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ON FOOD AND COOKING
If your beloved food scientist doesn’t already own this, better get it first!
REVIEW / BUY
MOLECULAR GASTRONOMY
A bunch of short ‘stories’ on interesting phenomena in food.
BUY
BRILLIANT BREAD
If he or she wants to apply their science on bread!
REVIEW / BUY
THE CURRY GUY
Looking for a new cuisine to understand and explain? This books gives you a good intro to (British) Indian cuisine.
REVIEW / BUY
GREEK
We’re big fans of Masterchef Australia (a great way to learn more about food), this is the cookbook of one of the presenters, has great modern Greek recipes.
BUY
THE FOOD LAB
Not our favorite to be honest, barely used it, but if you’re looking for ‘perfect’ recipes of all sorts it might be the book for you.
BUY
SWEET
Probably our favorite cookbook ever. Great, new recipes, with surprisingly good flavour combinations and instructions.
REVIEW / BUY
PLENTY
We love Sweet more, but this is a great cookbook centered all around vegetables.
REVIEW / BUY
Equipment
Equipment tends to be a more expensive gift, so be sure to check that your food science enthusiast is really into whatever you’re giving.
ICE CREAM MACHINE
Ice cream is probably one of the nicest foods to do experiments with, faster cooling, slower, with inclusions, new flavours or colours.
BUY (Europe)
KITCHENAID STAND MIXER
Took us >5 years of doubting to finally buy one, been worth every penny! Use it for bread baking experiments.
BUY
FOOD PROCESSOR
Because if you live with a food science enthusiast you’d like to reduce the number of tools in your kitchen. This one blends, cuts, slices, grates, mixes, etc.
BUY
SOUS VIDE COOKING
This small and handy tool is still on our wish list, would love to try it.
BUY
PRESSURE COOKING
Still on our wishlist, haven’t yet found one that meets our budget & criteria, but have read a lot of good reviews on the Instapot.
BUY
Cast-iron
Because even though it might require extra care and effort, that’s exactly what your food science enthusiast loves. Figuring out how best to take care of it is part of the fun. What’s more, these things last a life time and they are super versatile! We happen to be Lodge fans, but there’s more choice out there of course.
PANS
This large one can be used for baking breads, deep frying, soups, etc. A small frying pan always comes in handy as well.
BUY
BREAD PAN
For those scientists exploring the science of bread baking, but of course, to be used for any sciency experiment with the shape of a loaf.
BUY
GRIDDLE + GRILL IN ONE
To bake pizza’s, make a pancake or bacon + eggs breakfast, prep your hamburger feast and the list goes on.
BUY
Tools
No need to go expensive! There are plenty small things that make the life of a food science enthusiast so much easier.
THERMOMETER
Can’t do no good science without great measuring devices! Essential for candy making.
IKEA SELLS THIS ONE
SPATULAS
Essential for mixing, cleaning, scraping and any other food sciency kitchen task. Make sure they’re heat resistant!
BUY
GLASS STORAGE CONTAINERS
To store all those experiments and to not forget what’s inside there!
OUR FAVORITES ARE FROM IKEA
MEASURING SPOONS
You want to be precise and normal weighing scales won’t work well for these small quantities!
BUY
WHISK
To mix all those weird batters a good STURDY whisk is essential. No clue where we found ours, but don’t get a thin wiry one please.
TRIVETS
Better have plenty of these to place your cakes, breads, hot pans, etc. anywhere you need.
THESE FROM IKEA WORK PERFECTLY
Last but not least: what you shouldn’t buy
Just like with any gift giving, don’t give gift just for the sake of giving gifts. At least that’s our opinion, that cool little garlic slicer or that one handy dandy tool to peel just that one specific fruit, there’s not a lot of people that will be happier after having that (except of course, if your special person happens to be a huge fan of that specific fruit). Also, for the food science enthusiast in your life, a kitchen is there to be used, as is the stuff inside, so don’t buy:
- Expensive sets of cutlery and plates, chances are these will be used for all sorts of experiments, not a good idea.
- Really, anything that can’t handle a creative mind at work in the kitchen ;-).
- That little cookbook with a random collection of topics, you food science enthusiast will be happier with a specific in-depth cookbook or science book.
That said, you know your food enthusiast best, so use that knowledge to come up with that brilliant gift!
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