During Covid, many people started cooking. Some of it was boredom–they were stuck at home–and some was desperation–they lived in places where restaurants closed entirely, or where there simply wasn’t a range of foods to pick up. I love to bake, but I’m not much of an everyday cook, so when we got tired of the limited choices around us, my husband and I tried out Hello Fresh (I’d recommend it on the whole). Anyway, I got to talking to some friends about the things we find most useful in our kitchens and it occurred to me that now that people are getting together again, it might be fun to consider possible host gifts for your friends who’ve gotten into cooking recently.
The Jacent Produce Drying Mat is definitely the least expensive of the things I use every single day in my kitchen. I got my first one because when we started with Hello Fresh, I was washing so much produce and nothing was really helping. Cotton cloths didn’t absorb enough and paper towels are wasteful. Now I have a few of them so that if one or two are dirty I still have one ready for use. They actually work better after they’ve been washed and dried, though you shouldn’t use fabric softener on them (it leaves a film that you don’t want on your produce). I use wool dryer balls with a few drops of essential oils on them instead.
Mepal Prep Bowls. I can hear you now. “Prep bowls? Are you seriously recommending I buy prep bowls as a host gift?” Well, in a word, yes. Of course, you can fill them with something to make them more festive (like some yummy goodies from nuts.com), but if you’re not up for that, these babies are still super useful. Until you start cooking, you have no idea how a bit of sauce can change an entire dish. Bored with your everyday quesadillas? Try adding a little avocado lime crema. All you need is sour cream, avocado, and lime juice. And, of course, a little bowl to mix them in. Or maybe you just want to sit on the couch with some fresh vegetables in a little bowl and some ranch dip in another. Or, hey, maybe you’re trying to limit your ice cream intake to less than a gallon a sitting (what? just me?) and you need a smaller bowl than you’ve been using. You could even portion out the ice cream in advance since these are freezer safe. (They’re also dishwasher safe, and the bottoms are microwave safe.)
Spice grinders also make great presents. I got mine locally, and I have the Crushgrind model pictured here. I tried to find it online, but no US stores seem to sell it online. It’s readily available in the UK and on ebay in the US. But you don’t need this model. There are a few key things you want in a spice grinder: a glass body (the oils from certain spices will damage a plastic body) and an adjustable, ceramic burr. The ceramic burr will not collect odors or flavors when you want to switch spices, and like coffee, you’ll want to adjust the grind on various spices for different applications. I don’t like electric grinders because of the waste caused by the batteries. Also, you don’t want your grinder dying at that critical moment!
You can go totally manual, of course, and get a mortar and pestle, though I find those hard to handle for single spices. (They can’t be beat for making pastes, however.) If you do decide to go that route, be sure to get one with a rough finish rather than a smooth one, or you may find your cloves or peppercorns flying around the kitchen.
Speaking of spices, if your friends want to try some new tastes, why not give them a Penzey’s gift box? I love the Sunny Paris, which is especially good if people are looking to avoid salt in their diets but want to amp up the flavor. My mother’s favorite is Fox Point. But they also sell “normal” spices, and have boxes for bakers, etc.
A number of people got into baking during the pandemic, and one of the things I always recommend for bakers is silicone baking mats. For years, I’ve used Silpat mats, but for beginning bakers, I love the fact that this Five Two Silicone Baking Mat is gridded out so they can see how big everything is, or if a recipe says “leave at least 2 inches between cookies,” they can get a sense of what that means. It can also be cut to fit if your baking sheets are on the small size.
On the topic of cookies, one kitchen essential that most people don’t have is an oven thermometer. This doesn’t need to be anything fancy, but it’s remarkable how few people’s ovens actually cook at the temperature that they set it for. I see it all the time when I watch cooking shows and contestants are shocked that their food is cooking way too slowly. Chances are, their home ovens are set too high. So they put their food on at 350 and their food is actually cooking at 370. Then when they get to the competition and their food is really going at 350, it seems painfully slow.
Cast iron. I’m not going to tell you which cast iron to get, but if your friends don’t have any and you want to get them something truly exceptional, that’s the thing I’d recommend. There are three major types (and they all have their uses and they’re all equally expensive): Cast iron with a smooth ceramic coating inside and out, like Le Creuset. Cast iron with a smooth ceramic coating outside and a matte finish inside, like Staub, or straight up cast iron, like Smithey.
Tomatoes will destroy the inside of a cast iron pot unless it has a finish on it, which is why you often see the Le Creuset Dutch ovens. Also because they’re smooth, they’re great for baking bread. On the other hand, you don’t want that smooth finish if you’re cooking meat in a cast iron pan, or you won’t get the texture and bite you’re looking for, so for that you want a Staub or Smithey style. But if someone in your house leaves pans to soak or likes to put them in the dishwasher, you do not want the straight cast iron. It will rust. Which explains why I only have one Smithey pan and I TREASURE it. It is the #10 skillet, and it’s my cornbread pan. It gets used, washed, and put away. And no one else even knows where it lives.
So there you are. My kitchen essentials that your friends may not have yet!