A saucier has rounded edges, eliminating
corners where food can burn. This saucier
is available at Amazon.com.

A griddle is not a grill, a saucepan is not a saucier and a skillet is not a sauté pan. You need the right equipment to do the best job; that’s why the variations were developed.

• Griddle vs. Grill: A griddle is a heavy, flat cooking utensil. A grill is an open web on which foods are placed to directly expose them to fire.
• Saucepan vs. Saucier: A saucepan has straight sides and is used for basic heating and boiling. A saucier (photo at left) is rounded and bowl-shaped, ideal for the preparation of sauces, custards, risotto and creamy foods. Unlike the saucepan, there are no corners in which food can hide and burn; and the wider mouth is better for whisking.

• Skillet vs. Sauté Pan: A skillet has low, sloped sides that help with evaporation and steam dissipation. It is used for browning and/or caramelizing, and for reducing sauces. The sloped sides make it easy to flip food and slide it out of the pan. A sauté pan has straight sides and a lid. It is used for braising and pan frying; the high sides reduce splatters and keep in the moist heat.

Now that you know the difference, put the equipment you need on your wish list to make cooking more efficient.

But what if you don’t eat red meat and cheese, or simply want a change?

Our solution is smokin’: a smokey chicken burger topped with smoked Gouda and smokey barbecue sauce.

To make it even more special, a ciabatta roll replaces the burger bun.

• Get the recipe.
• Find more chicken recipes in our Gourmet Poultry Section.

Don’t you want to take a bite? Photo
courtesy Sable & Rosinfeld.

Photo courtesy Wholesome Junk Food Cookbook.

To make this great match even better, add 1 cup of coarsely grated Cheddar to your apple pie crust dough.

You can still serve the pie with a wedge of Cheddar.

And you can also wow the crowd with this Cheddar Cheese Ice Cream recipe.

But some holidays, like National Cheeseburger Day, deserve more than a tweet. As one of America’s favorite foods, the cheeseburger demands that you celebrate!

• Check out 8 gorgeous cheeseburger recipes.
• Don’t want cheese? See our 40+ burger recipes—a different burger for every day of the month.
• How about a spicy peanut butter burger recipe?
• See the history of the burger. Who invented it?
• Find out how food holidays are created, and the whole year of holidays.

Bacon, cheese, hash browns and onion rings:
The Farmer John Cheeseburger is for hearty
eaters. Photo courtesy Wisconsin Milk
Marketing Board.

[1] Kir Royale: sparkling wine and crème de cassis, which is blackcurrant liqueur (photo © The Mercury | Atlanta (now closed, alas).

[2] The original Kir, simply crème de cassis and white wine, has no bubbly. It begat the Kir Royale (with Champagne, above) and a dozen more variations (photo © Stuart Webster | Wikipedia).

[3] Crème de Cassis is a blackcurrant liqueur made with blackcurrants grown near Dijon, the main town in the Burgundy region of France, where the liqueur was invented (photo © Bols).

If you open a bottle of sparkling wine and find it’s not to your liking, there’s no need to drink bitter or too-dry bubbly. Think of the Kir, a French cocktail of crème de cassis—blackcurrant liqueur—and white wine.

Add a bit of crème de cassis to the bubbly, and you’ve created the luscious sparkling drink known as Kir Royale.

Pour an inch of the liqueur into a flute or other wine glass, then add the sparkling wine. You can use this recipe to turn any still or sparkling white wine into a festive party drink. For a more intense flavor, add more liqueur.

The drink was named after Félix Kir (1876-1968), a mayor of the city of Dijon in Burgundy (the same city of mustard fame). As an apéritif, he added a splash of cassis to Aligote, a local still white wine. The “Kir,” as it was known, became very popular and led to the creation of the Kir Royale, substituting Champagne for still wine.

In addition to the Kir Royale made with crème de cassis and Champagne, the drink has evolved into some 18 delicious versions, including:

 
THE OTHER “KNOWN” KIR VARIATIONS

 
 
HOW ABOUT AN ALL-KIR COMPETITION?

We’ve long had a fantasy of trying all of these creations at one event. It would probably have to be a three-day event, with half the recipes tried and ranked on Day 1, and half on Day 2.

The “finalists” from both days would compete on Day 3, with the winners chosen—and then a restful sleep for all!

In reality, you can just offer a few options, using the liqueurs you have.