Carnitas: The Mexican Cuisine Society Game Created by Ruth Paget

Carnitas: The Mexican Cuisine Society Game Created by Ruth Paget

I used The Best Mexican Recipes by America’s Test Kitchen to develop this game, but you can use other Mexican cookbooks as well such as 1,000 Mexican Recipes by Marge Poore. 

You will need index cards to create your own playing cards. Writing out the cards is a trick to help memorize information. 

Playing this game will expand your knowledge of Mexican food either as a customer, server, home or restaurant cook, or grocery store buyer. 

Tip for memorizing: Use the alphabet to help recall ingredients. 

Game 1: Dish Name – Dry Ingredients 

Write the dish name on the front of an index card. Write the dry ingredients on the back excluding spices and herbs. (The game for spices and herbs follows.) 

Flip the index cards to play solitaire, with a partner, or as teams. 

Game 2: Dish Name – Wet Ingredients  

On the front of an index card, write the dish name. On the back of the index card, write the wet ingredients. 

Flip the index card to play solitaire, with a partner, or as teams. 

Game 3: Dish Name – Spices and Herbs 

On the front of an index card, write the dish name. On the back of the index card, write the names of the spices and herbs used to make the dish. 

Flip the cards to play solitaire, with a partner, or as teams. 

Game 4: Dish Name – Cooking and/or Assembly Techniques 

On the front of an index card, write the dish name. On the back of the index card, write the techniques used to cook and assemble the dish. 

Flip the cards to play solitaire, with a partner, or as teams. 

You can use this game to learn about all the cuisines of the world that have cookbooks. Some of the cookbooks I have used to learn about different cuisines of the world follow: 

 -Delicioso: The Regional Cooking of Spain by Penelope Casas 

-1,000 Spanish Recipes by Penelope Casas 

-The Good Food of Italy by Claudia Roden 

-Mediterranean Cookery by Claudia Roden 

-Essential Pepin: More than 700 All-Time Favorites from My Life in Food by Jacques Pepin 

-Complete Book of Indian Cooking by Suneeta Vaswani 

-Complete Chinese Cookbook by Ken Hom 

-Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art by Shizuo Tsuji 

-From the Source – Thailand by Lonely Planet Food 

-Vietnamese Home Cooking by Charles Phan 

-Maangchi’s Big Book of Korean Cooking by Maangchi 

-The New German Cookbook by Jean Anderson and Heidi Wurz 

-Classic Russian Cooking by Elena Molokhovets 

-The Cooking of Eastern Europe by Lesley Chamberlain 

-1,000 Mexican Recipes by Marge Poore 

-Joy of Cooking by Rombauer Family (4,000 recipes in 75th anniversary edition. Very good on baking)

-California Home Cooking by Michele Anna Jordan - 400 recipes from a chef and caterer

-The New Cook's Tour of Sonoma: 150 Recipes and the best of the region's food and wine by Michele Anna Jordan

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Camembert: Cheese Games Created by Ruth Paget

Camembert: Cheese Games created by Ruth Paget 

I used The Book of Cheese by Liz Thorpe, a cheese consultant who began her career by devising a sales strategy to group 300+ cheeses at her sales counter into 10 main flavor-profile groupings to help customers make informed buying choices. 

Thorpe’s main cheese categories or gateways to 300+ kinds of cheese follow:  

1-Mozzarella 

2-Brie 

3-Havarti 

4-Taleggio 

5-Manchego 

6-Cheddar 

7-Swiss 

8-Parmesan 

9-Blue 

10-Misfits

Thorpe’s book may surprise readers with beverage pairings besides wine for some cheese such as brown ale, hard cider, and coffee. The pairings for the main type or gateway cheese apply to all cheeses in that category. 

Game 1: Cheese Type and Beverage Pairing 

On the front of an index card, write the name of the main cheese type. For the misfits, write the subcategories. Then, write the beverage pairing on the back.

Flip the index cards to quiz yourself to memorize the pairings. Then, play with a partner or as teams. 

Game 2: Cheese Type and Food Pairings

Grapes and apples immediately come to mind when considering cheese pairings, but Thorpe proposes assorted nuts, vegetables, spreadable salami, and candied fruits. 

This game will help buyers put together subtle cheese trays in no time. 

Write the main cheese type on the front of an index card along with the number of food pairings. On the back of the index card, write out the food pairings. 

Flip the index cards to memorize all the food pairings that go with the main cheese type. Then, play this game with a partner or with teams. 

For the next three games, you will need to make cards for the 250+ individual cheeses in The Book of Cheese. 

Game 3: Cheese Name – Main Cheese Type Category 

This game is useful for buyers who would like to try new cheeses similar to ones they already like. 

On the front of an index card, write the cheese name. On the back of the index card, write the main cheese type. 

Flip the index cards to memorize the information. Then, play with a partner or as teams. 

Game 4: Cheese Name – Milk(s) Used 

On the front of an index card write the cheese name. On the back of an index card, write the milk or milks used to make it. Cow, sheep, goat, or a blend of milks are the choices. 

Flip the cards to memorize them. Then, play with a partner or as a team. 

Game 5: Cheese Name – Country (Countries) of Origin 

Write the cheese name on the front of an index card. Write the country or countries where it is produced on the back. 

Flip the index cards to memorize the information. Then, play with a partner or as teams. 

To gain even more advanced knowledge, read Liz Thorpe’s The Book of Cheese 20 times to learn about manufacturing and putting together all the tastings she suggests. 

For the avid cheese lover who would like to sell cheese, there is the Certified Cheese Professional Exam (ACS CCP™ Exam) run by the www.cheesesociety.org . 

Enjoy the cheese skills society games you can play during a tasting! 

 By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Vienna: Coffee Games Created by Ruth Paget

 Vienna: Coffee Games Created by Ruth Paget

I used Coffee: A Connoisseur’s Guide by Claudia Roden and Coffee for Dummies by Major Cohen to create the following games that you can play as solitaire quizzing, with a partner, or as teams. 

Game 1: Roast Names Use Claudia Roden’s Coffee: A Connoisseur’s Guide to make index cards to flip for this game. Put one term per card from the following list: 

Cinnamon 

Half City 

Full City 

American 

Regular 

High 

Viennese 

French 

Continental 

Italian 

Espresso 

On the back of each card mark the correct roast using Roden’s book as a guide: 

Light or Pale Roast 

Medium Roast 

Dark or Full Roast 

Darkest Roast 

Game 2: Coffee Order Game Use Coffee for Dummies by Major Cohen to find the definitions for each of the coffee order terms below. Write the term on the front of an index card and the definition on the back. Flip the cards as solitaire games, with a partner, or as teams. 

Espresso solo 

Espresso doppio 

Ristretto 

Lungo 

Macchiato 

Cappuccino 

Caffé Latte

Caffé Breve 

Mocha 

Flat White 

Americano 

Cortado 

Game 3: Coffee Geography 

Elevation, soil type, rainfall, and proximity to the equator determine how good your coffee will be in addition to production methods and brewing. 

There are two main coffee types: Robusta and Arabica with Arabica being the elite coffee type. Volcanic soil and high elevation are indicators of high quality coffee. 

In this game, you will note the coffee growing country on the front of an index card along with the number of coffee regions in the country and the capital city of the country. On the back of the card, you will note the country name, the names of the coffee growing regions, and the capital city’s name. 

Use Coffee for Dummies by Major Cohen to note major coffee growing regions in the Western Hemisphere, Africa, and the Eastern Hemisphere and Asian Pacific. 

Have fun with the coffee games that will increase your knowledge of the world’s second most traded commodity after petroleum. 

Created by Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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