##The Bittman Team Holiday Gift Guide
This year has been objectively challenging, no matter how you look at it. Giving gifts makes you feel good. So here's our third annual gift guide, with picks from everyone on our team. We like to think there's something for everyone in here - mostly food-related, with an abundance of smoked fish, because… we love it. We've also got some (non-food! gasp!) wild cards.
Daniel's Picks
http://www.cla-gdl.com/bal/b-v-w-n1.html
http://www.cla-gdl.com/bal/b-v-w-n2.html
http://www.cla-gdl.com/bal/b-v-w-n3.html
http://www.cla-gdl.com/bal/b-v-w-n4.html
http://www.cla-gdl.com/bal/b-v-w-n5.html
http://www.cla-gdl.com/bal/p-v-l-a1.html
http://www.cla-gdl.com/bal/p-v-l-a2.html
http://www.cla-gdl.com/bal/p-v-l-a3.html
http://www.cla-gdl.com/bal/p-v-l-a4.html
http://www.cla-gdl.com/bal/p-v-l-a5.html
http://www.cla-gdl.com/bal/g-v-d-p1.html
http://www.cla-gdl.com/bal/g-v-d-p2.html
http://www.cla-gdl.com/bal/g-v-d-p3.html
http://www.cla-gdl.com/bal/g-v-d-p4.html
http://www.cla-gdl.com/bal/g-v-d-p5.html
https://devbusiness.un.org/sites/www.iamladp.org/files/webform/n-ea-v-br-lv-05.html
https://devbusiness.un.org/sites/www.iamladp.org/files/webform/nf-sa-v-fr-lv1.html
https://devbusiness.un.org/sites/www.iamladp.org/files/webform/nf-sa-v-fr-lv2.html
https://devbusiness.un.org/sites/www.iamladp.org/files/webform/nf-sa-v-fr-lv3.html
https://devbusiness.un.org/sites/www.iamladp.org/files/webform/nf-sa-v-fr-lv4.html
https://devbusiness.un.org/sites/www.iamladp.org/files/webform/nf-sa-v-fr-lv5.html
So, technically, this thing - the wooden contraption that the young gentleman is standing on in the photo above - is called a Learning Tower, but I just can't bring myself to ever call it that. To me, it's "the baby cooking stool," and it's kind of a game-changer (if you have a kid; otherwise, useless).
Here's the deal: I love to cook, and would be delighted if my kid loved it too. To put those wheels in motion, I started sitting him up on the counter next to the stove to cook dinner with me. This sort of worked, but required all sorts of MacGyvering to make sure he didn't shove his hand directly into the burner or pot. This stool lets him stand at a "safe enough" distance from the stove and bop his spatula around until he gets bored, which is, obnoxiously, never. It's not cheap, though I'm sure it does other things.
But you know what's also not cheap? A trip to the emergency room. So, until then, the baby cooking stool it is.
Photo: Our Place
The pinkish pan (with child and also pictured above) is called The Always Pan, and is the best nonstick I've ever used. (Mark said the same in a newsletter a few weeks ago, but maybe it bears repeating.) It's useful for a handful of things (hence the name), but I've been leaning on it most for its nonstick powers.
https://devbusiness.un.org/sites/www.iamladp.org/files/webform/n-ea-v-br-lv-01.html
https://devbusiness.un.org/sites/www.iamladp.org/files/webform/n-ea-v-br-lv-02.html
https://devbusiness.un.org/sites/www.iamladp.org/files/webform/n-ea-v-br-lv-03.html
https://devbusiness.un.org/sites/www.iamladp.org/files/webform/n-ea-v-br-lv-04.html
I'll often heat a few glugs of oil in it, then pour some sourdough starter (of course!) straight into the pan, spread it around, and cook until brown and crisp on both sides, maybe 5 minutes per side.
But that pancake-looking thing in the photo is an apple cider doughnut smushed flat, dipped in egg, milk, and vanilla, and cooked like French toast. It's good - how could it not be? - and has festive winter/holiday breakfast written all over it.
Photo: Lodge
Another pan I love is the Lodge 15" carbon steel. A while ago, I "borrowed" one after one of Mark's cookbook photoshoots (along with about 100 pounds' worth of other stuff that I crammed into a duffel bag). I told my wife's mom I would give it to her (she makes the best paella, and it's a perfect paella pan), but then I made the mistake of using it, at which point I got super Grinch-y and decided not to give it up. It's basically now my go-to roasting pan (so much surface area!), but comes with the added benefit of being designed to go on top of the stove. Since getting it, I haven't roasted a chicken in anything else. One tip: If you're planning on giving it as a gift, actually give it! (My mother-in-law was forced to buy her own.)
Quick tangent re: roasting: It's something that a lot of us do quite often towards the end of the year, and some of us are just more competent at it than others. I, for instance, tend to put things in the oven and then forget that they're there. One year, we were throwing a holiday party, and, as is tradition, I hopped in the shower five minutes before everyone was supposed to come. Somewhere mid-soap, my wife burst into the bathroom screaming "there are flames shooting out of the oven!" Apparently, there was a ham in there. That situation (naked in the kitchen fighting a ham grease fire) might have been avoided with a Chef Alarm, a really good probe thermometer that you stick into whatever you're roasting and that will beep whenever it reaches whatever temperature you set it at. If you have any kind of Norman Rockwell holiday feast aspirations, this thing can really help you nail it.