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Christmas in the kitchen

Finally, Megan McArdle has posted her annual shopping suggestions for those on your gift list who like to work in the kitchen. I liked these: Microplane lemon zester  Okay, so every year, I lead off with this.  Well, you know what?  Every year I find out that someone I know and love–and know to love food–does […]

Finally, Megan McArdle has posted her annual shopping suggestions for those on your gift list who like to work in the kitchen. I liked these:

Microplane lemon zester  Okay, so every year, I lead off with this.  Well, you know what?  Every year I find out that someone I know and love–and know to love food–does not own one.  Clearly, I am not shouting loud enough.
This is the cheapest piece of kitchen equipment that will ever immeasurably improve your life.  No more grating your knuckles into the lemon zest with your old box grater!  It’s faster and easier than the old style grater.  It’s also great for producing beautiful little clouds of parmesan to top your pasta or salad, and chocolate shavings on top of cupcakes, a cake, or the whipped cream on your hot chocolate.  I haven’t used a box grater in years, and every time I meditate upon that fact, I smile.
True, true, true! We used ours so much that it’s worn to dullness, and has to be replaced (something my wife will probably say about me one day).


Cookbook Stand
  I don’t know about you, but all too many of my cookbook pages are stuck together with the remains of some long-forgotten meal.  A cookbook stand makes wayward drips less likely–and has the added advantage of making your cookbook easier to read.
This is true also. Julie bought a cookbook stand years ago, and I thought it was a silly purchase. I was wrong. It’s very useful, and preserves your cookbooks. More things you don’t think you need, but that will surprise you by how useful they are: a butter boat (keeps butter spreadable), a Kitchen Aid stand mixer (expensive, but a total kitchen workhorse; I don’t bake cakes, but my wife does, and she couldn’t live without hers), an egg steamer (we have this $29 model, and it cooks eggs perfectly every time).
I would love to have one of these:
Kyocera Ceramic Slicer  The downside of these is that they don’t last all that long–I’d estimate we replace ours every couple of years.  The upside is that–unlike a mandoline–it’s small and handy.  You can adjust the size of the slice from paper-thin garnish to canape-ready, and it has a nice hole in the handle so you can hang it on the wall.  Especially great for young cooks who are just starting out and don’t have a food processor that slices.
McArdle also has a pricey ($146) Japanese rice cooker that I’d love to have, but we don’t eat enough rice in my house to justify it. That may change once we get to Louisiana, where rice is much more common on the table. But for now, a Japanese rice cooker would be an extravagance we can’t justify.
From my own suggestion list, I would recommend an All-Clad pan. They’re expensive, but boy, would a saute pan be useful. If you’re going to spend that kind of money, though, you’d probably be better off buying a good chef’s knife. Julie bought this one for me a few years ago, on McArdle’s advice. It was the best gift she ever gave me. I use it constantly and treasure it. I would dearly love to have a Le Crueset enamel cast iron pot, but they’re crazy expensive. Last Christmas, my sister gave us a far more affordable enameled Dutch oven from Lodge, and it has been pretty great. I use it a lot more often than my standard cast iron cookware.
I would also suggest that you invest in good wine glasses, if you have the money. We haven’t done that, because it seems extravagant. Our wine glasses are ordinary cheapie ones. But whenever I’m in a restaurant and have a good wine glass, I’m reminded by how much more pleasant it is to drink out of something like that, and how it really is true that you can get more of the aroma of the wine by using a proper glass.
Cookbooks? I always recommend Mark Bittman’s “How To Cook Everything” for basics — if you only own one cookbook, this is the one to own — but I’m still fond of Dorie Greenspan’s “Around My French Table” from last year. And why not a subscription to Saveur, my favorite food magazine?
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