Use these practical questions to check what you understand, identify what to review and connect classic techniques to everyday home cooking.
How to use this knowledge check
Answer each question before opening the explanation. You do not need to memorize culinary-school language. Focus on what helps you cook: controlling heat, building flavor, recognizing texture and correcting common problems.
This page combines the useful subjects from the older Day 1–7 quiz shells into one public reference. It does not expose member-only recipes.
Stocks and broths
1. What is the practical difference between stock and broth?
Answer: Stock is usually made by gently simmering bones, vegetables and aromatics to extract body and flavor. Broth is commonly made with more meat and is seasoned to be enjoyable on its own.
Why it matters: Stock supplies structure to sauces and soups, while broth can often be served directly. Everyday labeling varies, so judge the liquid by flavor, salt level and gelatin rather than the package name alone.
2. Why should stock simmer gently instead of boiling hard?
Answer: A gentle simmer extracts flavor while limiting agitation. A hard boil breaks fat and impurities into the liquid, which can make the stock cloudy and greasy.
Useful cue: Look for occasional small bubbles and slight surface movement.
3. What is mirepoix, and what is the common proportion?
Answer: Mirepoix is a flavor base of onion, carrot and celery. A common proportion by weight is two parts onion to one part carrot and one part celery.
Why it matters: Cutting the vegetables evenly helps them release flavor at a similar rate.
Soups and consommé
4. How do clear, puréed and cream soups differ?
Answer: Clear soups rely on a flavorful transparent broth or stock. Puréed soups gain body from blended vegetables, legumes or starches. Cream soups are finished with dairy or another enriching ingredient and may also use roux or a purée for thickness.
5. What makes consommé different from ordinary broth?
Answer: Consommé is a strongly flavored broth clarified until clear. A mixture containing lean protein and aromatic vegetables forms a raft that traps fine particles as the liquid heats gently.
Common mistake: Stirring after the raft forms can cloud the consommé again.
6. How can you fix a vegetable soup that tastes flat?
Answer: Check salt first, then acidity, aroma and texture. A small amount of lemon juice or vinegar may brighten flavor; fresh herbs can restore aroma; additional simmering can concentrate a weak broth.
Why it matters: Adding more spices before correcting salt and acidity often makes a soup busy rather than balanced.
White sauces
7. What is a roux, and how does its cooking time affect a sauce?
Answer: Roux is flour cooked with fat, commonly in roughly equal weights. A pale roux has stronger thickening power and a mild flavor; a darker roux develops nuttier flavor but thickens less.
8. What is the difference between béchamel and velouté?
Answer: Béchamel is a white sauce made by thickening milk with a pale roux. Velouté uses a light stock, such as chicken, fish or veal stock, instead of milk.
9. How do you prevent lumps in a roux-thickened sauce?
Answer: Add the liquid gradually while whisking, especially at the beginning. Keep the sauce moving until the roux is evenly dispersed, then simmer long enough to remove the raw-flour taste.
Brown and tomato sauces
10. Why is browning important in a brown sauce?
Answer: Browning creates deeper roasted flavors through the Maillard reaction. Browned bones, vegetables and tomato paste give a brown sauce complexity that pale ingredients cannot provide.
11. What is demi-glace?
Answer: Demi-glace is a concentrated brown sauce traditionally made by reducing brown stock and espagnole. Modern versions may use a well-made brown stock reduced to a similar glossy, full-bodied consistency.
12. How should you balance an overly acidic tomato sauce?
Answer: First allow adequate cooking time and check the salt. A small amount of fat can round the flavor. If the tomatoes remain sharply acidic, use a very small amount of sweetness only after tasting.
Pan and international sauces
13. What is fond, and how does it become a pan sauce?
Answer: Fond is the browned residue left after searing food. Remove excess fat, add a flavorful liquid to dissolve the fond, reduce the liquid and finish the sauce as the recipe directs.
Safety cue: Remove the pan from direct flame before adding alcohol.
14. Why is cold butter often whisked into a sauce at the end?
Answer: Whisking in cold butter off heat can thicken the sauce slightly, soften sharp flavors and create a glossy finish. Boiling afterward can cause the emulsion to separate.
15. When cooking with curry paste and coconut milk, why is tasting in stages useful?
Answer: Curry paste, coconut milk, fish sauce, sugar and acidic ingredients each affect heat, salt, richness and balance. Tasting after each major addition makes it easier to correct one quality without overpowering another.
Dessert sauces
16. What is the difference between wet and dry caramel?
Answer: Dry caramel melts sugar without added water. Wet caramel begins with sugar dissolved in water. Both reach caramel color through controlled heating; wet caramel cooks more slowly but can crystallize if disturbed carelessly.
17. How do you know crème anglaise is properly cooked?
Answer: It should lightly coat the back of a spoon and leave a clean line when you draw a finger through it. Use gentle heat and avoid boiling, which can scramble the egg yolks.
18. What is the safest response if hot caramel begins to splatter?
Answer: Step back, lower or remove the heat if it is safe to do so, and never touch or taste hot caramel. Use a deep, heat-safe pan and add cream or other liquids carefully because they create vigorous steam.
Continue learning
Review the related guides for stocks and broths, soups and consommé, white sauces, brown and tomato sauces, pan sauces, international sauces and dessert sauces.