As adept as I am in the kitchen, like anyone, I sometimes get careless or lose focus. When that happens, accidents can occur, and I might end up burning whatever it is that I’m making.

In most instances, I can play it off by just adding “blackened” or “charred” to the name of the dish. But when food reaches the point of being inedible, it’s simply burned.

In reality, charring and burning are pretty much the same thing – the difference between the two is the amount of surface area to which that heat is applied.