak a chateaubriand, although the French reserve that term for a more premium cut from the tenderloin.

The pilsner glass is designed and used primarily for lighter beers - like pilsners, of course! This type of beer glass is tall and skinny with little to no curvature as it goes up.

Sirloin comes from the French word "surlonge," which means "upper part of the loin." Sirloin roast is a boneless cut of meat, typically sold rolled and tied in order to facilitate cooking. This is a juicy and somewhat tender cut of beef that can bring exceptionally good results when cooked properly.

Fontina cheese, Fontina Val d'Aosta, is one of Italy's great cheeses. It has been made in the Aosta Valley in the Alps since the 12th century. Young fontina is a table cheese, but it is also used in cooking. Mature fontina is a hard cheese, useful for grating. Fontina is an Italian cow's milk cheese, about 45% milkfat.

Can't decide if you want tubes or corkscrews? Pick this one! It's a corkscrew tube that's great with pasta salads.

These pasta dumplings are used in cuisines far beyond Italian. They are similar to ravioli, but the ratio of wrapper to filling is more pleasing, and they're easier to eat.

Monterey Jack cheese originates in Monterey, California, which is the source of its name. In its earliest form, Monterey Jack was made by the Mexican Franciscan friars during the 19th century. Due to Monterey Jack having a low content of tyramine, an organic compound associated with headaches, it is one of the few cheeses that safe to eat for migraine sufferers.

A snifter (also called brandy snifter, cognac glass, or balloon) is a type of stemware - a short-stemmed glass. The vessel has a wide bottom and a relatively narrow top. It is mostly used to serve aged brown spirits, such as bourbon, brandy, and whiskey. Most snifters are designed so that when placed sideways on a level surface, they will hold just the proper amount before spilling.

This one translates into "Little worms." Really, Italians? Maybe we can just pretend we don't know that and toss this pasta with some olive oil and herbs.

Broiler pans are made of steel and have a porcelain coating on them to keep your food from sticking. Watch out; these get hot! They can withstand extremely hot temperatures.

Formerly, sake was sold by volume in a wooden box measuring cup, known as a masu. The wooden box was said to complement the traditionally brewed sake, as it is brewed in a wooden cask, but in modern times the masu is shunned by sake purists because the wood changes the flavor of the sake.

The term "brisket" is derived from the Middle English "brusket," which in turn comes from earlier Old Norsk brjósk, meaning cartilage. The brisket muscles support about 60% of the body weight of the beast. This requires a significant amount of connective tissue, which gives brisket a signature texture when cooked correctly.

Chuck is a low-priced primal cut of beef, known for its toughness due to a large amount of connective tissue. Since it is rich in fat, it is considered to be a good option for making ground beef.

Round steak is the thinner slice of meat cut from a top round roast. Easy on the pocket, this is a relatively tough portion of meat, without much fat or marbling. Round is the term used for a cow's rear in the United States. In other countries, the term might differ. For instance, the Canadian term for round is "hip."

The beef shank is the shank (or leg) portion of a steer or heifer. In Britain the corresponding cuts of beef are the shin (the foreshank), and the leg (the hindshank). Due to the constant use of this muscle by the animal, it tends to be tough, dry, and sinewy, so is best when cooked for a long time in moist heat.

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