415A meat, poultry and game practice questions.

Five free practice questions on meat, poultry and game: block I of the Red Seal 415A Cook exam, about 16 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

1. Recall · Cooks meats and game meats

   Why is a beef shank usually braised rather than grilled?

   1. It is too lean to brown, so it must be cooked in liquid
   2. Bone-in cuts cannot reach a safe temperature on a grill
   3. Its collagen needs long, moist heat to turn into gelatin
   4. Its elastin melts into the liquid during a long braise
   Show the answer

   C. Correct. Shank muscles work hard and are rich in collagen. Held in moist heat for hours (the meat around 70 to 90 °C), collagen converts to gelatin, the meat turns fork-tender and the liquid gains body. Grilled quickly, the same collagen shrinks and the meat eats tough; this is why osso buco and other shank dishes are braised.

   Why not the others

   A. Shanks brown well, and most braises start with a sear for colour and flavour. Leanness is not the reason; connective tissue is.

   B. Bone-in steaks and chops are grilled to safe temperatures every day. The issue with shank is toughness, not whether it can get hot enough.

   D. Elastin does not break down with cooking, moist or dry; it is trimmed off instead. The tissue that softens in a braise is collagen.

2. Procedural · Cooks poultry and game birds

   A turkey for a hotel's holiday buffet is roasted with the stuffing inside the cavity. The thigh reaches 82 °C. What else must be checked before it is served?

   1. The breast reaches 82 °C, the same as the thigh
   2. The juices run clear when the thigh is pierced
   3. The stuffing rests inside the bird for 30 minutes
   4. The centre of the stuffing reaches at least 74 °C
   Show the answer

   D. Correct. Stuffing soaks up raw poultry juices and sits in the slowest-heating part of the bird, so it can be under temperature when the meat is done. Health Canada's figure for stuffing is 74 °C, checked in the centre. Many kitchens bake stuffing separately for this reason; if it goes inside, stuff loosely just before roasting and remove it as soon as the bird comes out.

   Why not the others

   A. The breast is usually hotter than the thigh already, and taking it higher only dries it out. The thigh is the check point for the meat; the stuffing is the other one.

   B. Clear juices are a sensory cue, not proof of a safe temperature, and they say nothing about the stuffing in the centre of the cavity. Use a thermometer.

   C. Resting does not guarantee temperature, and stuffing left in the cavity cools slowly toward the danger zone. Check it with a thermometer and remove it promptly.

3. Procedural · Processes variety meats

   A bistro receives whole veal kidneys still in their suet. How should they be processed before cooking?

   1. Soak them for two days in warm salted water to remove odour
   2. Leave the suet and core in place and slice for a quick grill
   3. Remove the suet and membrane, halve, and cut out the white core
   4. Grind them with the fat and membrane to use all the trim
   Show the answer

   C. Correct. Peel off the suet (which can be rendered) and the thin outer membrane, split the kidney and cut out the white fatty core and tubes, which are tough and strong-tasting. Lamb and pork kidneys are often soaked briefly in cold salted water or milk to mellow them. Cook quickly (sauté, grill) without overcooking, which makes them rubbery, or slowly in a braise or pie.

   Why not the others

   A. A warm soak holds a very perishable product in the danger zone, and two days is far too long. When kidneys are soaked, it is briefly, in cold salted water or milk, in the refrigerator.

   B. The white core and tubes are tough and hold strong flavours; left in, they spoil the texture and taste. The suet is removed (and can be rendered) before quick cooking.

   D. Grinding in the membrane and core adds gristle and strong flavours. Minimizing waste means rendering the suet, not keeping inedible parts in the product.

4. Procedural · Processes meats and game meats

   A camp kitchen buys a 6.0 kg bison striploin at $20.00 per kg. After trimming fat and silverskin, 4.5 kg of usable meat remains. What is the EP cost in dollars?

   1. 20.00 per kg
   2. 15.00 per kg
   3. 25.00 per kg
   4. 26.67 per kg
   Show the answer

   D. Correct. Total cost 6.0 kg x $20.00 = $120.00; yield 4.5 / 6.0 = 75 %; EP cost = $120.00 / 4.5 kg (or $20.00 / 0.75) = $26.67 per kg. Usable trim sent to ground meat or stock can be credited back to lower this figure.

   Why not the others

   A. This is the AP price, which ignores the 1.5 kg of trim that was paid for but cannot be served. Portion costing must use the EP cost.

   B. This multiplies the AP price by the yield (20.00 x 0.75). Trimming makes each usable kilogram cost more, not less; divide by the yield instead.

   C. This adds the 25 % trim loss onto the price (20.00 x 1.25). Because the loss is a share of the AP weight, the correct math is 20.00 / 0.75 = 26.67, not 20.00 x 1.25.

5. Procedural · Processes poultry and game birds

   An apprentice is about to rinse raw chicken thighs in the prep sink before marinating them. What should the cook tell the apprentice?

   1. Skip the rinse, blot dry with paper towel, then sanitize the area
   2. Rinse them in vinegar water, which sanitizes raw poultry
   3. Rinse them under hot water to kill Salmonella on the surface
   4. Rinse them, then wipe the sink with a dry cloth afterward
   Show the answer

   A. Correct. Rinsing does not remove Salmonella or Campylobacter; it splashes them onto the sink, nearby surfaces and any ready-to-eat food. Cooking to 74 °C for pieces is the kill step. Blot the surface if it is wet, then wash, rinse and sanitize the board, knife and area, and wash hands.

   Why not the others

   B. Vinegar water does not reliably kill Salmonella or Campylobacter on raw poultry, and the rinse still splashes. Skip the rinse and rely on cooking to 74 °C.

   C. Tap water, even hot, is nowhere near hot enough to kill bacteria on raw poultry, and the spray spreads them around the sink area. Cooking is the kill step.

   D. A dry cloth spreads contamination rather than removing it. Surfaces touched by raw poultry must be washed, rinsed and sanitized; better still, do not rinse at all.

02Answer key

03What block I covers

This block covers meat, game, poultry, game birds and variety meats. It includes beef grades and primal cuts, receiving vacuum-packed meat, inspected game, trimming silverskin, aging, brining and enzyme marinades, food-safe internal temperatures, braising, grilling and roasting with carry-over, poultry fabrication and roasting, carving, and preparing sweetbreads, kidneys, tripe and tongue.

The Red Seal Occupational Standard names this block “Meats, game, poultry, game birds and variety meats”. It carries 10.7% of the exam, about 16 of the 150 questions, split across three tasks. The share column is each task's weight within the block, as the standard publishes it.

04What the questions turn on

Health Canada temperatures

Health Canada sets 63 °C for medium-rare whole cuts of beef, veal and lamb, 74 °C for game meats, ground or whole, and 82 °C for whole poultry, measured in the thickest part of the thigh away from the bone.

Collagen needs moist heat

Hard-working cuts such as shank and cheek are rich in collagen, which turns to gelatin only with hours of moist heat at a bare simmer. A rolling boil dries the fibres. Silverskin is elastin, which never softens, so it is trimmed.

Carry-over and resting

Large roasts keep cooking as they rest, so the pull temperature is the target minus the expected carry-over. Resting lets the juices redistribute, and cuts such as flank are sliced thinly across the grain to shorten the fibres.

Roasting a whole bird

In a whole bird the thigh heats more slowly than the breast, so shield the breast with foil until the thigh reaches 82 °C. Stuffing cooked inside the cavity must also reach 74 °C in its centre.

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.