Serious Eats Gift Guide: What Serious Eaters Wish For
The Serious Eaters have spent a lot of time finding the best foodie gifts out there for our Gift Guides. But what do we really want for the holidays? Find out what made our personal wish lists after the jump.
Ed Levine: Sausage from Southside Market in Texas. It's the best smoked sausage ever. So juicy, it's guaranteed to stain your shirt. We're giving a whole mess of it away on Serious Eats over the holidays. Too bad I'm not eligible to win. from $30.99 at southsidemarket.com
Adam Kuban: Oh, I don't know. I don't really need anything. Maybe a decent chef’s knife (or a sharpening for my current knife) or a nice All-Clad sauté pan to replace my who-knows-how-many-years-old flimsy pan. $95 to $255 from Amazon.com
Alaina Browne: I love seltzer water, so I'd love to get a Fountain Jet Home Soda Maker. From $79.99 at SodaClubUsa.com
Robyn Lee: A 35-piece box of macarons from Pierre Hermé: I doubt my choice surprises anyone considering how obsessed with macarons I am, specifically the ones from Pierre Hermé because they're the best I've ever eaten. Unfortunately, I don't have any Paris connections to get me a box. I'll just stare at it longingly. And weep. From afar. 68€ from Pierre Hermé
Erin Zimmer: Ever since I studied in the Czech Republic, I've appreciated brewing traditions. I'd love to say "fermenting" was one of my hobbies. And when I get really nerdy into it, I'll branch into kombucha, mead, and other liquid science projects. $69.95 at www.shopbrewhorizons.com
Raphael: A Thermal Immersion Circulator so I can get my Sous Vide on. Or, alternatively, if Santa thinks I was extra-nice this year, he can always get me a streetcart. $939 from PolyScience
Kerry Saretsky: The Valentine's-pink Cook for the Cure KitchenAid Aritsan Stand Mixer. And some fresh black truffles instead of coal. $299.99 from KitchenAid.com
Michele Humes: My youthful days of scorning the microwave are long behind me. I don't want to have to make ganache on one more rickety double boiler; I don't want to amass another full sink of dishes just to reheat my lunch. Santa, baby, bring me a Panasonic NN-SD377S. $115.69 at Amazon.com
Gordon Mark: Oh, for me, a donation in my name to either charity:water or City Harvest.
Tam Ngo: The Pacojet and homemade basil sorbets are a pipe-dream, sigh, I know. I'd happily settle for some hands-on kneading or a case of Boyer Brut. $3,950 from Advanced Gourmet Equipment & Design
Linnea Covington: I want the Betty Crocker silicone heart muffin "pan" so I can make love muffins for everyone. And, who doesn't like heart shaped yummies? $15.99 from amazon.com
Add a comment:
Previewing your comment:
HTML Hints
Some HTML is OK: <a href="URL">link</a>, <strong>strong</strong>, <em>em</em>
Comment Guidelines
Post whatever you want, just keep it seriously about eats, seriously. We reserve the right to delete off-topic or inflammatory comments. Learn more at our Comment Policy page.
If you see something not so nice, please, report an inappropriate comment.
10 Comments:
A decent but relatively inexpensive commercial gas range, like this one. Even used would be alright, just so I have the thing.
LunaPierCook at 2:50PM on 12/19/08
those seltzer makers are awesome - one of the families i babysit for has one! it's expensive, but seeing as i buy like three huge bottles of soda per week, it would probably save me money in the long run.
sarahlucy at 2:53PM on 12/19/08
The Fountain Jet is probably the most useful (and used) present I've ever gotten. And the Freshdirect delivery people are happy not to have to bring cases of seltzer up three flights of stairs.
floretbroc at 3:25PM on 12/19/08
if you're a seltzer person check out www.barilocheseltzer.com for the most interesting seltzer bottle you can find. they sell it over at Wegmans in NJ
dozertx at 5:14PM on 12/19/08
Anything from D'artagnon...and a big check to donate to Food Share.
bessfour at 5:19PM on 12/19/08
My mother recently bought the Fountain Jet Home Soda Maker, and I've only tried three of the flavor syrups that came with it so far.
Diet Root Beer - not bad at all, on the par with good diet root beer I've had.
Lemon Lime Sparkling Water - Incredibly bitter, tastes like tonic water. My mom loves it though...
Pete's Choice - They say to compare it to Dr. Pepper but I think it tastes closer to flat Dr. Pepper. Way too sweet for me.
comicsan at 3:26AM on 12/20/08
@Adam one word "Mauviel". All Clad is fine, Mauviel is amazing.
Things I gave for christmas that were for serious eaters were:
Butter Bells from Emile Henry I gave at least 6 of these, it keeps your butter spreadable.
Salt pigs from Emile Henry how do you ever live without one?
Loaf pans from Emile Henry makes the nicest crust on loaves of bread and cake.
Also pie plates from Emile Henry in 10" size, now thats a lot of pie, right?!
(Can anyone tell I went to the Emile Henry sale?)
Serving Platters, you can never have enough.
Flour sack dish towels, you can never have enough of these.
Illy espresso, I am hooked on the stuff
Tawny Port seems to be making a comeback the 10 year old stuff is nice.
Stainless steel mixing bowl sets, also something you can not have enough of.
JerzeeTomato at 4:21AM on 12/20/08
Here, here for salt pigs! Love mine, use it all the time. I bought three for gifts.
bareneed at 2:09PM on 12/20/08
Saw that coming, Robs. ;D
Other than donations to the New Jersey Food Bank and Pim's Menu for Hope, I'd probably wish for:
1. snowflake cookie cutters
2. grow-your-own-seed refills for my AeroGarden (a must have if you dig fresh herbs year 'round)
3. a 2-quart dutch oven
4. a custom spice rack (oh, that's right, John's already making me one!)
Your pal,
Deb Schiff
Altered Plates
Here and There
hereandthe at 9:53AM on 12/21/08
I hope it's not too late to comment on silicone muffin pans - I bought one about a year ago, filled it with my deeelish corn muffin batter, and because the silicone isn't solid, I almost sloshed the stuff all over the kitchen floor attempting to transport it to the oven. I had to put it in a cookie tray. And the silicone doesn't allow for browning, like my gazillion year old metal pans do - so only the tops got crusty. I was totally disappointed, and would have returned the silicone pans if I could have.
I tried silicone cake pans with the same results - only good if you're icing the cake.
IMHO, they recalled silicone breast implants, and they should recall the muffin and cake pans as well.
MMinNYC at 6:30PM on 12/26/08