The Kitchen Gift Guide, Part Two

The legend continues ...

For more than a decade, I’ve been recommending gifts for your kitchen. This year, I’m experimenting with sending them out by email. Part One covered stocking stuffers; now Part Two will cover some larger gifts for under the tree. Part Three is still to come …

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Thoughtful Trinkets, $25 to $50

4oz Spice jars with labels $31, 8 oz jars, $34; 16 oz jars $25 We finished a kitchen renovation this year, just a few days ahead of the pandemic. One of my favorite things I did was a properly organized spice drawer, which I put together using silicone-sealed jars in various sizes.

These jars have a lot of features I like. First, unlike a screw-top, the flip-lock mechanism can be operated with one hand. Second, the silicone seal really keeps them air-tight, so they stay fresher longer. And third, unlike many of the jars you buy at the store, the lids are really flat, making it easier to adhere labels so that you can tell what you’re looking at from above. The results speak for themselves. If you know someone who is looking for an extremely manageable home improvement project (I think this took me a few hours, including lining the drawer), this might be a nice gift—and the jars are of course useful for more than just storing spices.

Spices, The Spice House. One more reason I wanted to buy spice jars is that I actually buy a lot of my spices in bulk. The Spice House is my go-to for bulk spicing. They will mail you spices in flat-pack envelopes with free shipping, and as you can see from the above photograph, I may be somewhat abusing their generosity. I have even gotten enthusiastic about their proprietary spice blends, something that’s very rare for me—I bought one of their salt-free sets for a relative on a low-salt diet, and fell in love with it, particularly the Parisian Shallot, which is amazing on cottage cheese. I can also vouch for their curry powder, Aleppo pepper, and most of the other spices you see above.

Mandoline with fixed guard $34 The appeal of a mandoline is obvious: thin, perfectly even slices, at a speed few amateur cooks can match. The downside is almost as clear: you can really hurt yourself on those sharp, sharp blades. The better mandolines protect your hands with a guard upon which you spear the food. This one goes one step further: the guard slots into a receiver on a fixed track, so your hand never gets anywhere near the blade. However, if that’s still too scary, I was surprisingly impressed with this upright mandoline $40—or you could buy mandoline gloves $13

Nesting mixing bowls, $35 The point of a nesting mixing bowl set is that you can store a bunch of useful sizes in the footprint of one bowl. This is so clearly valuable that I’m not sure why anyone buys any other kind. But you still have to decide between plastic, which will scar in your dishwasher, glass, which can break, or metal, which can’t go in the microwave. Well, I don’t use the microwave all that much, so I choose metal, with a nonskid bottom to keep it from sliding around your counter, and lids that let them double as storage containers.

Pyrex 3 piece measuring cups $50 For liquid measuring cups, there’s nothing to beat Pyrex, which won’t cloud in your dishwasher, stands up to microwave heating, and lasts for years. For dry measures, I think a nice, boring metal set with lots of cups, like this one, $23.

Universal lid set $35 For years, I cycled through lid racks, looking for a way to keep my pot lids neat and accessible. Eventually I realized that I really only ever needed one or two lids at a time. Enter the universal lid, which is graduated so that it will seal a number of different sized pans. Now my entire lid collection slides into one shallow drawer.

Silicone baking mats, $28 These are nonstick mats that slide into a sheet pan, eliminating the need to grease the pan. They clean up more easily than a pan, and take up basically no storage space.

Bodum Tea press $50 While you can absolutely buy high-quality tea bags, loose-leaf tea tends to be higher average quality than bagged tea, and has an enjoyable ritual about it. However, many people don’t like the leaves in their cup. A tea press contains the leaves, but still gives you all the benefits of loose leaf. And it’s pretty.

Ceramic Oil Dispenser, Floral $35 or White $44 Olive oil degrades when exposed to light, which is why it’s so often sold in dark or opaque bottles. We buy ours in giant cans or bottles, which are economical, but a little unwieldy. So we use the bigger cans to fill up smaller bottles—one for cooking oil, one for olive oil, one for vinegar.

Pegboard $35 and peg set $64 Julia Child famously had pegboard in her kitchen, where she hung all her pots and pans. When we redid our kitchen, we installed this updated version, which is stainless steel rather than wood, and we love it. Endlessly flexible and configurable, it’s unobtrusive, easy to clean, and timeless.

Progressive Dry Goods Storage set, $50 I actually have three of their flour containers, one for all-purpose, one for cake, one for bread. They’ve got neat little features—a level in the flour container, a pour spout in the sugar, a sifter in the powdered sugar. And they all fit together neatly on your pantry shelf.

Cookbook stand Bamboo $44 or Iron $40 Cookbook stands are not a complicated technology; it holds your cookbook for you. But they’re both decorative, with a favorite book propped open, and useful. I like the bamboo because it has an acrylic cover that keeps the book clean, but if the kitchen you’re shopping for has a more traditional style, the iron one has a nice look and weighted chains to make sure the book stays open to the right page. If you’re using a tablet in the kitchen, you can rest it on a cookbook stand as well, or get a dedicated tablet stand ($35) which also provides a space for your phone, and lets you rotate the tablet to the best angle.

Electric blankets $40 If you’re going to be entertaining outside this winter, I suggest loading up on these—about the only heating technology that’s still relatively easy to find. It’s really remarkably cozy on a chilly night to snuggle up outside with an electric blanket and a hot beverage. As a bonus, they’ll still be useful inside when the pandemic is over.

Half pan with rack, $32 This is a very basic, very necessary piece of equipment, useful for everything from roasting vegetables to baking chicken. The rack lets air circulate underneath your food while it cooks, and doubles as a cooling rack.

Souffle Dishes: I do almost everything in souffle dishes—make salad, bake macaroni and cheese, chill mousse, even occasionally make souffles. While they come in all sorts of sizes, I think the most useful are the 1 quart ($35) and 2 quart ($40).

Wusthof Bread Knife, $40 You can buy very expensive bread knives, which seem to me like a waste of money; anything that is decently hefty and has a serrated edge will work. But “decently hefty” is why you don’t want to buy an ultra-cheap knife; the very cheap ones are too flimsy, especially if you want to tackle a really crusty artisanal bread. I think the sweet spot is an entry-level knife from a reputable maker like Wusthof—solid enough to do the job, but not fancy enough to empty your wallet.

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Generous Gifts, $50 to $100

Braun Immersion Blender, $60 A lot of people ask me what immersion blender to get. My personal opinion is that it just doesn’t matter that much. A blender from any mid-range manufacturer, such as Braun, Kitchenaid, or Cuisinart will do a decent job. And the super-powered ones end up being kind of unwieldy and difficult to manage unless you have huge hands. This is especially true of the cordless models, which are heavy dogs.

Oxo Digital Scale, $69 To get the best results from baking, you should really measure by weight rather than volume. The Oxo scale goes up to 10 kilograms, easily toggles between grams, ounces, and pounds, and has display that pulls away from the scale body so that you can see the results for even large or oddly-shaped objects.

Baking steel, $89 Basically a steel version of a pizza stone. You preheat it in the oven, and the retained heat helps to crisp up the crust. These are a little heavier than a traditional pizza stone—I leave mine in the oven all the time, rather than manhandling it in and out—but that thick steel holds a lot of heat, and it’s both easier to clean and sturdier than a stone.

Oxo nonstick pan, $60 Everything is mortal, and especially nonstick pans. Eventually, they’re going to scratch, and then they won’t be nonstick any more. So my philosophy on nonstick is that every family should own exactly one such pan, for making eggs, and it should be modestly priced. The Oxo pan is well-constructed enough to heat evenly, without breaking the bank.

Warming Tray, $60 Admittedly, many of us are not entertaining large groups right now, but let us believe that better times are coming. When we are ready to give parties again, a warming tray will, as the name suggests, keep hors-d’oeuvres, sides, or meat warm for hours. Especially useful if you are planning to entertain outside, where things will cool off faster than normal.

Griddler, $79 This is the workhorse of brunch—interchangeable plates make it into either a sandwich press or a contact grill, or it can be opened flat to become an electric griddle for cooking pancakes or bacon. You can even get a bundle that comes with waffle plates ($125). I love being able to plug this in at the table and cook while we’re eating, so that food goes straight onto the plate hot and fresh rather than drying out in the oven while I finish cooking all the pancakes.

Induction Burner, $90 The portable induction burner has similar advantages to the Griddler; it works as a spare burner (invaluable for anyone who’s redoing their kitchen, or just likes to cook enormous meals), but you can also bring it to the table to keep fondue warm, whip up some Steak Diane, or finish off the meal with flaming cherries jubilee. And it’s especially useful this year, when you can bring it outside to keep soup or hot cider warm, or fry up some chicken for guests in the backyard.

Because induction works with magnets rather than direct heat, you do need a pan that is sufficiently magnetic to heat up. Copper won’t work at all, and stainless steel is hit or miss unless it’s certified induction ready. The advantage of this heating method is that the burner is always cool to the touch, which means you can put it away as soon as you’re done cooking, and you never have to worry that kids will burn themselves on it.

Lodge set of three cast iron skillets, $99 Cast iron skillets do require a bit more care than a regular stainless steel pan, and they cannot be put in the dishwasher. The advantage is that they hold heat like nothing else, which makes them the perfect tool for searing or broiling. They are also quite inexpensive for the quality they deliver. And they always work with induction, which is becoming more important as more people choose induction burners over traditional electrics, or even gas.

You can buy more expensive cast-iron pans which have been polished smooth, and they’re wonderful, but the Lodge pans work great even with a relatively rough finish. And if you’re dying for a fancy, smooth pan, you can use relatively inexpensive power tool attachments to grind it smooth yourself.

Le Creuset Gratin Dish $70 I inherited one of these from my mother, who used it not just for scalloped potatoes and similar gratins, but also for apple crisps and cobblers. It’s a good size for ordinary family use, but pretty enough to put out for guests.

Staub Mini Cast Iron Gratin $51 These are a great size if you’re cooking for one or two, because they hold just enough for a couple of servings. They’re also sturdy, hold heat beautifully, and properly treated, will last you forever.

Staub Mini Cast Iron Casserole $80 apiece This is basically a tiny enameled cast iron Dutch oven, which holds just one serving of soup or a casserole. They’re much sturdier than the ceramic cocottes that are more common, but correspondingly more expensive.

I only own one, a gift, because I cannot exactly justify the high price, but I love it unreasonably and wish for more, because it is so useful and decorative. Slightly less expensive, but the same basic idea, and ideal for more modern homes, are the All Clad Stainless Cocottes, $70 for two.

Shun Bird’s Beak Paring Knife, $99.95 A kitchen really only needs three knives: a good chef’s knife for chopping and carving, a serrated knife for bread and tomatoes, and a good paring knife for peeling and fine work. I mean, I have a lot more knives than that, but if I had to, I could get along with three. This is my favorite paring knife—expensive, but extremely easy to control and very well made.

Wilton Cake turntable, $70 If you want to make nice cakes, it’s helpful to have a turntable, which allows you to rotate at a consistent speed while piping or using a cake comb. You can find ones that are a lot cheaper than the Wilton, but I’ve had a bad experience with the cheaper ones breaking, or corroding. So back to Wilton I go.

Chinoise, $55 These are used to strain sauces and purees, producing velvet-smooth applesauce or delicate cream soups without even the most microscopic lumps. I prefer it to a food mill, which is slightly faster, but doesn’t produce such fine results.

Citizen Echo-Compatible Clock in Silver $77 or a slightly more traditional Brown $88 These days, I almost always use my Amazon Echo to time my cooking; it’s cleaner and more convenient than setting a timer manually. These clocks pair with the Echo and an unobtrusive digital display lets you see at a glance how much time you have left before the next timer goes off.

Mine is in my office, which is some distance from the kitchen, so that when I pop something in the oven and wander back upstairs to get a little work done, I can still keep an eye on my timers. I had a cheaper version made by Amazon, but it broke almost immediately, while my Citizen has been ticking away reliably for many months.

All-Clad D3 12-inch Skillet, $99 If you do entertain, you should have at least one big stainless steel skillet that can go from stovetop to oven. This is part of All Clad’s lower-priced line, but it’s still a substantial pan that should heat and sear evenly, and last for years. And unlike cast iron, it can go in the dishwasher.

All Clad 1-quart Saucier, $79 To my mind, the most useful saucepan sizes are 1 quart and 3 quart; by the time I’m up to a 4 quart, I find a dutch oven works better, because I’m frequently making something that’s going to end up in the oven anyway. The one quart is what I use to melt butter, heat milk or stock for sauces, or warm up enough soup for one person.

You can buy nonstick saucepans, which clean more easily if you burn something, but they eventually get scratched, and then you have to replace them. Instead, I’d rather have a solid, well-constructed stainless steel saucepan, and enough Brillo to remove the occasional messes.

Pen thermometer, $54 Theoretically, one can buy a thermometer with a probe that goes in the meat while it cooks, and then let your attention wander, confident that your thermometer will alert you when dinner is done. Unfortunately, I’ve never found a probe thermometer that was worth anything. I prefer my pen thermometer, which is fast and accurate, and doesn’t have six different parts for me to scatter across different drawers when not in use.

Thanks for reading! Part One was here, and Part Three is now available. Part Four will be coming soon …