As the gift-giving season approaches, I wanted to give you some ideas for some great gifts for those who love to cook. Or, you can put them on your wish list for Santa. If you do an online search for gifts for cooks, you will come up with some very strange lists. I wanted to give you a list that was much more practical and useful. That is the subject of this Cooking Tip. Some of the links below are affiliate links and I may earn a commission if you decide to purchase.
If you are considering a gift for a fellow cook, consider their storage space. Even though the gift might be a great one, if they do not have space in which to store it, they may not be very thankful.
Thermometer
A good instant read digital thermometer is essential for most serious cooks. It is something that they will use in both savory cooking and baking. The most important aspect of a food thermometer is its accuracy. It is also extremely nice if it reads quickly.
Any review of the best food thermometers will almost surely lead with the company, Thermoworks. Their products consistently stand out as the best in class. An added nicety is that they come in multiple colors. Their top-of-the-line model, the “Thermapen One” is excellent but costs a bit over $100. They do have frequent sales, which can bring this price down. They also have very good and less expensive alternatives. Their Thermopops cost about $35 and the Dot thermometer is about $45.
Another brand that ranks high is Lavatools. Their products range from $15 to $60.
Kitchen Scale
If you or your gift recipient is an avid baker, a kitchen scale is extremely helpful. Once again, accuracy is the most important characteristic. I would also highly recommend a scale that has both imperial and metric units. Learning to use and understand metric weights will make you a much more accurate baker. It is also useful if you like to use European recipes, which tend to be written with metric measurements.
There are three scales that dominate the “best of” reviews.
- Escali Primo Digital Scale – This scale comes in multiple colors and retails for about $27. A couple of criticisms of this one is that the display is not the easiest to read and the platform is not removeable, making it a bit more work to clean.
- OXO 11-lb. Stainless Steel Food Scale – With a removable platform, extreme accuracy and an easy-to-read display, this scale garners high marks and sells for around $50.
- Ozeri Pronto Digital Kitchen and Food Scale – Another easy to read scale, this one lacks a removable platform, but is priced under $15.
Graters/Zesters
Cooks are often reaching for a grater or a zester whether it be to grate cheese, nutmeg or citrus zest. The company that dominates the market for these items is Microplane. They make various sizes of graters but they are perhaps most well-known for their excellent zesters, which sell for under $15. The Deiss PRO Stainless Steel Grater is recommended by some and is slightly less expensive than the Microplane.
If you or your gift recipient are like me and tend to grate their knuckles, a wonderful add-on is a cut-resistant kitchen safety glove. I use mine all the time.
Bench scrapers
This is one of those easily overlooked but extremely useful kitchen tools. Not only is it great for picking up chopped veggies from your cutting board, but it is also useful for cutting dough and softer items such as butter, for scraping dough from your counter and leveling off ingredients in your dry measuring cups.
Personally, I am not sure there is a great difference between brands but America’s Test Kitchen highly recommends the Dexter-Russell Sani-Safe 6″ x 3″ Dough Cutter/Scraper or the Anmarko Stainless Steel Metal Griddle Scraper Chopper. Others liked the Oxo Bench Scraper or the Norpro Grip EZ Chopper Scraper. Any of these can be purchased for under $15.
Prep Bowls
I like to teach that success in the kitchen comes much easier if you are organized. The French have a term for it – mise en place. Part of this involves prepping ingredients and putting them into small prep bowls that are easy to grab when you start the cooking process. I find them invaluable and use them on almost a daily basis. They are available in glass, stainless steel and silicone and come in different sizes. You want a set that is large enough to hold your ingredients while still being easy to handle and store.
Culinary Books
Cookbooks are always a good choice if you know what the recipient likes. There are new cookbooks coming out every year. A website that catalogues cookbooks is EatYourBooks.com. They have both a free and paid subscription that will allow you to browse cookbooks by subject, title and author.
One book I use all the time is Food FAQs: Substitutions, Yields & Equivalents. This extremely useful book has been put together by Linda Resnik and Dee Brock. They have painstakingly compiled lists and charts that answer questions such as:
- How much juice is in an average-sized lemon?
- How many onions are required to make one cup of chopped onion?
- What can I substitute for a quince?
For the scientific-minded cook, consider The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science by J. Kenji López-Alt. This book will not only teach you to be a better cook but a smarter one as it dispels many culinary myths.
Apron
Sure, there are plenty of aprons out there in pretty colors with snazzy sayings but those are not really work aprons. A dedicated cook needs an apron that can stand up to the heat of the kitchen. That means one that is made of a sturdy fabric, is of an appropriate length, has long enough straps to tie around your waist in front and has pockets. I have this one from Food52 and love it.
Knives
If you want spend a bit more, you could consider knives. Every cook should have a good chef’s knife, paring knife and bread knife. There are others that are great to have although not necessary. I discuss them in this Cooking Tip.
As for brands, you will never go wrong with Wüsthof but they do come at a price. Other less expensive but still good brands include Mercer and Victorinox.
Small Appliances
There are a myriad of small appliances out there but, once again, consider the space they will require to store. Before buying the newest appliance fad, read my Cooking Tip on appliances.
Cooking Schools
Consider a gift certificate to cooking classes in your area. If there are none, look at some of the online options. Here are just three.
Are you searching for something to give that avid cook in your life? Is there something that you really want in your kitchen arsenal? I hope these ideas will get you started down the right path.
Happy Shopping!
Culinary Journeys, LLC 