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Serious Eats Department Store Santa: What's On Your Gift Wish List?

Posted by Ed Levine, December 14, 2007 at 9:40 AM

On Serious Eats I believe we're leading the nation in cool gift guides, and there are still more to come. That said, there are still a few items on my personal gift wish list that haven't been mentioned yet. Some I have found on other websites. And others just popped into my head at various times in the last couple of weeks. I'm sure other serious eaters find themselves in similar situations. So perhaps we can rectify this problem. I invite all of you to leave your food-centric gift wish list as a comment on this post. With any luck, the people in your life searching for a present for you will find their way to Serious Eats. Consider this post the world's biggest department store Santa lap.

Vicky, Will, if you're out there, read on.

On Slate Simon Hopkinson, author of Roast Chicken and Other Stories, the heralded book that according to my friend Sam is exceedingly hard to find this year, mentioned Cooking in 10 Minutes, a book by Edouard de Pomaire that was first published in 1948. Here's a sample recipe from the book along with a pithy comment from Hopkinson:

Oysters and Sausages

1. Fry some chipolata sausages. Serve them very hot on a dish and on a second dish a dozen oysters.

2. Alternate the sensations. Burn your mouth with a crackling sausage. Soothe your burns with a cool oyster. Continue until all the sausages and oysters have disappeared.

3. White wine, of course.

Look out, Mark Bittman.

I haven't been able to find this book on-line, so anyone interested in getting this book for me (are you listening, Vicky and Will) would be wise to call Nach Waxman at Kitchen Arts & Letters. Nach can locate a copy of just about any book if you give him a few days.

In the same Slate post Mollie Katzen, author of many books, including The Mousewood Cookbook, raves about another book I've never heard of, Salt & Pepper: 135 Perfectly Seasoned Recipes, by Michele Jordan. Mollie writes,

"Once in a great while, I'll have a transcendent food-book-reading experience. This happened when I first picked up a copy of Salt & Pepper: 135 Perfectly Seasoned Recipes by Michele Jordan. I was familiar with Michele's work—she is a friend of mine, and I admire her work. But inspired though I have been by everything she has done, this book has given me something beyond inspiration. It has given me permission."

I crave transcendent food-book-reading experiences, I love salt and pepper, and I especially like permission to put more salt in my food, so I definitely want this book.

I love a good tamale. Whether it's a Mississippi Delta tamale or a designer tamale or a more traditional Mexican tamale, I love them all. Don't you? And where I live, in New York City, a good tamale of any stripe is hard to find. So I would love for some most excellent tamales to find their way to my house this holiday season. There are many tamale purveyors that ship (I have googled mail-order tamales many times over the years), so if you are listening, Santa, please bring some tamales down my non-existent chimney.

So that's it. Three gifts, none obscenely expensive. They may take a little bit of work, but inspired gifts always do. What would you like to get this holiday season?

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