The Top 5 Christmas Gifts for the Chef in Your Life
December 1, 2011
•Le Cordon Bleu
•Austin
• 0 Comments
The Top 5 Christmas Gifts for the Chef in Your Life
Let’s face it; buying great gifts is a hard job. You want the best you can get and usually at the lowest price you can get it. Add in a discriminating gift receiver and your tough choices get even tougher.
If you have a chef or a student at an Austin cooking school in your life, then you know that when it comes to taste and pickiness they sometimes steal the show. But who can blame them? Preparing delicious home cooked meals, attending cooking school, or working in a professional kitchen are hard enough with the best equipment. Why make it more difficult with inferior equipment?
We’ve put together this list of five gifts that will be sure to make the chef in your life very happy this Christmas.
Magazine Subscriptions
It may seem like a dull gift, but your chef will love it. Magazines are some of the best places to stay current on trends in the food service industry, learn about the latest gadgets, review new cookbooks, and find new recipes. Magazines are especially good gifts for students. They are like monthly culinary training programs for your aspiring chef. Depending on their taste, they may enjoy Saveur, Bon Apetite, or Food Network Magazine. If he/she is a total foodie, then Gastronomica may fit.
“Something” of the Month
There is a “something” of the month club for just about any “something” your chef may be into. You name it – wine, beer, barbeque, olive oil, chocolate, hot sauce, dessert, coffee – and you can find a club dedicated to it. These subscription clubs will deliver a monthly sample of your chef’s favorite item. Usually they are unique and hard to find varieties of the club’s focus item. Many items are artisanal and handmade in small batches.
Food Travel
Whether it’s a food tour focusing on local and regional food producers and restaurants or international travel to the birthplace of Swiss chocolate, your Austin cooking school student will love the opportunity to combine his/her love of food with a touch of history and excitement. Budgets will range from less than $100 for local food tours to sky-is-the-limit overseas travel. If booking long-distance domestic or foreign travel, be sure to check out discount travel providers and discount Web sites like Priceline.com and Travelocity.com.
Knives, Knives, Knives
No chef will ever turn their nose up at a gift of a quality knife. Ask most chefs and they’ll tell you that their knives are even more important than their cookware. No kitchen is complete without a high-quality 8-inch chef’s knife. Nearly every job in the kitchen can be done with this cutlery workhorse. If you are looking to buy a set, consider adding a 3- or 4-inch paring knife and a serrated bread knife. Wüsthoff , Henckels, Globe, and Shun are names to look for. Be prepared to spend a lot more than that block of Farberware knives you got as a wedding gift, however. Good knives are not cheap, but their value far exceeds their price.
Apple iPad
No you can’t cook on it, but this is one hot gift for the kitchen. It’s like a traveling library for your chef. Your chef will have fingertip access to instructional videos on YouTube, popular recipes on Epicurious, and their own recipe database created on one of dozens of iPad applications for the kitchen. Models are available with 3G, WiFi, and storage of up to 64 GB.
These are just a few of the thousands of gift ideas for the chef in your life. Just remember, however, any gift is a good gift if given with love. Happy Holidays!
This article is presented by Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Austin. Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Austin offers culinary arts and pâtisserie and baking training programs in Austin, Texas. To learn more about the class offerings, please visit Chefs.edu/Austin for more information.
Find disclosures on graduation rates, student financial obligations and more at www.chefs.edu/disclosures. Le Cordon Bleu® and the Le Cordon Bleu logo are registered trademarks of Career Education Corporation. Le Cordon Bleu cannot guarantee employment or salary. Credits earned are unlikely to transfer.