A Cook’s Christmas Wish-List

This isn’t exactly a copy-paste of my Christmas wish-list, but it’s pretty darn close. Would love to hear other suggestions or feedback if you’ve tried one of these products or have one of the books.

Tools

Michael Ruhlman remains one of our better food writers and thinkers, but he’s also on the persnickety side of things. Go watch “Stupid Kitchen Tools” for a good sample-rant. But he’s always put a lot of thought into his opinions, so when he launched a line of kitchen tools I was pretty sure they wouldn’t, you know, be stupid. A few I’m interested in.

Offset spoon set – No more tasting spoons sliding into the bowl. Brilliant.

Perforated egg spoon – I have one of these that works well enough but the handle is way too long in my opinion and the bowl itself too shallow. Ruhlman’s got the right idea here.

The Kitchen Tool Bundle includes those, a set of (non-stupid) wooden paddles. See also: bamboo pot scrubbers, offset soup spoons and more at his full products website.

 

All-Clad 8” pan – I have and love my 12″ All-Clad pan – which is just a complete, all-around workhorse – but something smaller for omelets, lunch leftovers, etc. would be great. This’d be my pick.

Demeyere 3.5 qt. saucier pan –  This is a pricey dude, and they don’t seem to have the more bare-bones version I bought 10+ years ago for sale anymore, but I use this weekly and if you can afford it, I think you will too. Indispensable for risottos, sauces and much more.

Other kitchen stocking stuffers – Tongs. Always more tongs. Rubber spatulas, a magnetic knife holder, a sharpening steel, a harman/kardon Bluetooth speaker (if you have a big stocking), Murray’s Cheese gift cards…

Texts

Inspiration

• Mark Bittman’s Kitchen Matrix
• Lunch at the Shop
• Twelve Recipes
• The Flavor Bible

Nigel Slater, for fire-side reading

• Eat: The Little Book of Fast Food
• The Kitchen Diaries
• Tender: A Cook and His Vegetable Patch

Advanced

• The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science
• The Mitsitam Cafe Cookbook: Recipes from the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian

Drawing upon tribal culinary traditions from five regions—Northern Woodlands, Great Plains, North Pacific Coast, Mesoamerica, and South America—the cafe’s offerings feature staples that were once unknown in the rest of the world in dishes such as:

– Squash Blossom Soup
– Cedar-Planked, Fire-Roasted Salmon
– Pulled Buffalo Sandwich with Chayote Slaw
– Corn and Tomato Stew
– Cranberry Crumble