Looking for some appetizer or dessert excitement? Make verrines (vair-REEN, in French).

Verre is the French word for glass; verrine, which means “protective glass,” is an assortment of ingredients layered “artfully” in a small glass.

Verrines can be sweet or savory: The idea is to layer foods that provide delicious tastes in small bites.

In addition to serving up a variety of tastes and textures, verrines should have splashes of color for eye appeal (grape tomatoes, raspberries, herbs).

The idea has been around for a long time, but in recent years has come back to prominence in France.

While specialty verrine glasses exist, you most likely have vessels at home that will do the job just fine: juice glasses, rocks glasses, shot glasses, even small wine goblets.

Instead, start by making the foods you serve every day more exciting by serving a verrine as a side. For example:

 
How many layers should you prepare? Three to six.

SWEET INGREDIENTS CHECKLIST

This is hardly an exhaustive list, but it’s a good start for inspiration.

ALSO SEE: Savory verrines.

VERRINE COOKBOOKS

If you read French, there’s a larger selection. Here’s what we found in English, but we expect to see more as publishers catch up with the trend:

Love pork rinds? Make your own. Photo
courtesy Rudolph Foods.

Rudolph Foods, the world’s largest manufacturer of pork rinds, has put together a “make your own” gift kit that contains everything Dad needs to make 30 servings of fresh-popped pork rinds.

The kit is packaged in a metal orb that can be used as a bank, snack bowl or general decor (in a choice of designs—baseball, bowling ball, world globe). Inside are:

Think of an elegant apple cider, made from a very complex blend of both culinary (eating) apples and bittersweet “angry” apples. Then, add a lengthy fermentation process, including oak aging for complexity and balance.

Angry Orchard is made by a brewer that knows how to satisfy: Boston Beer Company, makers of Samuel Adams beer. (Read the full review.)

Th cider was a hit.

So for summer entertaining, consider a hard cider tasting. Following our Memorial Day success, we’re gathering up different hard cider brands and for a multibrand tasting.

Magners (made in Ireland) and Woodchuck (from Vermont) are brands found most often in our local supemarkets, but check in wine stores for artisan brands (if your state’s wine stores don’t sell cider, they may be able to send you somewhere that does).

Hard cider has been fermented into an alcoholic beverage. Fresh apple cider is raw apple juice that has not undergone a filtration process. Apple juice has been filtered to remove solids and pasteurized so that it will stay fresh longer.

Every year we try to find something special for the connoisseurs on our Father’s Day gift list. In recent years we’ve sent truffled cashews, great chocolates and rare cheeses. But this year we’re going back to basics:

For the slam dunk, we’re sending Certified Angus Beef.

Not all Angus is certified by the Certified Angus Beef Program, which requires 100% Angus bloodlines. Other beef called Angus need be only 51% Angus—which of course affects the quality.

Certified Steak and Seafood sells Angus beef that is triple-certified:

DO YOU KNOW YOUR CUTS OF BEEF?

It can be confusing, especially when boneless club steak, boneless loin, boneless strip steak, Delmonico steak, Kansas City strip steak, New York steak, New York strip steak, strip loin, strip steak, shell steak, sirloin strip and top loin are all the same cut!

Brush up on your beef cuts in our Beef Glossary.
  

What can you do to turn a scoop of vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt into a sophisticated dessert?

Drizzle it with balsamic glaze and add some strawberries. And if you prefer, use strawberry ice cream or yogurt.

Plain strawberries with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar or a balsamic glaze is a classic Italian dessert. We’re not sure whether Italians or Americans added ice cream to the recipe, but it’s a winning combination.

WHAT IS BALSAMIC GLAZE?

Balsamic glaze is balsamic vinegar that has been reduced into a syrup equivalent to 25% of the original volume. The difference from just drizzling vinegar from the bottle is a thicker sauce, but you can certainly skip the reduction and use balsamic from the bottle.

 
You can make balsamic glaze or buy it; in addition to a plain glaze, you can find it in blood orange, fig, pomegranate and strawberry. You can also make or buy a white balsamic glaze.

The simple addition of a balsamic glaze adds wonderful flavor to simple dishes, both sweet and savory (berries, grilled chicken, fish and other proteins; crudites, steamed vegetables, whipped cream and so on).

MAKE YOUR OWN BALSAMIC GLAZE

You can make a batch and keep it in the fridge, on call whenever you need some culinary magic. The refreshing sweet-and-tangy taste perks up just about anything (if it’s too tangy for you, add some sugar to your reduction).

Two cups of vinegar reduces to a half cup of glaze.

Ingredients

3. Remove from heat; allow to cool. Store in the fridge, in a jar with a tight lid, for up to a month.

Find more of our favorite ice cream recipes.