There’s science in everything, including pouring a glass of Champagne.

According to a new study published in The Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Champagne is a drink best poured tilted—the opposite of how most people pour it, straight into a vertical glass.

Pour Champagne as you would beer: gently down the side of a tilted glass. It preserves the concentration of bubbles, the reason we choose Champagne in the first place.

According to the study, when Champagne (or by association, any sparkling wine) is poured into a vertically-held glass, it loses twice the amount of bubbles. (For those who think that pouring beer down the side of the glass is only to reduce the size of the head: It preserves the effervescence, too.)

The head scientist on the project, Gérard Liger-Belair, is the author of the consumer book Uncorked, The Science Of Champagne.

Professor Liger-Belair is on the faculty of the University of Reims, located in the Champagne region of France. Reims (pronounced RANCE) is the largest city in the Champagne region of France, an area where pouring a glass of Champagne is a common activity among residents.

Now, they (and we) can do it scientifically.

Five winners will be enjoying this tasty snack if they win this week’s Gourmet Giveaway—an entire case of the yummy corn chips that come in 11 flavors: Blue Corn, Cheddar, Chocolate, Jalapeño, Lime, Multigrain, Olive, Sweet Potato, The Works!, White Cheddar and Yellow Corn.

Each of the flavors are evenly baked in, not powder sprinkled on top. They’re all winners and will enchant your family and guests, not only with the taste but with the different shapes and colors, too—brown, orange, yellow, coral, circle, diamond, fan, hexagon, oval, rectangle, triangle.

The wholesome, all-natural, gluten-free chips have no cholesterol or trans fats, no GMOs, are lower in sodium than many chips, a good source of dietary fiber and certified kosher by OU.

Enjoy the great complexity of flavors that makes these, truly, chips of a different color.

Retail value: Approximately $40.00.

Try ’em all! Photo by Katharine Pollak | THE NIBBLE.

• To Enter This Gourmet Giveaway: Go to the box at the bottom of our Gourmet Snacks Section and click to enter your email address for the prize drawing. This contest closes on Monday, September 6th at noon, Eastern Time. Good luck!
• Visit FoodShouldTasteGood.com to join their fan club and receive a $1.00-off coupon.

This BLT salad is a guaranteed winner.
Photo courtesy Morton’s The Steakhouse.

RECIPE
1. Cut a small iceberg lettuce or large heart of romaine in half. (This is for a large salad. For a smaller salad, cut the iceberg in quarters or portions appropriate for your meal.)

2. Cover with finely-diced tomatoes and freshly-made bacon cut into 1/8″ horizontal strips.

3. For a main dish salad, add diced chicken or turkey.

4. Serve with ranch dressing or our favorite, blue cheese dressing with crumbled blue cheese. (You can substitute low-fat, low-calorie versions of the dressings.)

5. Optional: Garnish with homemade croutons—the “toast” from the BLT.

Find more salad recipes in our Gourmet Vegetables Section.

Most lids were combined with a ceramic mug, but Mug Hug can be purchased as a solo unit. It:

• Keeps the beverage warmer.
• Prevents spilling for mugs in transit.
• Reduces the use of disposable plastic lids that are filling up landfills around the globe. Bring your “green” lid to the coffee shop and tell them to hold the disposable one.

Mug Hug is flexible and fits mugs and larger-size paper cups. It fits snugly on both our jumbo 12-ounce mugs and our 8-ounce cups that have a 3-1/4-inch-wide mouth, as well as on large paper coffee cups.

At $6.99, the Mug Hug may become one of the year’s most popular stocking stuffers. Find it at Mug-Hug.com.

See more of our favorite kitchen gadgets.

Keep coffee or tea hot with a Mug Hug. Photo courtesy Mug Hug.

[1] What’s better than one hot dog topping? Lots of options! Here, here, pimento cheese and pickled jalapeños (photo © Birdie’s Pimento Cheese).

[2] Our dream condiment spread (photo © Shared Appetite—read the full article).

[3] On the other hand, if you want to serve potato salad, how about a garnish of brats? Make a German potato salad recipe, with bacon, onions, and a creamy vinegar-based dressing, and a garnish of sliced brats. Here’s a recipe (photo by Mister Pitt | Pixabay).

Make your cook-out something special with a gourmet hot dog bar or bratwurst bar—a great idea anytime, but especially on National Bratwurst Day, August 16th.

Tips follow, but first:

> The differences between hot dogs and bratwurst.

> The history of hot dogs.

> The history of bratwurst, and how it evolved from artisan sausage to the uber-processed frankfurter.

> Great condiment pairings.

> The year’s 10 sausage holidays.

> The difference between rolls and buns (the ones for hot dogs and brats are rolls).

> The different types of mustard, a photo glossary.
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5 EASY STEPS TO A PERFECT PARTY

1. In addition to—or instead of—standard franks, offer gourmet sausage or bratwurst. Our supermarket has bison, salmon, lamb, chicken with wild rice, chicken with feta and sundried tomato, chicken with apples, Thai and Indian chicken sausages, smoked andouille sausage and lots more.

2. Provide a variety of regular and flavored mustard and ketchup. Enable guests to customize their franks with a choice of ball park, Dijon, honey mustard and horseradish mustard and flavored ketchups from bacon and curry to dill pickle.

3. Relish more toppings. In addition to the traditional sweet green pickle relish, options include corn relish, jalapeño relish, and chow chow (also called piccalilli, a mustard base with chopped tomatoes, cabbage, onions, hot and sweet peppers and vinegar) or giardiniera, a relish of mixed pickled vegetables.

Not to mention, an assortment of different cucumber pickles (bread and butter, dill, half sour) and olives.

In addition to sauerkraut, consider chili, chopped onions, shredded cheese, even guacamole and salsa.

4. Use a better roll. Make those bread carbs count! Try whole grain or whole wheat buns (we’ve even seen buttery brioche buns). Provide lettuce leaf “wraps” for the carb counters.

5. Sides. With so many condiments, you don’t need the usual cole slaw and potato salad (but see photo #3). Perhaps some crunchy corn or tortilla chips (the difference) and guacamole?

But if your group likes vegetables, serve a crudités plate with dip. It’s easier to serve and eat than a green salad.

5. Beverage bar. You know what your guests will want, from soft drinks and lemonade to beer, wine, even a summer sangria.

Plus lots of water, still and sparkling.

6. Dessert. After heavy food like brats, we hesitate to recommend cookies and brownies, but you know best. What we like to serve are ice pops: cool, refreshing, and easy to serve from an ice chest.

We use a cooler with dry ice. The caveat is that it’s extremely cold (-109.3°F!) and can’t be touched with bare hands. Add a layer of protection between the dry ice and the ice pops: a towel, quilted place mats, or whatever you have—even a newspaper works.
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A FINAL TIP: PLATES

Please don’t get thin paper plates that will buckle and leak with this type of food. They’re a bummer. Instead:

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