Five free practice questions on kitchen skills, food costing and dietary needs: block B of the Red Seal 415A Cook exam, about 11 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 school cafeteria receives a case of ground turkey invoiced at 10 kg. On the receiving scale it weighs 8.6 kg net, and it probes at 3 °C. What should the receiver do?
- Note the 1.4 kg shortage on the invoice, get it initialled, request a credit
- Accept it and absorb the difference in the month-end inventory
- Sign the invoice as delivered and phone the supplier later
- Refuse the whole case because the weight is short
Show the answer
A. Correct. The product itself passes (3 °C is at or below 4 °C), so the problem is quantity. Record the discrepancy on the invoice before signing, have the driver initial it, and have the supplier issue a credit note so the kitchen pays only for the 8.6 kg received.
Why not the others
B. Absorbing it later hides the loss inside food cost and the supplier is never told. The shortage is recorded on the invoice and credited by the supplier.
C. Signing first confirms that the full 10 kg arrived; a later phone call then has nothing to back it. Discrepancies are recorded on the invoice at the door, before the receiver signs.
D. Refusing wholesome product at a safe temperature over a weight shortage leaves the kitchen without stock it needs. Refusal is for product that fails safety or specification (temperature, damage, dates); a short weight is corrected with a credit.
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A caterer must deliver braised chicken, cooked in the commissary, to a wedding 40 minutes away. Which plan keeps the food safe until service?
- Pack it at 74 °C or above in preheated insulated carriers; probe for 60 °C or above on arrival
- Pack it hot in foil pans and bring it back up to heat in the chafing dishes on site
- Chill it to 4 °C, transport it cold and reheat it on site to 60 °C
- Transport it hot in covered hotel pans; the trip is under 2 hours so no check is needed
Show the answer
A. Correct. Hot food leaves the kitchen well above the 60 °C hot-holding minimum in preheated insulated carriers, and a probe check at the venue confirms it stayed at 60 °C or higher. Chafing dishes or hot boxes then hold it there; record the temperatures on the transport log.
Why not the others
B. Chafing dishes and steam tables are built to hold hot food, not to reheat it; they bring food up too slowly through the danger zone. Food that has cooled must be reheated to 74 °C on a range, oven or combi oven before it goes into the chafer.
C. Cold transport is an acceptable plan, but reheated food must reach an internal 74 °C (within 2 hours), not just 60 °C. 60 °C is the hot-holding temperature, not the reheating temperature.
D. A short trip does not replace a temperature check: food packed lukewarm can fall into the 4–60 °C danger zone within minutes. Pack hot, insulate and probe on arrival.
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After the lunch rush in a delicatessen, a cook must take the meat slicer apart to clean and sanitize it. What must be done first?
- Wipe the blade with sanitizer while it spins slowly
- Turn it off, unplug it and set the gauge plate to zero
- Put on a cut-resistant glove and remove the carriage
- Spray the whole unit with hot water from the hose
Show the answer
B. Correct. Isolating the power (unplugging or locking out) stops an accidental start, and closing the gauge plate covers the blade edge. Only then put on a cut-resistant glove, remove the carriage and guard per the manufacturer's instructions, wash, rinse, sanitize, air dry and reassemble.
Why not the others
A. Never clean a moving blade: a cloth snags and pulls the hand in. Sanitizer on an uncleaned blade is also ineffective because food soil shields bacteria. The slicer is stopped, unplugged, cleaned, then sanitized.
C. The glove is required, but it is not the first step: while the slicer is still plugged in, a bumped switch can start the blade. Power off and unplug (lock out) first, zero the gauge plate, then glove up and disassemble.
D. Hosing an electrical appliance risks shock and damages the motor, and water alone does not remove fat and protein soil. Slicers are cleaned by hand, part by part, after the power is disconnected.
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A hospital must serve gravy to a patient with celiac disease. The standard recipe uses a wheat-flour roux and a commercial chicken base. Which change makes it safe?
- Use a cornstarch slurry and keep the usual chicken base
- Cook the wheat roux longer to break down the gluten
- Use a cornstarch slurry and a base labelled gluten-free
- Make the roux with barley flour instead of wheat flour
Show the answer
C. Correct. Cornstarch (or arrowroot, or rice flour) keeps the thickening function without gluten, and many commercial bases contain wheat (flour, hydrolyzed wheat protein) or are made on shared lines, so the base must be confirmed gluten-free on its label. Use clean pots and utensils and label the tray.
Why not the others
A. The thickener is fixed, but commercial soup and sauce bases often contain wheat or are made on shared lines. Hidden gluten in the base would still make the gravy unsafe; read the label and use a gluten-free base.
B. Cooking does not destroy gluten; a darker roux thickens less but contains the same gluten proteins. The flour has to be replaced, not cooked longer.
D. Barley contains gluten (as do rye, and oats unless certified uncontaminated), so a barley roux is no safer for a celiac patient than a wheat one.
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A hotel banquet for 200 is plated at 18:00. The short ribs need 45 minutes of searing, 3 hours of braising and 30 minutes to portion and set up the plating line. What is the latest time searing can start?
- 13:45
- 14:30
- 14:15
- 15:00
Show the answer
A. Correct. Work back from service: 18:00 − 30 min (portion and set up) = 17:30; − 3 h (braise) = 14:30; − 45 min (sear) = 13:45. Real schedules add a buffer on top, because a braise is done when it is fork-tender, not when the timer ends.
Why not the others
B. 14:30 is when the ribs must go into the oven, not when searing starts; it forgets to subtract the 45 minutes of searing that comes before the braise.
C. 14:15 leaves out the 30 minutes to portion and set up the line (18:00 − 3 h − 45 min). Plates must be ready to go at 18:00, so every step, including the last one before service, is subtracted.
D. 15:00 subtracts only the 3-hour braise from 18:00 and ignores both the searing before it and the portioning after it. A production schedule counts every step between raw product and service.
02Answer key
| Question | Answer | Sub-task |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 | A | Receives products |
| Q2 | A | Presents finished product |
| Q3 | B | Uses equipment and appliances |
| Q4 | C | Selects ingredients to meet dietary requirements |
| Q5 | A | Schedules production |
03What block B covers
This block covers the shared skills behind every station. It includes knife care and classic cuts, pans and equipment, organizing a station and scheduling production, menu styles and Canada's Food Guide, recipe scaling, portion scoops and food costing, ordering, receiving and FIFO storage, convenience foods, cooking for allergies and dietary needs, and kitchen communication and mentoring apprentices.
The Red Seal Occupational Standard names this block “Common occupational skills”. It carries 7.3% of the exam, about 11 of the 150 questions, split across seven 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 |
|---|---|
| Uses tools and equipment Uses knives; Uses pots, pans and utensils; Uses equipment and appliances | 15% |
| Organizes work Organizes kitchen workplace; Schedules production | 14% |
| Manages information Plans menu and mise en place; Uses documentation | 11% |
| Manages products Orders products; Receives products; Stores products; Maintains inventory | 17% |
| Performs trade activities Uses recipes; Performs portion control; Presents finished product; Uses convenience foods | 16% |
| Adapts cooking practices to meet dietary requirements Adapts kitchen practices to meet dietary requirements; Selects ingredients to meet dietary requirements; Prepares food to meet dietary requirements | 15% |
| Uses communication and mentoring techniques Uses communication techniques; Uses mentoring techniques | 12% |
04What the questions turn on
Food cost arithmetic
Menu price is food cost divided by the target food cost percentage. Edible-portion cost is the as-purchased price divided by the yield percentage. Cost of food used is opening inventory plus purchases minus closing inventory.
Scaling a recipe
The conversion factor is the desired yield divided by the recipe yield, counting both the number of portions and the portion size. Multiply every ingredient by it, then adjust salt and spices to taste, and do not scale cooking time directly.
Receiving and rotation
Check quantity and condition, not just temperature. A short weight is noted on the invoice and initialled by the driver for a credit. IQF product fused into a block has thawed and refrozen, so refuse it. New stock goes behind old.
Hidden allergens and swaps
Fryer oil used for battered fish carries fish protein, so an allergy order needs fresh oil in a clean pan. Fish sauce is not vegan, and a wheat-flour roux becomes a cornstarch slurry with a base labelled gluten-free.
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.