Useful food gifts and kitchenware that you have received

[Anna N]

Over here we have topic devoted to useless food gifts.

http://forums.egullet.org/topic/39825-useless-food-gifts-youve-received/

I have recently been found guilty of accentuating the positive; a trait I'm extremely proud of. So in that vein how about a topic devoted to useful food gifts and kitchen gear that you have received. I know we like to show off our holiday gifts but some of us are fortunate enough to receive gifts at other times of the year. Perhaps a birthday, perhaps a friend or relative brings a something from the trip they've taken or perhaps like me you are lucky enough to get random gifts at any time of the year. Or failing all of the above you treat yourself. From a package of specialty salt to a $5000 range hood, let share our good fortune.

I promised another member I would post a photograph of the baking pans I received today. This was a random gift and came along with some highly treasured overripe bananas and the book.

You would think after a very unpleasant encounter with a vegan restaurant this would be the last book that would interest me. But I'm not easily discouraged. If vegan food was really as bad as I was served in the restaurant there would be no vegans. They would all surely have died of starvation. So I intend to explore the field a little further. This book was a pleasant surprise.

Those are 2-- 9 inch cake pans and a 12 inch bread pan.

[Martin Fisher]

I've received several useful gifts.

I think the biggest surprise was the Pampered Chef silicone basting brush that my Mom gave me.

Silicone gadgets were completely new to me when I received it and my first thought was that it's an expensive and worthless piece of garbage.

Boy was I surprised...I really love the thing...not only does it work quite well...it's VERY easy to clean compared to other brushes...that's a BIG plus!

I also love the high-heat silicone spatulas that I've received as a gift.

[Anna N]

I've received several useful gifts.

I think the biggest surprise was the Pampered Chef silicone basting brush that my Mom gave me.

Silicone gadgets were completely new to me when I received it and my first thought was that it's an expensive and worthless piece of garbage.

Boy was I surprised...I really love the thing...not only does it work quite well...it's VERY easy to clean compared to other brushes...that's a BIG plus!

I also love the high-heat silicone spatulas that I've received as a gift.

Love my silicone brushes. Was given a very long handled one for the barbecue. Brushes always used to gross me out because they never seem to come clean. These I can put through the dishwasher on the sanitize cycle.

[Darienne]

My first Trudeau silicone spatula was a gift from my confectionery partner, Barbara.  I love it.  And I love all the extra ones just like it that I have purchased.  A woman cannot have too many excellent spatulas.

[Martin Fisher]

Silicone has certainly proved useful.

I want some silicone pan lids but I'm not thrilled  with most of them being "flowery."

That's non-sense! 

Edited August 31, 2014 by DiggingDogFarm (log)

[Porthos]

For those who remember late last fall when I was asking about trying to repair a cracked large cast iron griddle I tried to repair it  but did not succeed. However, an anonymous benefactor replaced it. That was a most appreciated gift.

 

My good knives have been gifts from my sweet wife. The first one, still my favorite, a 10" chef knife, was given to me 31 years ago.

 

About 20 years ago my MIL and FIL gave us a graniteware stock pot with a steamer insert and a colander. The stock pot is gone but the colander is still in use in our kitchen, a sweet reminder of a lady I miss.

 

This is not quite in the same vien as what has been expressed but my dear FIL gives checks for Christmas and birthdays. The last Christmas check allowed me to acquire a 3 qt saucier. My birthday check will be buying a14" Tramontina saute pan for use in my ren faire kitchens.

[Kerry Beal]

Silicone has certainly proved useful.

I want some silicone pan lids but I'm not thrilled  most of them being "flowery."

That's non-sense! 

They make some square and rectangular ones that look like leaves instead of flowers.  

[Kerry Beal]

Hubby always buys me things from Lee Valley (sometimes under instruction - sometimes on his own).  He's picked up some pretty useful items for the kitchen for me there - 

 

The little tiny can opener is great, as is the jar lid popper.  One of the first things he got for me there was my first microplane many years ago.  He's brought me some very nice Sabatier knives from there and a bunch of earth magnets that I use to hold things on my fridge in the chocolate room.  

[Martin Fisher]

Hubby always buys me things from Lee Valley (sometimes under instruction - sometimes on his own).  He's picked up some pretty useful items for the kitchen for me there - 

 

The little tiny can opener is great, as is the jar lid popper.  One of the first things he got for me there was my first microplane many years ago.  He's brought me some very nice Sabatier knives from there and a bunch of earth magnets that I use to hold things on my fridge in the chocolate room.  

 

I love Lee Valley.

[IowaDee]

As a child bride of 18, i could hardly boil water.  Grew up in a non-cooking family where a TV dinner was a real treat.  My new hubby, probably out of sheer desperation, gave me a Good Housekeeping cookbook on our first Christmas.  I still have the book, tattered and worn, much like me these days. It gave me the confidence to trust my own taste and accept my failures as part of the learning process.  That one book started me on a lifetime journey of cooking and enjoying food that continues to this day.  The day I ordered the Time Life Food of the World Series, I knew I had arrived and could call myself a real cook. I still have and enjoy the books as a symbol of how far I have come.  

[Porthos]

Bought them myself but I really like my Charles Viancin silicone lids.

[MelissaH]

Silly little thing, but the can opener my FIL gave us for xmas the year before he passed away. It's the kind that uncrimps the lid rather than slices the metal, and it's still working beautifully, even given my left-handed ineptitude with can openers. I have to smile every time I use it, because it makes me think of him.

[andiesenji]

Over the several decades I have been cooking and baking, I have received numerous kitchen items that are extremely useful, some are also fun and some are absolutely essential - I couldn't be without them.

 

From tiny gadgets to appliances, I have appreciated every one.   A little lemon gadget that screws into the lemon and allows for small amounts of juice to be extracted over an extended period is one.  Then there is the pan-lid holder that keeps one side of a pan lid elevated so stuff doesn't boil over. 

 

I've also given a few things to folks who really needed them and have passed on things that I no longer use because I no longer do the extensive baking.

Sent a bunch of cake pans off to someone a few years ago.  Large cooling racks that were at the time difficult to find and I had lots (still have several extras).

 

I gave away one of the superautomatic espresso machines and got a small pod type in return, which I love. 

[Shel_B]

Toots recently gifted me with a Breville smart oven, although it was a few months ago.  And my dear friend Tree made me a lovely utility crock with which she surprised me when she came for coffee one morning. 

 

 

And while it may not be considered kitchenware by some, a couple of years ago Toots gave me a laptop which I frequently use in the kitchen and which is a repository of all my recipes and cooking info.

Edited August 31, 2014 by Shel_B (log)

[Anna N]

Silicone has certainly proved useful.

I want some silicone pan lids but I'm not thrilled  with most of them being "flowery."

That's non-sense! 

You'll soon forgive them for their flower shapes once you start using them. I really didn't think I needed one until I got one a couple of months ago. I soon bought another one. The rectangular leaf one. Now I reached for them so many times when I would've used plastic wrap in the past. They are far less annoying and just as effective for covering a bowl or baking dish. I do not,however, use them on the stovetop or in the oven though others do.

[Simon Lewinson]

Perhaps the single best kitchen gift that I have ever received is a Kyocera ceramic santoku knife. It is unbelievably sharp and and keeps its edge forever. This truly was a Christmas gift from three years ago that keeps on giving.

Simon

[lindag]

I recently got one of the silicone ice cube trays that makes six really big ice cubes.  Wonderful for cocktail hour - the ice doesn't dilute the cocktail.

[Anna N]

Told you I was fortunate! A birthday gift! I was told on my birthday that it had been ordered in my name!

http://forums.egullet.org/topic/148325-new-anova-precision-cooker-announced-may-6-2014/?p=1984524

[heidih]

Braun immersion blender my sister gave me 26 years ago because it was useless to her. She got it as a wedding gift here in the States but she lives in Australia.....  I said "Geee thanks" not knowing what I would ever use it for. Silly me. 

 

From my wedding gifts eons ago - a nested set of stainless steel bowls. I only have the 2 largest left but they are incredible useful. The largest generally for washing greens or mixing salads before transferring to a serving bowl. 

 

From my dad who never ever even tries to fathom what I might like and always sticks with cash I was surprised with a pair of Messermeister kitchen scissors. The kind that easily come apart for cleaning. I use them almost daily. 

Edited September 2, 2014 by heidih (log)

[Porthos]

Heidi, you reminded me of the Wusthoff shears that my daughters gave me a few years ago.

 

The latest "just because" gift from my DW was a set of small silicone bowls. They are made for toddlers but she thought they would make great mise en place bowls. They do.

[Beth Wilson]

I received a set of silicone spatulas a few years ago and I have probably used at least one of them every day...I don't know what I did before I got them!

 

I also received a Peugeot Peppermill as a Christmas gift from my sister in law, the first year DH and I were together.  I use it everyday and can't believe I lived without a pepper grinder for so many years.  Now I have been eying a salt mill but that will have to be hinted for another Christmas present perhaps

[suzilightning]

pasta maker for my 30th wedding anniversary

 

recipe cards for various occasions

 

nutmeg grater

 

kitchen shears

 

citrus reamer

Edited September 3, 2014 by suzilightning (log)

[Shel_B]

This weekend I was gifted two serving platters by one of Toots' friends.  I helped her at a garage sale a few weeks ago and this was, I suppose, a nice thank you.  Toots mentioned to her that I was interested in buying them, but we thought they had been sold.

 

 

Nothing special or fancy, but just exactly what I needed and wanted.

 

 

 

Edited September 8, 2014 by Shel_B (log)

[Smithy]

A special sharp-edged spoon for digging around the stones in cling stone fruit. My parents mentioned my need for it one summer when they were visiting and I was fixing our family standard, fruit salad. I'd never heard of such an implement. Lo and behold, 'Santa' put one in my Christmas stocking that year. Mom and Dad were tickled pink to have found one; it had taken a lot of garage-sale haunting.

Yes, it's very useful, but it's even better because of the memories.

[Toliver]

A special sharp-edged spoon for digging around the stones in cling stone fruit. My parents mentioned my need for it one summer when they were visiting and I was fixing our family standard, fruit salad. I'd never heard of such an implement. Lo and behold, 'Santa' put one in my Christmas stocking that year. Mom and Dad were tickled pink to have found one; it had taken a lot of garage-sale haunting.

 

It reminds me of a grapefruit "spoon", except where the edge on your tool is beveled, a grapefruit "spoon" usually has more of a serrated edge.

Thanks for posting a picture of it!