Compound butter, or finishing butter, is a compound delight: It makes everything it touches taste better. It can be served in pats or melted into a sauce. They are meant to be decorative: not simply melted butter, but punctuated with seasonings and/or color.

Compound butters are an easy, prepared-in-advance alternative to sauces. Learn all about compound butter in our review of Epicurean Butter, a NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week. It includes the recipe for making your own compound butters.

• More compound butter recipes.
• See all the different types of butter in our Butter Glossary.
• Here are holiday butter recipes.

Photo courtesy Allen Brothers, a NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week.

• Read our review of D’Artagnan Truffle Butter, a NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week.

Will pie be the cupcake of 2011? Photo
courtesy WildBlueberries.com.

Pies, both sweet and savory, will be the top restaurant trend in 2011, predicts restaurant consultant Andrew Freeman & Co.

“If I had one trend—one trend—of the year that I could predict, [it] would be the trend for pie,” said Freeman. “I think that we’re going to make room for pie shops in the next year. This is not just sweet pies, this is savory pies, bite-sized pies. I’ll eat pie if I don’t get this one right….” (Hey, is that a punishment?)

While some restaurants are known for their pies—for example, upscale chicken restos like Pies & Thighs and Hill Country Chicken in New York City—we haven’t seen any pie bakeries yet. But they would be a welcome alternative to the still-mushrooming number of cupcake shops.

Read the full article in Nation’s Restaurant News, which suggests additional food trends.

• Find many types of pies in our gorgeous Pie & Pastry Glossary.
• See our favorite pies and pie recipes in our Pie & Pastry Section.

Love it even more with a sprinkling of your favorite fresh herbs or spices. They add a rush of flavor and aroma with virtually no calories.

Herbs are also very nutritious, adding vitamins and minerals to the meal.

• We love the classics: shredded basil; snipped dill, chive and rosemary; chopped parsley
• To spice it up, try a combination of crushed red pepper and fresh-ground black pepper
• If chives aren’t enough for the onion lovers in your household, use sliced green onion or chopped red onion

You can serve one or more herbs in ramekins and let everyone customize his/her baked potato. While the photo shows a light sprinkling, pile up as much as you like.

Fresh herbs add flavor, nutrition and
no calories! Photo courtesy Wisconsin Milk
Marketing Board.

Substitute nonfat Greek yogurt for the sour cream. It’s very creamy with no fat or cholesterol. Most Greek yogurt is very low in tanginess as well, making it even more like sour cream. Try it!