Dimple It
If your burgers tend to puff up, here’s a tip to keep them looking good: Use a spoon to press a dimple into the top before placing them on the grill. The burgers will rise while remaining shapely.

Butter It
We had burgers at the home of a friend who shaped her patties around a pat of butter, like Martha Stewart does. We were shocked at the addition of cholesterol to cholesterol, but decided to taste it before passing judgment.

It was luscious, and inspired us to do the same, with our own improvement: compound (flavored) butter (see here for our favorite compound butter recipes).

More burger cooking tips.

Fifty burger variations—including turkey burgers and veggie burgers—plus condiments and toppings you haven’t tried.

T-Rex and Triceratops in a Jurassic food fight.
Our money’s on T-Rex. Photo by Jaclyn
Nussbaum | THE NIBBLE.

And now, man can eat dinosaurs.

Although we didn’t have anyone’s birthday to celebrate, when we saw this Nordicware Dinosaur Cakelet Pan from our favorite cake pan manufacturer, we knew we had to bake a batch.

The pan yields two each of Apatosaurus (formerly known as Brontosaurus), Stegosaurus, Triceratops and the king himself, Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Both kids and adults will delight in taking a bite of the ginormous antediluvian reptiles—here, reduced to the size of a large cupcake, or cakelet.

Getting all the tiny details in the mold to come out perfectly is a piece of cake (pun intended): Just follow a few simple baking tips.

Use your favorite cake recipe or a mix. We used White Chocolate Hazelnut Cake Mix from The King’s Cupboard.

As cool as the dinosaurs looked when we popped them out of the pan, we couldn’t leave them unadorned. We used Nordicware’s E-Z Deco Icing Pen to create the fine lines outlining each dinosaur.

For those of us who would never be invited to assist the Ace Of Cakes, the Icing Pen combines a basic pastry bag with a pen-like applicator. Simply fill the bag with icing, insert it into the applicator and start decorating your cake. The easy-to-hold ergonomic handle lets you “write” as if you were using a pen.

It’s easy to hold and to apply pressure evenly. Even if all you do is write “Happy Birthday” on a cake twice a year, this little gadget is worth its drawer space.

One tip: Don’t forget to unscrew the two parts of the plastic coupler before you begin. We didn’t even realize there were two parts until we were finished, but the cakelets turned out just fine.

• More of our favorite Nordicware cake pans.

Nordicware’s E-Z Deco Icing Pen. Photo courtesy Nordicware.

August is National Peach Month. Brush up on your peach facts and trivia:

Peaches originated in China, traveled west over the silk roads to Persia, were brought to Greece by Alexander the Great and were introduced to America by the French. The French brought them to Louisiana, and the English colonists brought them to the Jamestown and Massachusetts colonies.

12 Peach Recipes

 
Favorite Peach Products

The nectarine, and curious peach, / Into my hands themselves do reach; / Stumbling on melons, as I pass, / Ensnared with flowers, I fall on grass.

Use a slotted fish spatula to flip everything
on the grill. This one is a Tom Douglas by
Pinzon Dexter Russell, available on Amazon.

THE NIBBLE chef suggests a grilling tool that is equally wonderful in the kitchen: a good quality fish spatula or fish turner. He uses it for grilling both burgers and fish, and finds it preferable to the conventional head-on chef’s spatula.

It’s a great utensil whether you’re grilling, sautéing or broiling.

Designed to turn and lift delicate seafood, a fish spatula, also known as a fish turner, is thinner and lighter and works from an angle. The long vents mean less sticking.

A fish spatula is a multi-tasker. We use it to turn fried eggs and omelets, pancakes, crêpes, cutlets, enchiladas and quesadillas—even to lift delicate baked pasta such as lasagne and manicotti.

Fish Spatulas We Like
A good fish turner is flexible enough to bend, but not flimsy. If you want to use it on scratch-coat cookware, you’ll also need a non-scratch version. Also look for a handle that won’t melt if you leave it in a hot pan.

 
You can also find left-handed versions.

Yesterday’s tip from THE NIBBLE’s chef was on steak seasoning. Today he says: brush a little butter on steak just before serving.

The next time you grill, pan roast or broil a steak, brush a really light coating of melted butter over it before bringing it to the table.

This gives steak added oomph: that little extra something that your guests won’t be able to detect, but will be sure to love.

Our guests love truffles, so we use this truffle butter from D’Artagnan—one of our favorite luxuries and a Top Pick Of The Week. You can also use garlic butter.

If you don’t have a pastry brush or basting brush, pick up a silicone brush. The bristle brushes look more picturesque, but they fray over time—and silicone is much easier to clean.