Christmas Presents for the Kitchen: 2010

[JimmyD]

Hi all

my brother is the one who usually brings the good kitchen stuff, but he failed to make it to the family home due to weather and transport problems.

The rest of my family don't often manage to get the kitchen gifts right. I have half a dozen wall plaques featuring wine bottles, produce and french women in varying degrees of corsetry with which to adorn my kitchen along with a nice new bar optic ... I don't know what the message was there.

Past experience has taught me that when it comes to the kitchen you should buy your own .. so here's my gift to me:

[Porthos]

My B-I-L and S-I-L bought my wife and I a spice rack which sits on the counter. We have returned it since we don't have room on the counter. It was given and received with love - it just doesn't have a place here.

I will report back in this thread after I have spent my cash Christmas gifts since I seem to always find something new for the kitchen. I know it won't be another knife. I have a well-stocked knife block and a knife roll for my away and volunteer cooking. If I bring home one more pot or pan to store I may be put to death by my 23 y/o daughter who cleans the kitchen.

As an aside (and now a source of more cash) my DW purchased a portable DVD player for me even though I had shown very little interest in one. I think she was hoping that getting it would change my mind. I have returned it which gives me more cash than usual for finding something for the kitchen.

[kayb]

A "Wine Trials" book and a big, beautiful, 6 1/2 quart Cuisinart Dutch oven.

[Badiane]

I got a teal Le Creuset braiser...3.5 quart size. Very nice, much too expensive. Will be well loved and seldom used, I'm afraid. There's only the two of us.

Also Dorie Greenspan's latest, plus a lovely cookie book and 'In the Sweet Kitchen', plus a couple of recipe books on my new Kindle.

And a Kitchen Aid pasta attachment, which will come in very handy next month when I have to churn out 900 gum paste violets for a wedding cake. Plus cash to purchase a professional grade waffle maker.

It was a very merry Christmas indeed!

[abooja]

In addition to the very lovely Technivorm MoccaMaster coffee machine, I recently received a genuine New York Yankees apron.

[GwennP]

$150 gift certificate to Williams Sonoma. Can't wait to figure out what I'm going to buy!

[santo_grace]

$150 gift certificate to Williams Sonoma. Can't wait to figure out what I'm going to buy!

Me too! Going to WS tomorrow.

Plus, a stand alone ice maker from a very well-meaning friend. I think it will be best to bring out for parties.

While Christmas shopping I bought myself a copy of Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Italian Cooking.

[eldereno]

I've gotten no kitchen appropriate gifts but have gotten a $50.00 gift certificate from Amazon.com. What should I buy????

[Dianabanana]

I got a meat grinder, primarily for the purpose of raw feeding my dogs. On Christmas Day we took it out for a spin and it pulverized an entire chicken, bones and all. Pretty neat.

[ChrisTaylor]

Was given a butane torch--hoping to use it to perfect pork crackling.

Not for Christmas, but for my birthday, was is but a week after, I'm getting a 20 cm Wusthof-Trident. Picked it myself. Considered going longer, as there were times when I wished my 20 cm Global was longer, but no, after playing with a couple in store I think the 20 is a nice size. Looked at a few different knives too. The Henckells. Had the store people try and push me on Anolon and Scanpan (used one of their choppers before--I thought it was shit, even tho' I like their pans). A lot of those knives have really uncomfortable handles and just didn't have the kind of weight I wanted.

[ScottyBoy]

Santa brought me a Vitamix 5200 this year. How did he know

[runwestierun]

I got a Zoji breadmaker. It's perfect for my house, which is very cold. I don't think I'll bake the bread in it, but I won't have any more whimpering shivering dough sitting on the counter.

Oh, and a piece of paper from Amazon that says that Modernist Cuisine will ship in mid-March. I cannot wait.

[andiesenji]

I tried the Smoking Gun today. Not impressed so far - just surface flavoring and it feels more like a toy than a real kitchen tool.

Will give it another try tomorrow but it looks like it will soon be returned from whence it came.

Too bad, I had hopes it would work. Maybe I am too fussy but I get better results with my old stovetop Camerons smoker - and at less than half the price now. (I paid $25.00 when I got mine several years ago.)

[Pierogi]

I tried the Smoking Gun today. Not impressed so far - just surface flavoring and it feels more like a toy than a real kitchen tool.

Will give it another try tomorrow but it looks like it will soon be returned from whence it came.

Too bad, I had hopes it would work. Maybe I am too fussy but I get better results with my old stovetop Camerons smoker - and at less than half the price now. (I paid $25.00 when I got mine several years ago.)

Andie, that is exactly what I thought it would be when I saw it in the foodie catalogs, and I think I saw some "Top/Iron/Master" chef use it on a TV show. I really didn't get how that small amount of exposure to the smoke could do any deep, full, flavoring.

Thanks for confirming that initial impression. I guess it's really not much more than....(wait for it....)

Smoke and mirrors (sorry...couldn't resist)

Seriously, thank you for your very educated opinion. Yours is a voice I know I can always trust.

[baroness]

I got a Zoji breadmaker. It's perfect for my house, which is very cold. I don't think I'll bake the bread in it, but I won't have any more whimpering shivering dough sitting on the counter.

It is a capable dough-maker/riser, but a terrible baker.

Do follow your instincts and bake in the oven!!!

[Darienne]

Two Cuisinart appliances: a food processor and a grinder mill. The old versions just died in the past month. Not too exciting, but very necessary.

[Dianne]

Although I am blind, I got 4 print format books on food. Happily my husband reads to me. I also got a talking scale that reads in both metric and lbs-oz. I love it so far.

[Kim Shook]

I had a good, food oriented haul this year! First, the books:

Southern Living 2010. I get one of these every year – I really like these books. I’ve never had a SL recipe fail me. The Gourmet Cookie Book, Seduced by Bacon (cannot WAIT to get into this one), One Big Table by Molly O’Neill and The Newlywed Kitchen by Lorna Yee, Ling at eG (though I don’t think she’s posted in a long time).

An assortment:

Apron, food mill, silicone baking sheets, pens to write on cookies, a cupcake shopping bag (I love the ‘bad guy’ in the middle) and something fun and intriguing – a molecular cooking set. The set includes everything you need (except for the food, of course) to make things like fruit juice caviar, effervescent toffees, etc. It includes tubes and pipettes, sodium alginate and calcium salt. Can’t wait for a weekend to play with this!

Jessica gave me two really cool old advertising prints that I’m going to have matted and framed for the kitchen:

[robirdstx]

My in-laws sent us a Cuisinart stick blender. Lovely thought but we already have one, so off to Macy's to return it and select something else. We spent a few dollars more and replaced our old chef's knife with a new one by Henckels.

We also received a Zojirushi 3 cup micom rice cooker that Santa's elf, aka the UPS guy, delivered just before Christmas.

[Mel Z]

I got a slate cheese plate that I had been salivating over...I love to entertain and it's nice to do away with tacky cheese flags (for only slightly tacky chalk marks =p).

I also ended up with stocking stuffer syndrome--melon baller (already have), strawberry huller (I have a paring knife), crinkle-cut slicer (cute--we'll see how it works), and cherry pitter.

[Snadra]

An Isi soda syphon!

But I also received some cash and I plan on buying myself something at the post Christmas sales... like maybe a new Magimix to replace my rather rickety moulinex.

[Peter the eater]

I got a Zoji breadmaker. It's perfect for my house, which is very cold. I don't think I'll bake the bread in it, but I won't have any more whimpering shivering dough sitting on the counter.

It is a capable dough-maker/riser, but a terrible baker.

Do follow your instincts and bake in the oven!!!

I got an inexpensive Black & Decker bread maker and I love it. It's being used primarily for dough making -- I don't like the big brown cube with a hole in the bottom.

[andiesenji]

I got a Zoji breadmaker. It's perfect for my house, which is very cold. I don't think I'll bake the bread in it, but I won't have any more whimpering shivering dough sitting on the counter.

It is a capable dough-maker/riser, but a terrible baker.

Do follow your instincts and bake in the oven!!!

I got an inexpensive Black & Decker bread maker and I love it. It's being used primarily for dough making -- I don't like the big brown cube with a hole in the bottom.

You don't have to have a very big hole in the bottom of loaves baked in a bread machine.

Simply check the time and when the final "knead" has finished, pull the dough out of the pan, remove the mixing blade, reshape the dough so it is a bit neater and stuff it back in the pan. The shaft leaves only a small dimple in the bottom of the loaf.

I don't know why people are always surprised when I suggest this, I got my first bread machine back in the late 70s and that routine just made sense to me.

[Snadra]

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

You will LOVE having a scale! I now deliberately search out recipes that refer to weight,and convert recipes to weight as I use them - it makes life so much easier.

[Darienne]

You don't have to have a very big hole in the bottom of loaves baked in a bread machine.

Simply check the time and when the final "knead" has finished, pull the dough out of the pan, remove the mixing blade, reshape the dough so it is a bit neater and stuff it back in the pan. The shaft leaves only a small dimple in the bottom of the loaf.

I don't know why people are always surprised when I suggest this, I got my first bread machine back in the late 70s and that routine just made sense to me.

If I ever move to the sunny south, I am going to move in next door to you, Andie. Your depth and breath of knowledge is mind-blowing!! Your biggest fan!!!