A gift guide for cooks
Perhaps a little bouji, hopefully non-shit and helpfully not only Christmas specific.
With postal strikes and the like, I might have left it late, but luckily I think all the advice and opinion offered below stands true regardless of the gifting season.
As a cook, I find that people often don’t buy cooks and chefs kitchen-related gifts as they either assume they’ll have everything already, or get bamboozled by what to get them. I have tried to distil and simplify the whole marketplace into a few gifts that would be genuinely excellent additions to any kitchen, and to boot, wouldn’t be returned even if the cook in question already had one in their kitchen.
I’ve tried to stick to gifts that can be procured from real-life shops, as that’s nice. Although I’ve also given an online link too as that’s the reality for most of us, isn’t it?
Knives:
It's more complicated than you’d think to give knives as a gift. If someone is already a keen cook, they’ll likely have a knife roll full to the brim. If you are venturing into that territory though, here’s what I recommend.
Gently-does-it:
The best bread knife money can buy. The only bread knife you should own. If you’re a sourdough fancier, the curved blade will revolutionise your bread slicing. Preach.
If you’ve ever worked with a chef who could be categorised as lazy but highly effective, it’s quite possible that they will have used one of these for 90% of their prep tasks. Be it bread, tomatoes, onions, or anything in between, this will make light work of them. I think its intended use is to carefully and precisely cut through fine pastry such as tart cases or chocolate ganache, and it does that with finesse, too.
Middling:
In my honest opinion, if you’re going to spend £100 ish on a real workhorse knife that can do everything you ask of it, you cannot go far wrong with a classic Wusthof. This is a genuine working chef’s knife. It doesn’t have much of the excitement or social media caché that similarly priced knives from Allday Goods or Clement Knives might have, but it holds an edge, won’t rust, fits perfectly in hand, and is robust enough to butcher a lamb shoulder and possessed enough finesse to fillet a fish. You can’t say fairer than that.
Slightly more beautiful than the Wusthof above, this is made by the last standing knife maker in a small Spanish village in Catalonia. The blade will rust if you leave it wet for any time, but I don’t mind that too much, and this offers a versatile chef knife that looks pretty in the hand too.
Proper-bunce:
No matter the knives in your kitchen, there is always room for a hand-forged sword that will last a lifetime, and that is what these bladesmiths produce out of their workshop in Peckham. Japanese inspired and finished with the finesse of the finest woodworker, there is not a single cook in London who would turn their nose up at one of these in their stocking.
There are newer and trendier knife peddlers nowadays, but sometimes it pays to refer to the OGs. These guys have been dedicated to selling knives in London since 1997, and their knowledge, selection and service are second to none. My dad bought me one of their Aogami Gyuto utility knives when I first became a chef thirteen years ago and it is basically the only knife I have owned and used ever since.
Pots and pans:
De Buyer frying pans:
If you only own one pan, make it a big de Buyer frying pan. If you only own two pans, make them a big and a medium de Buyer frying pan. If you only own three pans, make them the full set of these de Buyer frying pans. You get the gist.
Falcon pans:
For boiling eggs, making porridge, warming milk or bringing yesterday's sauce/soup/stew up to temperature, these little enamel pans are invaluable. They are hardy as sin and don’t require you to be precious with their cleaning. Adding a couple of these to even the most well-stocked kitchen will never be a wasted gift, and they're quite easy in the eye to boot.
Le Cresuet casserole:
A 24cm or 26 cm Le Creuset casserole will fast become the most used pot in your kitchen. Any soup, stew, sauce or indeed, casserole cooks at its best in these. Hardy as an old stone, these give a steady even heat and will last a lifetime. If you’ve got the bunce and you truly love someone, sling one of these in their stocking.
Mauviel sautés pan:
Whether they want to feel like Bourdain on the line or Paul Bert on the pass, this is the pan for them. It comes in a copper finish too, if you think they can handle the anxiety of the tarnish. If not, check on, one pro saute pan, well done. Away.
Equipment:
Do not buy any kitchen gadgetry for you or for your loved ones. A paste and mortar, the perfect chopping board and a very good tea towel will tell them you love them and you respect them as a cook more than anything else in the world.
Pestle and mortar:
Made from volcanic stone, this has the perfect texture for all your sauces and salsas whilst being pretty pleasing to look at too.
Still within a present worthy price range, I think, this is a truly beautiful yet perfectly functional pestle and mortar that deserves a place on every kitchen counter. Big enough for aioli or pesto and course enough for grinding spices and nuts, its a genuine joy to use.
Chopping boards:
As mentioned in last week's newsletter, I use a bit of old countertop cut to size, sanded and oiled for my chopping board, but a few places do nice thick chopping boards with plenty of real estate. This thic boi from Dyke & Dean looks a dream and comes in good colours, and Hay does a pretty stylish board too, although it’s only just big enough for my tastes. At the very top end is the Rolls-Royce of chopping boards, the Asahi Hi-Soft chopping board, but it takes quite a lot of maintenance to keep it chipper. And if you can face buying Christmas presents from Nisbets, the OG kitchen choice is pretty workable for home cooking too (make sure you get it nice and thick though!)
Can you buy a loved one a tea towel for Christmas? You can if they’re a cook, and you buy a proper tea towel, thick enough to be used as an oven cloth, and you buy them a good stack of them. They’ll be genuinely delighted.
Other bits:
You’d have to know your giftee pretty well for these, but for the keen cook, these little prep trays are super satisfying. They’re actually Japanese dentist trays, I think, and I got tipped off on them by Tim Hayward on his Instagram, but I can tell you they work so nicely for laying out nicely prepped ingredients as you’re heading into a technical recipe.
Ingredients:
If you’re wrapping it ahead of time and leaving it under the tree, it’s hard to gift most ingredients at Christmas. Having said that, giving a big box of spices or insanely good tinned goods is always guaranteed to put a knowing smile on the face of a keen cook.
If gifting, I’d say vere away from spice blends etc and just give your loved one a set of fresh and well-sourced spices so that they can throw away the drawer of dusty Bart’s jars that they’re accumulated over time. For insane quality, at a giftable price, I don’t think anyone can beat Rooted.
Just trust me.
A bit like the tea towels, I’d say you need to know your audience pretty well to gift them jars of beans and pulses. But these are the best, so you’re showing good nouse as well as good taste.
Books:
Don’t just be bamboozled by the bestseller lists, going into the archives for your friends who love to cook can be more exciting for them than you can imagine. Also, look outside of straight-up cookbooks, sometimes thay can hold more inspiration and intrigue for the cook than you might imagine.
Bought "The Cook." And the Victorinox pastry knife. Thanks for both of those lovelies, man. https://salutethepig.com/a-cook-milton-glaser/