It’s that time again, so here comes the Daily Pundit Weekend Cooking Thread Christmas Shopping List. There’s something here for every taste and every pocket book, although I have to admit that the Chef and I stuck a lot of stuff in here that should be followed with “…after I win the lottery.”
But that’s what wish lists are all about, right?
We’ll keep this up until amazon.com says they can’t deliver in time for Christmas any more. You’ll see a bit of overlap, because the Chef and I tend to lust after similar things - like extremely sharp and expensive Japanese steel.
Let’s get going with the Chef’s Specials for the Holidays:
Mario Batali Panini Grill & Press
Place the pan on the stove, place the top in the pan and heat them up together, giving you a trouble free - and authentic - old fashioned panini. It’s a snap to clean, and it won’t burn out.
Pulltap Double Hinged Waiter Style Corkscrew
Nowadays, if you order wine in a restaurant, chances are the waiter is going to open it with one of these. There’s a good reason for that; this little device will ease out the most stubborn of corks, natural, plastic or what have you. And you’ll look like a pro doing it with the nifty double action pull. Built in foil knife. It’ll also open a bottle of beer, if you’re not oneologically inclined.
Shun 9-Piece Block Set with Bamboo Block
I always tell cooks just starting out to buy the best knives they can possibly afford, even if they have to go into massive debt to do so. In 20 years of professional cooking, I’ve seen knives come and go. And then I saw these babies. Shun has created an incredible fusion of form, function and flat out beauty, creating a knife of superb balance and keen edge with the signiture woodgrain pattern of a folded Japanese blade. For the price, these are probably some of the best knives you can buy. An absolute joy to use, they will be the centerpeice of your kitchen.
Calphalon Commercial Hard-Anodized 12-Inch Everyday Pan with Lid
Calphalon Commercial Hard-Anodized 2-1/2-Quart Shallow Saucepan with Lid
I know this is 2 items, but for the price it might as well be one. Two outstanding pans that have been on sale forever at Amazon. These are the mainstays of my stovetop; with them I do everything from the most delicate sauces to paellas. This is an all time culinary bargain. Get ‘em while they’re hot - and still there!
Olive Wood Utensils
There is nothing quite like having olive wood spoons and such in your kitchen. Instant upgrade of class and beauty. You should get them because they’re practical and inexpensive. You’ll get them because you’ll know how nice they’re going to look beside your stove.
Sanyo ECJ-D55S 5.5-Cup Micro-Computerized Rice Cooker/Steamer, White with Stainless Accent
Uh huh. Right. You’re gonna shell out $114.95 for something that cooks rice? Well, if you really like rice, and wonder how they do it at the Chinese or Indian or Thai place down the street, and why yours never turns out that way, then, yes, I think you should shell out $114.95 for a rice cooker. By the way, it also keeps the rice warm, slow cooks one pot meals and will have your oatmeal waiting for you when you wake up in the morning. What’s not to like?
BonJour Large Readout Quickset Timer with Clock
I use these at work. Simple, fast rotary setting, big numbers and loud beeping keeps the burning of all sorts of food to a minimum. Stand it on the counter, clip it to your apron or stick it on the fridge. Indispensible.
Mauviel 11 inch Copper Fry Pan
This is the essence of bad ass, hardcore, all attitude cooking: Slinging heavy metal around a blazing hot 8 burner stove top with the most beautiful cooking implements ever devised. A heavy gauge copper pan with a cast iron handle riveted to it is definitely what you need to do it like the pros. Worth every penny, and you can will it to your children. They’ll thank you for it.
OXO Good Grips 1062036 Garlic Peeler
Leave it to OXO to improve on the already wonderful silicon garlic peeler. One of those great little inventions that really works. Great stocking stuffer for the cooks in your life.
AeroGarden with Salad Greens Seed Kit, Parent
I am notorious for killing anything green. I just don’t seem to have the touch where gardening is concerned. If I can plant it and leave it, I’m ok, but otherwise… Plus, it’s a moot issue. I live in an apartment with windows facing east and north. But I can’t resist this neat device. It hydroponically grows a huge variety of greens, herbs, peppers and tomatoes from little seed pods that you pop in as you need them. Water in the tank. Lights set for whatever you’re growing, and you’re off and running with a lovely little gourmet herb garden. This thing will give you instant foodie cred; as in, “I’m too devoted to my stove to have to bother going into a garden for my herbs. Snip.” Double bonus points if you have a pair of little Japanese bonsai leaf scissors laying in front of this impressive contraption.
Bradley Digital Smoker 4 Rack
I don’t have one of these. Yet. I saw a product demo, though, and I was thoroughly impressed. One of the problems with your typical backyard smoker is that it’s nearly impossible to cold smoke. This smoking system allows you to do just that. Imagine cold smoking a whole beef tenderloin and cutting it down into steaks. Or perhaps making your own smoked salmon? Yum. Of course, it also hot smokes and roasts. Smoke roasted prime rib, anyone? The Bradley comes in a variety of sizes and finishes, and there are 6 “flavors” of hardwood smoke to choose from.
Nespresso C180W Le Cube Automatic Espresso Machine, Arctic White
Just because. It’s a hip cube that makes a great cup of espresso by tossing in a pod of coffee. No muss. No fuss. Just a perfect espresso every time.
Bialetti Brikka, 4 Cup
Stovetop Espresso Maker. Just because you’re not ready to put down $300 for an espresso machine. Make your espresso the way countless Italian households make it; on the stovetop with one of these. A little more work, but that’s the price of being old school.
Quick’s Picks For the Holidays:
The heart of any kitchen resides in the knives, and Shun makes the best production knives in the world:
Shun 9-Piece Block Set with Bamboo Block
$615.95
Give yourself an extra treat, and add the Shun Classic 7-3/4-Inch Chinese Chef’s Knife - $171.95 - to your collection.
Shun Classic 7-3/4-Inch Chinese Chef’s Knife
Every kitchen needs two or three do-everything pans, and these, at 23.95, are a steal!
Calphalon Commercial Hard-Anodized 12-Inch Everyday Pan with Lid
There’s a reason every celebrity chef you see on the Food Channel uses a Kitchen Aid stand mixer. And if you’re going to spring for one, you might as well go for the top of the line. These babies last forever. Your grandkids will thank you for this. The best $345 you’ll spend in your kitchen.
KitchenAid® Professional 600 6-Quart Mixer
Every bar I ever worked in had one or two of these next to the well. Nothing better for those frozen margaritas, I tell you!
Waring HPB300 MegaMix Commercial Blender, Brushed Steel
There is no more necessary cooking implement than a good digital thermometer-timer. I use this one - and you can’t spend twenty bucks any better than this!
Pyrex Digital Probe Oven Thermometer/ Timer
Professional cooks pretty much use tongs for everything they don’t use their fingers on - and when I was working, I would sometimes reach into a bubbling french fryer and yank something out if I was in a hurry. Anyway, these OXO 12″ tongs are a sweet deal at $9.
OXO Good Grips 28581 12-Inch Stainless-Steel Locking Tongs
Everybody has a favorite pan. Mine is the Anolon Titanium 4-Quart Covered Chef’s Pan. It’s $69.95, and I use it for almost everything. If I had to be marooned on a desert island, all I’d need would be this pan, a Shun Chinese chef’s knife, and a nuclear reactor.
Anolon Titanium Non Stick Dishwasher Safe 4-Quart Covered Chef’s Pan
A lot of people think crock pots are sort of pedestrian, but when you don’t feel like doing a lot of prep and still want something good for dinner tomorrow, call it a “slow-cooker,” load it up, and relax. I like big ones like this Rival 6.5 quart number for less than $40:
Rival 64451LD-C 6.5 Quart Round Slow Cooker with Bonus Little Dipper Slow Cooker
Making no-hassle ice cream and sorbet used to be the province of the professional kitchen alone. No more. For $249.95, you can make all the sweet, chilly stuff you want, with nothing to freeze before hand, no cranking, and no waits between batches.
Cuisinart ICE-50BC Supreme Ice Cream Maker
Okay, that’s it for this year. Please feel free to post your own suggestions or wishlists in the comments. And have a very Merry Foodie Christmas, and a Happy New Year!
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That 12″ Calphalon everyday pan really is a steal at that price. I have a 14″ version that I think I paid $60 for a quarter century ago, back when there was only one version of Calphalon (NSF). I expect that my son will still be using it 50 years from now.
Bialetti also makes a nifty 6-ounce coffee brewer, which closely resembles the one cited, just a lot smaller and cheaper. I’ve used it to brew a cuppa at a rest stop in the middle of nowhere in west Texas using a tiny propane stove, when I couldn’t get any decent coffee for 200 miles in any direction. Supposedly this makes “3″ cups, but really just 1, the way I drink it.
I’ll second the Waring blender. I bought an ancient one (it has a steel, not plastic, mixer cup) for 20 bucks at a crap store. This thing could mince rocks!
Japanese knife fans should head over to korin.com right now It’s there end-of-the-year sale 15% off all non-clearance. They’ve got some amazing knives.
Another rec, the Chefmate Round Enameled Cast Iron Casserole at Target. I bought one a year or so ago for about 40 bucks, sad that I couldn’t spring on a top-of-the-line Le Creuset Dtch oven. The latest issue of Cook’s Illustrated rated the Target one as almost as good, and better if you take into account the money you save. They’re not available on Target’s site right now, so look at your local store.
And thanks much for the Calphalon tip. That’s amazingly cheap!
Well, if you really like rice, and wonder how they do it at the Chinese or Indian or Thai place down the street, and why yours never turns out that way,..
A good start is to rinse the coating off the rice (some call it “washing”) . On the bag it says not to wash off the coating, but if that’s not done it’ll taste somewhat different.
I’ve actually got the thermometer, tongs, and crock pot. Well, we got 3 crock pots actually. My family doesn’t know how to work a gift registry.
Anyway, I love all three suggestions. I’ve been looking for a new pan, since I managed to break the handle my old one. It went on my Amazon gift list, so it should show up for me when I go home for Xmas. ;)
For my suggestion, how about some silicone pot holders. They don’t actually work for keeping my hands from getting burnt, but they have a stupidly high coefficient of friction, which means they work great for trivets. Nothing is going to be sliding around when I put them down on the table.
Hm. How do you think they’d work as mousepads? My pads slide around like crazy.
Bread machine. Anything above bottom of the line is pretty much good enough now, so I won’t suggest a brand.
Use an optical mouse and you don’t need a mousepad, or you can lightly skim the mouse over the pad without needing to drag it too much. Or use a trackball and the problem goes away completely. Or get the direct neural implant and you not only don’t need a mousepad, you can laugh at all your non-cyborg coworkers.
All my meece are optical. Put them on a shiny or reflective surface (the urethaned top of my kitchen table, my glass topped desk, my formica desk at work - and they go nutz. Trackballs aggravate my carpal and cripple me. At the moment, it’s pads or nothing. Maybe voice recognition.
Hm. I have no shiny, flat, unoccupied surfaces available for computers or mice. I have kids, you see. Hadn’t occurred to me that anything other than lightly-finished wood existed. (Formica desktop? Oh, that’s right - West coast.)
A thin silicone sheet should do the trick. Not sure if it would work as a mousepad by itself (the mouse would probably stick to it, despite the nylon skids), but at the least it should anchor a regular mousepad.
OK, I just experimented. I don’t like the feel of the mouse going over the high-friction pad. (Not sure if it’s silicon. It’s a black, rubber-like substance, anyway.) It worked, from a functional point of view, but it would drive me up the wall in short order. But it held a standard, foam-bottomed mouse pad just fine.
I LOVE my Ryusen Santuko The knife is expensive compared to some but it’s an ‘affordable’ japanese knife to consider. Of course after these knife gods sharpened my 10 year old beat up Henkels to scary sharp I liked it too:)
I also love my nomex gloves too
Bill, I do not remember what it is called, but there is a rubber non slip that comes on a roll. It is very thin, and provides a non slip surface. It is sometimes used to line drawers, etc. I use it under plastic cutting boards on the counter to stop them from sliding. Cut a piece to go under your mouse pad. It will stop the slipping. And it’s dirt cheap. And since this is a cooking thread, notice my use under cutting boards. It will make that cutting board feel like it is glued to the counter.
Yes Barry, I don’t know what that stuff is called either, but it’s an open weave slightly stickyish rubber/plastic product.
I used to use double stick scotch tape to hold the mouse pad in place (before optical, now I’m just mousing directly on a solid wood desk), but your solution sounds better.
I went ahead and ordered the 12″ pan and tongs, so a few cents is coming DP’s way.
Look at what I stumbled on.
Reindeer Polish Sausage! Yum!
Gimme some of that one with the red flashing nose.
ShoreMark, if go to the Home Depot’s site and enter 100396044 in the ‘keyword or item’ search box, you’ll probably find what you were referring to.
It’s a non-slip area rug pad that does a good job under a cutting board. You can also use a mat that’s sold for wood routers, but it’s thicker. A damp paper towel or side towel also works in a pinch.
Great list! Man, I want one of those Bradely smokers. In Colorado I’m always being mailed 20% off Bed Bath and Beyond store coupons. They exclude Henkels and Wustof but BBB has just started carrying Shun and they aren’t excluded, yet. $120 off the 9 piece set might be to good to pass up. Happy Holiday cooking y’all
I’ve long wanted a Kitchenaid mixer, but so pricey. Anyways, I just bought the Artisan model on Amazon. Refurbished one, goes for 159.99. Use code HOHOSAVE and get another 25 bucks off, bringing it down to $134.99. Not the Cadillac listed above, but good for my purposes.
I’ve grown to love a silicone basting brush. Not for actual basting, but for brushing oil onto the surface of a pan, especially a non-stick pan. You can use it to get better coverage with less oil than you can from swirling the pan around. And, if you buy the right one, you can just throw it into the dishwaser to clean it.
A corkscrew with a teflon-coated worm? Why didn’t I think of that? It spoils the illusion of competence when I have to use a pair of pliers to get those damn synthetic corks back off the worm.
BTW Bill & Chef, now that you’ve been using them for awhile, how do you like the santoku knives? Is there any real benefit over a regular chef’s knife as far as shape? What size(s) would you recommend? I’ve been meaning to buy one or two but just haven’t gotten around to it. Perhaps for Christmas..
Swen, as far as I’m concerned, the Shun santoku is my everyday kitchen knife. I mean that in a professional sense. I use it every day of my life for all intents and purposes - especially right now.
There’s a certain ease of movement involved with a santoku, if your intention is to use it as a general purpose knife. I find it faster and more maneuverable than the traditional western style “chef” blade. I find it superior for general kitchen prep.
However… Each knife is designed with a purpose in mind. For instance, if I needed to skin a side of salmon, I would choose a longer blade. Just today, at brunch, I was skinning sides of salmon with an old Global chef knife. In fact, I refer to it as my “salmon knife,” to the amusement of others in the kitchen.
It all comes down to what you want to use the blade for. To me, the santoku is a good fusion of the traditional nakiri vegetable blade and the western chef style. For everyday kitchen use, I’ll go for a santoku style.
Gad, Bill. Do you have me nailed. I bought myself the AeroGarden but a few weeks ago, and we’ve already enjoyed the pizza margarita and some lovely Thai food. But when you said, extra points for having the bonsai scissors… , man. Like you wuz right here. In my kitchen.
Still a fab product, guy. Love it.
I’ll second the Chef on the santoku blade. The shape has become my everyday knife. I have the Shun Classic version - is it a heavier, broader-heeled blade, almost as thick as a ten inch french chef’s knife. I also have a Henckels Professional S 6″ santoku blade which I use for very fine chopping and slicing.