[1] A slice of foie gras, known as a “scallop,” is briefly sautéed and served with peaches, marmalade and marigold salad (photo © Restaurant Daniel| NYC).

[2] Foie gras-stuffed prunes (photo © Caviar Russe.

On festive occasions we serve “Foie Gras Variées,” a dinner plate comprising small amounts of different foie gras* preparations that make a luxurious course.

The plate typically includes:

 
The same can be done with chicken livers: chicken liver mousse, terrine, and sautéed livers.

It’s just as satisfying for those without a hunger for the duck or goose version, and much more affordable.

Serve the plate with a glass of Gewürtztraminer, Late Harvest Vouvray, Riesling or Sauternes, makes guests very happy.

In fact, sybarite that we are, we often serve two different wines so your guests can experience different pairings.

Want some chocolate with your foie gras?

Here’s a recipe for Foie Gras Served With French Toast and Spiced Chocolate Ganache, from Chef Mark Gold.

Serve it as the first course of a very opulent dinner.

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*Foie gras is a specialty food product made of the liver of a duck or goose that has been especially fattened. Here’s more about it.

†Quince is a winter fruit. Other options include a dried fruit compote, apples, figs, black cherry jam or fig jam. In the spring, we like fresh figs, gooseberries or green grapes (the smaller the better). While few of us have 50-year-old balsamic vinegar, if you have balsamic glaze (commercial balsamic vinegar boiled down to thicken it), you can add a few drops to the plate in any season.
 
 

Lager (the German word for storage) refers to any beer made by bottom fermentation. It is usually golden in color but sometimes can be dark.

Lager requires a longer, colder fermentation than ale (which is a top-fermenting beer), and uses a different species of yeast that tolerates cold temperatures well. The result of the cold fermentation is a lighter, crisper, smoother beer.

Ale is the favored beer style of England, and as the British colonized America, it became the beer of the Colonies. Lager beer was introduced to the U.S. during the German immigration of the early 1800s. It was immediately adopted and the country switched from being an ale-drinking country to a lager-drinking country.

The only challenge was that brewing lager required a colder environment, 30°F to 40°F.

Tip a glass to National Lager Week! Photo by Duncan Tidd | SXC.

• Check up on more types of beer in our Beer Glossary.
• Check out the recipes in our delicious, six-course beer-and-food-pairing dinner. 

Divide a dragonfruit at the dinner table.
Photo courtesy Melissas.com.

You can give these fruits as gifts (Melissas.com has individual boxes and monthly “club” gifts). But give them to your own household, too.

Pick a specific day of the month—the first Monday, the third Sunday, e.g.—to be Exotic Fruit Day in your home. Have your featured fruit for dessert or at brunch, experience different tastes and build your knowledge base.

If there’s no market in your town where you can pick up exotic produce, Melissas.com is happy to oblige.

• Next, you can tackle exotic vegetables. See our Exotic Vegetables Glossary.

In the British tradition, mincemeat pie—often called mince pie for short in the U.S.—is as customary at Christmas as egg nog. Colonists brought mincemeat to America, and the tradition continued. Yet, have you ever had mince pie? To some people they’re almost myth-like, in that they’ve never seen one. Nor do they have any idea what mincemeat is. But Americans do have a mincemeat holiday: National Mince Pie Day is October 26th. Here, an overview of mince pie.
 
 
THE HISTORY OF MINCE PIE (MINCEMEAT PIE)

Mince pie dates back to medieval times, when it was a meat pie (as were most pies of the time) based on minced venison, and known as mincemeat pie.

The recipe did include dried fruits, sugar, and spices. These sweet ingredients were commonly added to savory dishes.

In the mid-nineteenth century, the meat began to disappear from the recipe, which retained the fruits and spices. Mincemeat pie evolved into the sweet and tangy mince pie we know today.
 
 
MODERN MINCE PIE (MINCEMEAT PIE)

Recipes typically include candied and fresh fruits, nuts, sugar, spices, wine, and suet. (Suet is raw beef fat or mutton fat, particularly the hard fat found around the loins and kidneys. Vegetarian suet is made from palm oil and rice flour.)

You can purchase jars of mincemeat; but if you don’t want to bake, The Walkers Shortbread folks sell boxed Mince Tarts during the holiday season, which contain a very traditional fruity and tangy filling. They’re very yummy. It’s difficult to eat just one.

Instead of buying and slicing a whole pie, consider these tarts, sold in regular (about 3″ diameter, six tarts/box) or mini sizes.

The tarts are available at retailers nationwide and can be found online.

Whether pie, tart or tartlet, minced pie is delicious warm or cold. You can serve them plain or British-style, with clotted (Devon) cream, custard sauce, or brandy sauce.

If your tastes run to American pie toppings, try vanilla ice cream, classic whipped cream, or bourbon whipped cream (you can substitute brandy or rum).

Serve mince pie or tarts as a snack, at tea, or as a traditional dessert during the season. The Walkers mincemeat contains apples, currants, sultanas, and candied citrus peel. It’s sweet and lemony rather than heavily spicy, in a crisp crust.

Legend has it that mince pies were a favorite food of Father Christmas, so pie was left on a plate at the foot of the chimney as a thank-you for well-filled stockings. Perhaps you should hedge your bets by leaving a tart or two, with or cookies.

[1] Mincemeat pie, often called mince pie for short. Here’s a recipe (photo © Pillsbury).

[2] For the holidays, there’s a proliferation of individually-portioned mincemeat tartlets. It’s easy to serve a warm mincemeat tart from Walkers with a cup of tea. Very British, very seasonal. You can find them on Amazon (photo © Walkers).

How festive are these! Stuff peppadews
with feta or goat cheese. Photo
courtesy PeppadewUSA.com.

• Skewers. Take long toothpicks and bocconcini (1″ mozzarella balls—the word means “mouthfuls” in Italian) and stack one ball with a piece of red roasted pepper, a small basil leaf and a pitted picholine olive. (We love the bocconcini from Mozzarella Fresca, a NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week.)
• Canapés. Spread thin slices of baguette or flatbread with soft goat cheese, top with a marinated roma tomato (more tender and mild than a sundried tomato, which can be marinated and substituted), and garnish with baby arugula.
• Winter Caprese Salad. Roasted red peppers and mozzarella with green basil leaves (or mozzarella balls with pesto dip) are simple to organize on a tray.
• Bruschetta. Bruschetta is naturally bright red and green—and easy.

• Peppadews. Bright red peppadews can be stuffed, skewered or used to decorate cheese and canapé plates. (See photo above.)

And don’t forget those holiday mix shuffles!