Christmas Presents for the Kitchen: 2010

[kitchensqueen]

Sounds like everyone got some good stuff this year. I'm jealous of the "Asian Dumplings" book and the Williams Sonoma gift certificate - I could really go crazy in a store like that.

I got some good stuff too - a Chicago Cutlery magnetic knife strip, Oxo icing knife and veggie scrubber, and a stovetop smoker. I can't wait to make smoked salmon and bacon with this thing - has anyone ever tried using one?

[Kouign Aman]

Immersion blender. Bright red. Life is good!

Basket of components to make an italian feast. Much fun.

All kinds of things to eat, of course.

Candy/deepfryer thermometer. Now all hell can break loose...

[Lapin d'Argent]

For Christmas 2009, the only kitchen/food item I received (so far) is a gift certificate to Williams-Sonoma.

Jeff, how timely!! Now you can get those fancy gingerbread pans!

Thanks to this thread, I've added Asian Dumplings to my Amazon wishlist (thanks for the reminder). Next time I have some cash, I also plan to get me one of them infrared thermometers -- although it's more likely destined for my metalworking studio, not the kitchen. What's the highest temperature that they can register?

[LindaK]

This was a lite year for kitchen gifts, oddly (not counting the always welcome stack of kitchen towels). I did get a new cookbook, Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid, which looks like great reading as well as a terrific source of recipes.

[MattJohnson]

I got a set of three Japanese knives from epicurian edge: http://www.epicureanedge.com/shopexd.asp?id=568

Looking forward to learning to sharpen them

[Octaveman]

Didn't need a whole lot of kitchen stuff but I did get...

8 ounces dried Morels

misc spices/herbs from The Spice House

Paderno omelette pan

Ove Glove

[LindaK]

Duh. In addition to the cookbook, the other excellent kitchen present I received was a small jar of black truffle finishing salt. A little truffle goes a long way--this stuff is powerful. I'm already pondering recipes that will best showcase it.

[Toliver]

A longtime friend of mine traveled to Egypt for her 25th wedding anniversary. She made the mistake of visiting a spice market and saying "Give me some of this, this and that" and nearly fainted when she got the bill. It turns out that "some of this" was saffron and she ended up getting a lot of it not knowing what it was.

She gifted me a small fortune of it so now I have to figure out how best to use it.

[Okanagancook]

Thank you so much for the information. I contacted the Canadian distributor and I think that unit will work really well for me.

[nakji]

I got a really excellent bottle of sake from my friend who visited me from Japan. She also brought a killer bottle of yuzu-shu, which we're enjoying as a post-prandial drink on the rocks. I also won a table-top burner from our staff Christmas party, so we're looking forward to thirty nights of nabe in January! (We really need to stop eating all this pasta.)

[Marmish]

So far, I got a set of 4 Mikasa martini glasses - 10 oz! They are beautiful, but huge. I also got The Art and Soul of Baking, and bought myself Artisan Breads Every Day and A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen.

More likely to come on the 7th for Orthodox Christmas.

[sandiasingh]

Michael Symon's new book "Live to Cook." His editorial notes are funny and direct, although I don't know how some of it got past one of my favorite food writers, Michael Ruhlman, who helped with the book. I have to think Ruhlman wanted Symon's personality to come through and it really does. Being a native Midwesterner myself many of the recipes are nostalgic for me. His pickling recipes are delicious--I've made some of those--and I can't wait to have a batch of pirogies in the house again.

[Sartain]

I got a 12" Lodge cast iron skillet (just in time, my chicken fryer was damaged in a cleaning incident and now has rust spots), a wine aerator, copies of La Cucina: Regional Cooking of Italy, My Bombay Kitchen, and Hometown Appetites: The Story of Clementine Paddleford, and Andrea Nguyen's Asian Dumplings.

Edited December 31, 2009 by Sartain (log)

[santo_grace]

So far, it has been a good culinary Christmas...a WS gift certificate, nice sized chinois, and a wine rabbit. Also, Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, which I will be picking cooking two recipes a month with a friend of mine that lives in Paris. We will then cook a Christmas dinner together of Julia's recipes when he is home next year for the holiday. Can't wait.

[santo_grace]

So far, I got a set of 4 Mikasa martini glasses - 10 oz! They are beautiful, but huge. I also got The Art and Soul of Baking, and bought myself Artisan Breads Every Day and A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen.

More likely to come on the 7th for Orthodox Christmas.

Ha! Be careful with those large martini glasses. I've gotten into much trouble at my friend's house with his huge glasses.

[Kim Shook]

I got some wonderful food-oriented Christmas gifts this year:

I am very excited about this! I cannot wait to try it.

That’s the Southern Living 2009 annual, the SL 2009 Christmas book, Gale Gand’s Brunch, Ad Hoc and The Pioneer Woman Cooks (this is by a wonderful blogger that I’ve been reading over the last couple of years and really enjoyed – both the food and the writing) and I also got the Michael Symons book which is already upstairs beside the bed in my ‘to read’ pile. The stuff below are various, self explanatory gadgets – on of the peelers is the kind that shreds/juliennes and I’m very excited about the giant tweezers!

I’m very excited about these gifts from Jessica. The Good Housekeeper’s Cookbook was published in 1908, the BH&G in 1951, the Good Time Cookbook in 1973 and the Jello one in 1977 (the year I graduated from high school). A truly amazing gift. The first two have notes in the margins, recipes and articles torn out from newspapers and magazines and the oldest one even has a couple of pages from a German-English bible in between some pages. I love this – my imagination just wanders!

Some of those crisscross racks (I really wanted these) and something that is intriguing – a rack made so that you can stack casseroles in the oven – I will either never use it or find it invaluable!

And a set of the cutest dessert plates that I’ve ever seen !

[mssurgeon81]

Jose Garces's cookbook (an autographed copy!) Latin Evolution

and this

from my cocktailian partner-in-crime

[Shamanjoe]

Didn't need a whole lot of kitchen stuff but I did get...

8 ounces dried Morels

misc spices/herbs from The Spice House

Paderno omelette pan

Ove Glove

I love the Ove Glove, I have a pair that I use to lift the grill grate off the barbecue to add more charcoal, and I even pick up the hot coals and rearrange them sometimes. They're fantastic.

[Anna N]

I got some wonderful food-oriented Christmas gifts this year:

I am very excited about this! I cannot wait to try it.

. . .

And a set of the cutest dessert plates that Ive ever seen !

I have a similar vertical rotisserie though mine is made by Franklin. My daughter passed it on to me because she didn't have room for it. I have very little room too but it lives in my basement between uses and I would NEVER part with it. Despite that it does only one thing well (chicken) it is invaluable when I want a protein to feed the family that doesn't require my attention at all. I have also done duck in it and it does a fantastic job on that too but does require more attention (to siphon off the fat). I hope you enjoy it.

Edited to remove an extraneous "s".

Edited January 10, 2010 by Anna N (log)

[Marmish]

Duly noted, Santo Grace! Orthodox Christmas brought me more goodies - a butter dish in the shape of a piece of toast, an ice cube tray that makes little ice bergs and Titantics,, a trivet that uses wine corks, an Aeropress , a box of chocolates from Canady, and a pearl necklace!!!

[ncorrigbl]

Late to ship gift from my fabulous sister, a gel pro mat for the floor and a replacement for my lost bread knofe!! Woo hoo!!!

[mig]

the Momofuku cookbook

a huge, beautiful oval Le Creuset dutch oven in gorgeous red (i was cooking in it within 5 hours of unwrapping it!)

a butcher block for all my knives

a set of garnishing tools (!)

"Baking with Julia" DVD

[eldereno]

That’s the Southern Living 2009 annual, the SL 2009 Christmas book, Gale Gand’s Brunch, Ad Hoc and The Pioneer Woman Cooks (this is by a wonderful blogger that I’ve been reading over the last couple of years and really enjoyed – both the food and the writing) and I also got the Michael Symons book which is already upstairs beside the bed in my ‘to read’ pile. The stuff below are various, self explanatory gadgets – on of the peelers is the kind that shreds/juliennes and I’m very excited about the giant tweezers!

I got the same peeler as a BD gift (6 days after Christmas). I also got Amazon gift certificates that I used to get Julia's MTAOFC volumes I and II, Larousse Gastronomique, and Michael Symon's Live to Cook: Recipes and Techniques to Rock Your Kitchen. I got a really cool little mandoline type thing as well, and a TOP CHEF apron. I have a tendency to buy most food and kitchen related things that I want for myself....so not too many choices left for my friends and family! I had bought the Pioneer Woman's book when it first was out. I have enjoyed reading it. Now I really want those giant tweezers, though!

[codheadred]

Revived this topic given the time of year..

So I got a biggish granite pestle and mortar which is fab, and I got an electric knife sharpener which sounds suspect but is very effective. What did you get??

[Shelby]

Santa (aka me) brought us a table top convection oven. I. Love. It.

And, my husband got me a kitchen scale!!!!! I'm running around weighing EVERYTHING (except myself). Finally, I am part of The Kitchen Scale Manifesto