Five free practice questions on fish and seafood: block J of the Red Seal 415A Cook exam, about 15 of its 150 questions. They are in the exam's format: four options, one correct answer. Answer each one before opening the explanation. No account, no email.
01The questions
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A common kitchen rule is to boil a live lobster about 7 minutes for the first 450 g, plus 3 minutes for each extra 450 g. How long should a 900 g (2 lb) lobster boil once the water returns to a boil?
- 5 minutes
- 14 minutes
- 20 minutes
- 10 minutes
Show the answer
D. Correct. 7 minutes for the first 450 g plus 3 minutes for the second 450 g = 10 minutes. Then check: bright red shell, opaque white tail meat, and 74 °C in the thickest part of the tail. Rule-of-thumb times vary with shell hardness and pot size.
Why not the others
A. This is less than the time for the first 450 g alone. The lobster would be undercooked, with translucent tail meat.
B. This applies 7 minutes to each 450 g (7 × 2). The rule gives 7 minutes only for the first 450 g and 3 minutes for each extra 450 g.
C. This allows about 10 minutes per 450 g, which would overcook a 900 g lobster and leave the tail meat tough and stringy.
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A Halifax seafood restaurant wants a fish cooked directly on the char-grill as a daily special. Which fish suits that method best?
- Skinless pickerel fillets
- Thin, skinless sole fillets
- Skinless haddock fillets
- Skin-on Arctic char fillets
Show the answer
D. Correct. Fatty, firm fish such as Arctic char, salmon, trout and mackerel suit grilling: the fat keeps them moist over high, dry heat and the skin protects the flesh and holds it together. Oil the fish and a clean, hot grill, and turn once.
Why not the others
A. Pickerel is a lean freshwater fish with thin, delicate fillets. It suits pan-frying or shallow-frying, where it can be handled gently, rather than an open grill.
B. Sole is a lean, delicate flat fish. On a char-grill it dries out and falls through the grate. It is better poached, steamed or sautéed à la meunière.
C. Haddock is a lean white fish with large, soft flakes. With no fat to baste it and no skin to hold it, it sticks and breaks on the grill; bake, poach or batter and fry it instead.
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A banquet kitchen has several kilograms of raw lobster and shrimp shells left from fabrication. What is the best use for them?
- Hold them at room temperature until the end of the shift
- Roast them for a shellfish stock or bisque base
- Simmer them for 6 to 8 hours like a brown veal stock
- Throw them out, since shells only add bitterness
Show the answer
B. Correct. Shells carry much of the flavour and colour of crustaceans. Roasting them, then simmering with mirepoix, tomato and aromatics for about 30 to 45 minutes gives a stock for bisque, sauces and soups. Label and freeze extra shells. Cleaned, dried shells can also be used for presentation.
Why not the others
A. Raw shells with flesh on them are potentially hazardous. Refrigerate them at 4 °C or lower or freeze them until they are used.
C. Shellfish stock is a short stock. After about 45 minutes the shells start to give off bitter, murky flavours; long simmering is for veal and beef bones.
D. Shells are one of the richest flavour sources in shellfish cooking. Bitterness comes from over-extracting (very long simmering) or burning them, not from the shells themselves.
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A 6 kg whole salmon has a typical usable yield of 50 % after heading, filleting, skinning and trimming. How many 150 g portions will it give?
- 20
- 40
- 80
- 10
Show the answer
A. Correct. EP = AP × yield % = 6000 g × 0.50 = 3000 g of usable flesh, and 3000 g ÷ 150 g = 20 portions. The trim (belly, tail pieces, frame scrapings) can still go into mousses, patties or stock.
Why not the others
B. This divides the as-purchased weight by the portion size (6000 ÷ 150 = 40) and ignores the yield. Head, frame, skin and trim are not portionable, so only the edible-portion weight counts.
C. This divides by the yield instead of multiplying (6000 ÷ 0.50 = 12 000 g, ÷ 150 = 80). Dividing by the yield is how AP is found from a needed EP, not how EP is found from AP.
D. This applies the yield twice (6000 g × 0.5 × 0.5 = 1500 g, then 1500 ÷ 150 = 10). The 50 % yield already covers every trimming step, so it is used once.
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A guest who is allergic to shrimp orders fried calamari. The calamari is cooked in the same fryer as breaded shrimp. What should the kitchen do?
- Serve it after heating the fryer to 190 °C to destroy the allergen
- Pick any shrimp crumbs off the plate before it goes out
- Serve it, because squid is a mollusc and not a crustacean
- Tell the guest about the shared fryer and offer a safe option
Show the answer
D. Correct. Shrimp protein in shared fryer oil is cross-contact, and Health Canada groups crustaceans and molluscs as one priority allergen. The server tells the guest; the kitchen offers a dish cooked in fresh oil with clean equipment, or another item, and the guest decides with the full facts.
Why not the others
A. Heat does not destroy the proteins that cause shellfish allergy. Hotter oil still carries shrimp protein onto the calamari.
B. Removing visible pieces does not remove allergen already transferred through the oil. Picking off is never an acceptable allergen control.
C. Molluscs and crustaceans are different animals, but they share one entry on Health Canada's priority allergen list and some people react to both. The shrimp in the shared oil is the bigger problem.
02Answer key
| Question | Answer | Sub-task |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 | D | Cooks seafood |
| Q2 | D | Cooks fin fish |
| Q3 | B | Processes seafood |
| Q4 | A | Processes fin fish |
| Q5 | D | Finishes seafood |
03What block J covers
This block covers fin fish and shellfish. It includes freshness checks and receiving temperatures, round and flat fish, market forms, sustainability, thawing, pin bones and portion yields, gravlax and raw fish safety, cooking methods and doneness, shrimp counts, live mussels, oysters and lobster, shellstock tags, cleaning squid, allergen cross-contact and cold seafood display.
The Red Seal Occupational Standard names this block “Fish and seafood”. It carries 10% of the exam, about 15 of the 150 questions, split across two tasks. The share column is each task's weight within the block, as the standard publishes it.
| Task and its sub-tasks | Share of block |
|---|---|
| Prepares fin fish Selects fin fish; Processes fin fish; Cooks fin fish; Finishes fin fish | 47% |
| Prepares seafood Selects seafood; Processes seafood; Cooks seafood; Finishes seafood | 53% |
04What the questions turn on
Receiving fish and shellfish
Fresh fish is received at 4 °C or lower, ideally 0 to 2 °C in crushed ice. Tuna or mackerel held warm can carry histamine, which cooking does not destroy. Oyster harvest tags are kept 90 days after the last oyster.
Keeping live shellfish alive
Live mussels and oysters need air: store them at 4 °C or lower in a mesh bag in a perforated pan under a damp cloth, never sealed or under fresh water. Discard mussels that stay closed after steaming.
Doneness for fish and shellfish
Health Canada recommends 70 °C for fish and 74 °C for shellfish. Squid goes rubbery between the two extremes, so it is either seared over high heat for under 2 minutes or braised gently for 45 minutes or more.
Fish served raw
Fish eaten raw or lightly cured, such as sashimi or gravlax, is first frozen to -20 °C or colder for at least 7 days to kill parasites. Sushi-grade is a marketing term, so ask the supplier for freezing records.
05The other blocks
The 415A exam has 13 blocks. Each has its own page of free questions:
The 415A Cook practice exam page describes the full question bank. How these questions are written and checked: how our questions are made. Found a mistake? Tell us and we will fix it.