James Martin's Top Gifts For Chefs From Sous Chef
By Nicola Lando
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January 28th, 2019
Last January, chef James Martin was joined by Sous Chef founder Nicola, and Ynychir's chef Gareth Ward, on Saturday Morning. They discussed some fantastic gift ideas for foodies in your life!
"What do you buy someone who loves food? You buy them food, but you buy them food that's quite unusual" James Martin
Find more Food and Cooking gifts.
All hand made in the Netherlands by Dutchdeluxes, with a focus on traditional methods and natural materials. Not only are they beautiful to look at, they feel gorgeous too!
This stunning stoneware vinaigrier lets you make your own vinegar at home in as little as 4 weeks. Just add wine or cider, and to speed things up, a little vinegar with the 'mother'. In time, you’ll have a source of homemade vinegar on tap.
The traditional hand-glazed ‘amphora’ style vinaigrier is the same style as those used around the Mediterranean for hundreds of years.
There’s not many times that you taste an oil and think instantly ‘olives’.
You’ll understand exactly what we mean when you try the Grand Brahis Noir. It greets you as if falling into a bowl of luscious black olives. The Grand Brahis Vert has a spicier kick than a typical Provence oil, but I love its complexity.
Officinae Defrutum only use grapes that are grown in their vineyards, so the entire production - from picking the grapes to ageing the vinegar - takes place on the family farm.
Smooth, rounded and well-balanced for sweet and savoury dishes. Elevate your dishes from ordinary to extraordinary with just one drop!
Need to rustle up a quick lunch for friends? The Cameron's hot smoker cooks beautifully flaky hot smoked salmon indoors on the stove in just 20 minutes. Or even smoke-infuse a whole chicken before moving to the oven to finish roasting.
To get started pop some wood chips in the base of the smoker, and turn on your kitchen stove - whether electric, gas, or induction.
"A lot of people are into smoking. This is very simple to use" James Martin
"You can put rice in there as well!" Gareth Ward
Candied peel from Sicilian producer Pariani is different from any candied peel you've tasted before. Created in partnership with Netflix Chef's Table star Corrado Assenza, it is beautifully soft and retains the aroma of fresh citrus.
Buy why so different? Only the finest fruits are used: Calabrian bergamots, Sicilian lemons and Sicilian oranges. And the process is very different - it is cold-candied rather than hot-candied.
Puy-type green lentils, also known as ‘the caviar of the poor’, are beloved of professional chefs all over the world. Puy lentils have delicate skin, a firm texture and an earthy, nutty flavour that works well with both intensely savoury and slightly sweet flavours. Puy lentils keep their shape, even when simmered for a long time, so they’re ideal for salads as well as adding body to soups and stews.
Make the best risotto you’ve ever had!
Acquerello grow, produce and pack superfine carnaroli risotto rice on their family estate in Piedmont. It is not only the rice variety that is special. Acquerello rice is the only white rice in the world to be enriched with its nutrient-rich germ – reintroduced after hulling – giving it a nutritional profile closer to brown rice. The rice is also aged for up to three years.
The extra ageing makes this rice slightly sweeter than the original. Cooks even more uniformly, for an exceptional al dente texture every time.
"It does produce a really fantastic risotto" James Martin
Sicilian pistachios are loved all over the world for their vibrant green colour and intense pistachio flavour. However, from the many pistachio pastes we've tried before, we've never seen such a beautiful, smooth and silky paste before!
An ultra-smooth paste made from 100% Sicilian pistachios – no added sugar, and no bits! It has an intense green hue and is an instant luxurious addition to stir through white chocolate ganache, whisk into custards for tarts and ice cream, or even flavour fresh tagliatelle. It is ultra-smooth and intensely green.
Or try the sweet cream pistachio spread as an instant filling for macarons, or a dreamy treat on crusty bread.
Use these world famous pistachios in your favourite dish for a hint of magic!
"That is amazing!" James Martin
"One of the best pistachio purees I've ever tasted - I'd eat it out of the jar" Gareth Ward
About the author
Nicola is co-founder and CEO at Sous Chef. She has worked in food for over ten years.
Nicola first explored cooking as a career when training at Leiths, before spending the next decade in Finance. However... after a stage as a chef at a London Michelin-starred restaurant, Nicola saw the incredible ingredients available only to chefs. And wanted access to them herself. So Sous Chef was born.
Today, Nicola is ingredients buyer and a recipe writer at Sous Chef. She frequently travels internationally to food fairs, and to meet producers. Her cookbook library is vast, and her knowledge of the storecupboard is unrivalled. She tastes thousands of ingredients every year, to select only the best to stock at Sous Chef.
Nicola shares her knowledge of ingredients and writes recipes to showcase those products. Learning from Sous Chef's suppliers and her travels, Nicola writes many of the recipes on the Sous Chef website. Nicola's recipes are big on flavour, where the ingredients truly shine (although that's from someone who cooks for hours each day - so they're rarely tray-bakes!).
