Whether you’re cooking some kinda Thanksgiving or calling it off completely this year, do spend an evening in the kitchen next week cooking, crooning along with Frank, and bouncing to Missy Elliot…with our cooking playlist no. 7.
I’ve been looking forward to writing this year’s gift guides for at least a month. I don’t know if that’s because I’m channeling all of the year’s anxiety into holiday gifting and decor and menus (and forced joy) or if it’s because I just love writing a gift guide. Perhaps a combination of the two. In any event, I come bearing truly great gift ideas for the food-lovers, cooks, bakers, and professional drinkers in your life as well as a disclaimer: none of these gifts will fully alleviate the decade’s worth of madness we’ve experienced in the last twelve months. They will, however, make your loved ones smile, feel special, and get drunk, but in a gifty way.
Next week’s gift guide part 2 will be organized by who might be on your list, whereas the below is all about the Benjamins and how many you’re looking to spend.
Are they not sure what to get you? Forward this email to them STAT.
Under $100
Truly great gifts for the cook(s) in your life and on your budget
Two of the year’s best new cookbooks: Nik Sharma’s excellent Season and Claire Saffitz’s gorgeous new Dessert Person, tied up in a bow
The chicest set of (truly good) olive oils (above)
The best meats you can buy (online): Porter Road’s Best Of box comes with 2 dry aged steaks, 2 pork chops, bacon, chorizo sausage, and much more for $100 on the dot
A few really, really good pantry items: Sicilian castelvetrano olives, hard-to-find and hand-harvested Greek oregano, singe origin turmeric, flaky sea salt, Sicilian pistachio cream because it’s shockingly good with cheese or fruit…
If they can stand the heat, look no further than the Truff variety pack. A three-fer with white truffle, black truffle, and hotter hot sauces.
An serious chef’s knife, because their cooking is getting seriously good
A “curious” coffee subscription from Proud Mary, an Aussie-run café in Portland, Oregon. I personally vouch for their coffee (and their general good vibes)
Haus wine’s sampler kit, which comes with 4 bottles of their Sonoma-made aperitifs
A set of beautiful serving bowls made by a women’s cooperative in Oaxaca, Mexico
For the forever sweet tooth: A Milk Bar sampler, complete with some of their greatest hits like b’day cake truffles and a Milk Bar pie slice
Under $250
Special gifts for those special people in your life
It would be impossible to overstate how good the Always Pan is (above). I am a convert and, really, there’s a reason they keep selling out…
A 3-month subscription to Mash & Grape’s Whiskey of the Month club, so they can impress you with their bourbon vs Scotch tasting notes
Wine Party’s wine connoisseur course to take them from two-buck-Chuck to wine pro in just six weeks (*EXCLUSIVE: Use code TOTASTE at checkout for 15% off)
An Estelle Colored Glass cake stand, my favorite is the rose colored
Six months worth of Blue Bottle coffee, delivered to their door
A set of six (or eight) golden champagne flutes for special occasions… or Tuesdays
Have you seen a cooler decanter? Black and 16-carat gold porcelain, 100% fun
A winter white truffle, to show you really do love them
A lot, but worth it
Sometimes you just need to splurge…
Get the pizza oven everyone’s talking about: an Ooni. At $249, the Uuni 3 is sort of a steal especially when you consider it cooks a wood-fired pizza in 60 seconds.
A truly great bonded teak 15-piece knife set by Schmidt Brothers. FYI, I’ve had my Schmidt Brothers knife set for seven years and I’m completely devoted to it.
The ultimate gift for your favorite food-lover: a premium caviar, uni, and homemade pasta box from Dorasti (pictured at top)
This kinstugi serving tray is a stunner, made of unique elements of porcelain and gold
They’ll adore this “generously sized” marble mortar and pestle, just like Julia Child’s
Rare bar finds, like Clase Azul mezcal or Macallan 25 year old single malt Scotch—boom
Happy holidays my dears,
On some of these links we may earn an affiliate commission, if you make a purchase. It doesn’t change the cost or the process for you. It also hasn’t influenced what we’ve picked. It’s one way that you can make sure To Taste keeps going.