Even if you live in Maine, it’s still warm enough to grill outdoors. So the next time you have a cocktail party or a simple wine gathering, grill your hors d’oeuvre. (In French, “hors d’oeuvre” is used for both singular and plural forms of the noun. Americans who don’t know French add an “s” at the end.)

Start with canapés: finger foods composed of a base and topping, meant to be eaten in one bite. The name is the French word for sofa: the topping sits upon the “sofa.” The topping itself is called the “canopy.”

(Punsters: You can make a “couch potato” by topping the base with a potato-based food, such as cubed ham and potato salad with grainy mustard-mayonnaise and capers, or mashed potatoes mixed with salmon caviar.)

Miniature versions of grilled cheese (slice a regular sandwich into quarters) can be enhanced with chutney or any of these wonderful gourmet grilled cheese recipes. We’ve served several different grill cheese on the same tray: blue cheese, cheddar and smoked Gouda, for example.

To plan your grilled hors d’oeuvre, select a base, a spread (which acts as a flavorful binder between the base and the topping) and a “canopy.”

MIX & MATCH YOUR INGREDIENTS

Pick Your Base

There are many different bases for canapés, ranging from pastry shells to tortilla chips. Here’s the best selection for grilled canapés.

Pick Your Spread

Many canapés are simply a base and a spread, such as cheese, pâté or relish. With grilled canapes, a different type of spread serves as the binder between the base and the grilled “canopy.”

Hors d’oeuvre on grilled pita wedges and grilled polenta rounds. Photo courtesy AddSomeLife.com.

Pick Your Canopy (Topping)

 
Pick A Garnish
 
Garnishes add another layer of flavor, along with color and visual appeal.

 
ANOTHER GRILLED OPTION: SKEWERS

Canapés aren’t the only hors d’oeuvre that can be grilled. Skewers, in fact, are the obvious choice.

With a skewer instead of bread base, you save the carbs; but you often replace the calories with a dipping sauce.

You can pick up a book about grilled appetizers: Appetizers On The Grill.
Find more of our favorite hors d’oeuvre recipes.

Here it is, just in time for National Coffee Day, September 29th. Thanks to Krups for the recipe: We’re making the espresso in a Krups combination Coffee Maker & Espresso Machine (the company also makes an espresso machine with a glass carafe, but note that “four cups” means four espresso-size cups).

This recipe isn’t a Starbucks-variety mocha latte: It has a kick of coffee liqueur. For kids and non-drinkers, we have an iced mocha latte milkshake,” below.

ICED MOCHA LATTE RECIPE FOR ADULTS

Ingredients

Preparation

1. Brew the espresso according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Allow to cool to room temperature.

2. Fill a tall glass with ice and pour over the ice in this order: chocolate syrup, milk, Kahlúa and espresso. Stir well to combine.

3. Garnish and serve. Toast to National Coffee Day.

HOT MOCHA LATTE RECIPE

A mocha latte is a variation of caffé latte (called latte for short) to which some type of chocolate flavor has been added.

It can be dark, milk or white chocolate syrup, cocoa powder/mix or even chocolate milk or powder.

Ingredients

Preparation

Mocha milkshake. Photo and recipe (below) courtesy Nescafé Taster’s Choice.

1. Brew coffee. Mix in chocolate flavoring of choice, stirring to combine thoroughly.

2. Heat milk in a saucepan, whisking to create a froth. (Alternatively, we love our milk foamer.)

3. Fill a cup with half coffee/chocolate mix, half milk. Spoon foam on top. Garnish as desired.
 
MOCHA LATTE MILKSHAKE RECIPE FOR KIDS

Ingredients

 
Preparation
1. BLEND. Place milk and coffee granules in blender; cover and blend until coffee is dissolved.

2. ADD. Add ice, ice cream and sugar; blend until smooth.

3. GARNISH with whipped cream, chocolate shavings or chocolate sprinkles. Serve immediately.

Find more of our favorite coffee recipes.

Check out the different types of coffee in our Coffee Glossary.

Oktoberfest is said to be the world’s largest fair, with more than 6 million people attending—15% of the beer fans come from outside Germany. Other cities around the world hold their own Oktoberfests, modeled after the original.

While it’s called Oktoberfest (German for October feast), the event begins in late September and ends in early October.

As you can imagine, large quantities of Oktoberfest beer are consumed—almost 7 million liters were served during the 16-day festival in 2007. The traditional style of Oktoberfest beer is Märzen,* an amber-red, smooth, mildly sweet lager with a malty aroma, which originated in Bavaria.

Traditional foods served with the beer include:

 
*For German speakers who wonder why a beer named for the month of March (März in German) is celebrated in October: Märzen was originally brewed in March and laid down in caves before the summer heat made brewing impossible. At the end of September, any remaining kegs were consumed during the two-week Oktoberfest. While some modern brewers make Märzen seasonally for Oktoberfest, others brew it year-round.

There’s still time for you to have an Oktoberfest celebration. You don’t need to adhere to the German schedule: Consider that you’ve got all of October.

For an adult Halloween party, combine the two events and do a tasting of Oktoberfest beers, fall beers and pumpkin beers/ales.

 
(Check out all the different types of beer in our Beer Glossary.)

Oktoberfest beer from Wisconsin: Leinenkugel’s Oktoberfest beer with sausage and sauerkraut. Photo courtesy Leinenkugel.

Here’s a recipe from the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, for brats steamed in Oktoberfest beer.

BRATS COOKED IN BEER

Enjoy Leinenkugel’s recipe for Oktoberfest-Infused Bratwurst, brats boiled in beer, then grilled.

Ingredients

 
†We used 5 bottles.
 
Preparation

1. Place brats in a Dutch oven with sliced onions, peppers and butter; cover the brats with beer. Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer until brats are cooked. Remove brats and set aside remaining beer mixture.

2. Grill brats until golden brown and return to beer mixture until ready to serve.

3. Serve brats on fresh brat buns, plain or toasted, with your favorite toppings: ketchup, mustard, onions, peppers (chopped bell peppers or jalapeños) and sauerkraut.
 
HOW MUCH BEER DO YOU NEED FOR A CROWD?

If you’re planning a large event, use the handy calculator at Kegerators.com. We calculated that for a party of 25 guests consuming 3-5 beers apiece, we’d need 1 keg, 35 pounds of ice for a room temperature keg, and 30 cups, “Assumes 17% breakage, excluding drinking games.”

We’ve seen a number of pieces from Cat Cora for Starfrit, a cookware line endorsed by the celebrity chef.

But the newest, the Cat Cora by Starfrit 2-in-1 Burger Press is the one we’ll definitely use, over and over again.

A burger press creates consistent, perfectly formed and sized burger patties.

But this burger press has something extra: a smaller ring that can be used to form sliders and stackers, as well as to cut a well in a larger burger, to fill with your favorite complementary ingredients.

Stuffed burgers are so much fun that we wonder how, in a country where burgers are the favorite food, they haven’t become the rage. We hope that the Cat Cora/Starfrit mold will be the beginning of a trend.

Whatever your burger preference—beef, bison, chicken, lamb, pork, salmon, turkey (we haven’t tried it with a veggie burger)—you can make an already-delightful burger much more so.

We simply scanned our shelves. Then:

The Cat Cora For Starfrit 2-In-1 Burger Press. Photo courtesy HSN.com.

 
Intensify the flavor by adding fresh herbs—basil, chives, dill, garlic, parsley, rosemary, sage, thyme—or dried oregano and spices, to the filling.
Imagine a pizza burger: tomato sauce and cheese stuffed into your favorite burger. How about a turkey burger filled with cranberry sauce and stuffing?

Let us know what you’d use to stuff your favorite burger(s).
 
The 2-in-1* burger press set includes:

 
You can buy the burger press at HSN.com. At $24.95, it isn’t an inexpensive kitchen gadget. But it’s sturdy and will afford many years of bodacious burgers.

HOW TO MAKE A STUFFED BURGER

 
*It’s actually more than 2 in 1. We count burgers, sliders, stuffed burgers and anything you need a round cutter for: biscuits, cookies, melon, and anything that begs to be molded (rice, veggies, etc.).

[1] A lamb burger, Mediterranean style (photo © Hubbard Inn | Chicago).

[2] Ground lamb. Ground lamb typically contains lean meat and trimmings from the leg, loin, rib, shoulder, flank, neck, breast and/or shanks (photo © Cava Grillhttp://www.americanlamb.com” rel=”noopener” target=”_blank”>American Lamb Board).

[3] Tzatziki, a spread made with Greek yogurt, cucumbers, garlic, dill and lemon juice (photo © Cava Grill).

See our long list of burger variations for every day of the month, and then some.

At Chicago’s Hubbard Inn, Executive Chef Bob Zrenner makes it even more adventurous.

He substitutes lamb for beef, creating a Greek-style lamb burger.

Chef Zrenner uses ground lamb from locally raised animals, and tops the patty with mint, cucumber, red onion and feta cheese.

He topped the burger with tzatziki, a yogurt sauce, instead of ketchup.

There’s juiciness from the lamb, creaminess from the feta and tzatziki, bright notes from the mint, and zesty red onion as a counterpoint to cool cucumber.

You’ll note in photo #1 that Chef Zrenner’s tzatziki recipe is focused on cucumbers as the main ingredient, with a yogurt binding. The traditional Greek recipe has yogurt as the main ingredient, with added chopped cucumbers and seasonings.
 
 
RECIPE: GREEK LAMB BURGER

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. PREPARE. If you haven’t purchased the tzatziki, make it with this recipe. You can make it up to a week in advance.

2. GRILL. Cook burgers to desired doneness.

3. LAYER. Cover the bottom bread slice (or add to the pita pocket) with tzatziki. Place patty on top. Add cucumbers, onion slices and mint leaves. Top with more tzatziki and serve.
 
To Drink
 
We enjoy this burger with a beer; but mint tea is also delicious.

You can steep the leftover mint in boiling water and serve the tea hot or iced.
 
 
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*We prefer to pickle the cucumbers for an hour or longer. It’s very easy with this recipe.