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Finger foods, starters, appetizers, hors d'oeuvres: call them what you will, but in the days leading up to yet another New Year's Eve celebration, they've been the talk of every media outlet food section. In reading them all and planning my own Saturday festivities, I've come to wonder: is there a difference between appetizers and hors d'oeuvres?

Although both are meant to foster an appetite and they're listed as the same thing in Wikipedia, there is a subtle difference between the two courses. The French term hors d'œuvre (pronounced "or-derves"), which literally means "out of work" but translates to "outside the meal," is a one-bite item that's either stationary or passed and served separate from or prior to a meal.

This means an hors d'oeuvre is typically finger food and might refer to, among other items, canapés, crudités, deviled eggs, and bruschetta. Appetizers, on the other hand, appear as the first courses when seated at the table. They're often slightly larger and composed in a way that complements the entrée and dessert courses to follow. Which do you prefer — or is it all the same to you?

If there's one ingredient that may be able to oust bacon as the prized protein of the moment, it's porchetta. It's been appearing everywhere in farmers markets, Italian restaurants, and sandwich shops around San Francisco.

Pronounced "por-ketta," porchetta is an Italian specialty of slow-roasted suckling pig. A young, milk-fed piglet is gutted, deboned, stuffed with a mixture of garlic, herbs, and seasonings, then roasted whole in a wood-burning oven.

Porchetta originated in Lazio, a region of west central Italy, where it was probably a mountain food eaten during wintertime feasts. The specialty has since become entrenched in much of the country's culinary tradition. In Umbria, porchetta is flavored with fennel in garlic; in Rome, rosemary and garlic; in the Marches, wild herbs; and in Sardinia, myrtle leaves.

Sometimes referred to as "Italian pulled pork," porchetta is succulent, extremely fatty, and savory. In Rome, it's popular for street vendors to serve it sliced and sandwiched between a roll. Have you ever tried porchetta?

Source: Flickr User Pedro Angelini

If you love shore food like I do, then chances are, you're familiar with Old Bay seasoning. But what exactly is it, and how did it attain the cult status that it has today?

Old Bay Seasoning is a proprietary spice mix that's become a seafood staple. The blend, which was named after the Chesapeake Bay, was first created in the 1940s by a Baltimore spice merchant, and soon became a popular accoutrement among East Coasters for steamed, hard shell crabs. In the 1990s, spice company McCormick purchased the brand, preserving its distinctive yellow box and logo, but bringing Old Bay to supermarket spice aisles across America.

The recipe of the mix is a closely-guarded secret, but there have been many attempts to recreate the exact blend of cinnamon, ginger, mustard, bay leaves, celery seed, laurel, and black and red pepper. Old Bay is often used in fish and shellfish dishes, corn on the cob, and French fries — although modern-day recipes call for the seasoning in everything from eggs to stir-fries. How do you use Old Bay?

It's all too easy, I realized, to cook game hens but truly have no idea what they are. I discovered this after losing an argument to a fellow editor, who claimed that game hens are just baby white meat-only chickens.

She's right: a game hen — also known as a poussin or Cornish game hen — is pretty much that. It came about in the 1950s when two different bird breeds were crossbred to create a juicy, single serving-sized bird with short legs and a plump breast for mostly white meat. Contrary to their name, Cornish game hens aren't hunted, don't taste gamey (in fact, they're known for a delicate flavor), and can be either male or female.

Game hens are sold unboned and are typically under two pounds and no more than six weeks old. They are most commonly roasted whole, although barbecuing them is an option as well. Those of you who cook them at home: do you prefer them to conventional chicken?

Source: Flickr User stu_spivack

If you found the term adobo to be a confusing catchall, then wait until you learn about sofrito. Generally speaking, the word describes a combination of aromatics that have been sautéed slowly in cooking oil to make a flavorful sauce. This is used to enhance everything from soups to meat dishes. But despite the fact that the cooking term is widely employed in Latin and Caribbean countries, its specific meaning can differ substantially from one nation's cuisine to another. To understand sofrito's regional differences, read more.

Compared to its European counterparts, Grenache doesn't get much love in the American wine landscape, but at the Aspen Food & Wine Classic, wine expert Anthony Giglio lobbied to change that. Giglio hosted a seminar titled "The Great Grenache Smackdown!" that encouraged attendees to taste the difference between various Grenache wines from around the world. During the course of our education, I learned four key facts about the lesser-known Grenache grape. Find out what they are when you keep reading.

Though the terms "smoked salmon" and "lox" are used interchangeably, they're in fact, not quite the same thing. Real lox (also called belly lox) refers to the midsection of a salmon that's simply been cured in a salt brine; consequently, it possesses a saltier flavor than what many of us associate with smoked salmon.

Part of the confusion arises from the use of the term "Nova lox" or "Nova salmon," which originally referred to the lightly cured and cold-smoked salmon that hailed from Nova Scotia.

Today, smoked salmon is often prepared using wild and farm-raised salmon from both the Atlantic as well as the Pacific — and modern-day usage of the term has further blurred the distinction between lox, Nova lox, and smoked salmon. Did you know the distinction between the two?

Source: Flickr User jeredb

American farm-raised catfish is seeing a pretty dismal season, but luckily, the same won't be said for salmon. Last week, fish and wildlife officials announced that Pacific salmon season will kick off May 1 and likely run through September — a breath of fresh air after a shortened schedule in 2010 and no season to speak of at all in 2009 and 2008.

While most of the season's salmon buzz revolves around king, or chinook salmon, keep in mind that it's only one percent of the salmon catch — there are plenty of other salmon in the sea! For a little bit of salmon species 101, read ahead.

During soup and stew season, few things are more indispensable than stock or broth. But what's the difference between the two? Are they simply the same thing?

The answer depends on whom you're talking to. Colloquially, the two terms are often used interchangeably, and in some types of cooking, such as classic French cuisine, there's no distinction between the two. But in North American cooking, the definitions can vary.

While beef, turkey, or chicken broth is made generally from meat, stock is produced by simmering browned vegetables and bones. As a result of the gelatin released from the bones, stock tends to have more viscosity and a fuller mouthfeel. The browning also creates a darker color and a roasted flavor.

If you've never made your own stock, trust us: homemade vegetable stock and chicken stock are easier to prepare than you think.

When it comes to the big bird on the Thanksgiving table, there's so much to think about. Is it big enough to feed everyone but small enough to fit into your oven roasting pan? Should it be deep-fried, smoked, brined, or simply oven-roasted? And, most importantly: what type of turkey should be given the star treatment?

There are scores of different breeds of turkeys, but we've whittled our list down to the most important turkey terminology. To find out what's best for you, keep reading after the break.