Gift Guide… For The Foodie In Your Life

1. School of Wok – Founded by TV Chef and food author Jeremy Pang, School of Wok is most famous for its flagship cookery school in Covent Garden. To help foodies get creative in the kitchen this Christmas, they have a selection of hampers available including a Bao Hamper (RRP. £39) which features their new Bao Bun Kits, along with a Steamer and Steam Mat.

2. Weed & Wonderful – These organic seaweed infused rapeseed oils from Weed & Wonderful are a simple way to benefit from seaweed’s pure sea goodness. Drizzle over grilled meat or roasted vegetables for an alternative flavour boost. £8.99 from weedandwonderful.co.uk

3. Baladi – Palestinian cuisine has finally made its way to London, and with the success of Miramia Cafe and Tabun Kitchen comes a new passion for authentic middle eastern flavours, so why not try to whip up your own dishes at home? From the bestselling author of Palestine on a Plate comes BALADI: Palestine – A Celebration of Food from Land and Sea. In BALADI – which means ‘my home, my land, my country’, Joudie Kalla once again pays homage to her heritage by showcasing its wide ranging, vibrant, mouth-watering dishes, taking readers on a journey through Palestinian food
and culture. BALADI celebrates a range of sublime flavour combinations and features an entire repertoire of ideas for breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, drinks and preserves. As well as stunning food photography, the book is also interspersed with location shots of the landscapes, waters, streets and people of Palestine, vividly reflecting the rich culinary history running through the entire country. Hardback £26 from all good book stores.

4. Konditoor & Cook Christmas Hamper – Star bakers Konditoor & Cook have excelled themselves this year with their Starry Starry Night Christmas collection. Favourites including German treats  Stollen and Kipferl and packaged beautifully alongside their award-winning Mince Pies -regularly voted the best in the UK! K&C’s self-proacliamed mission is to ‘spread joy through cake’ and with this hamper, we think they might just have cracked it. Also included are melt-in-the-mouth Lemon Moons, Cinnamon Stars and a £25 Konditor & Cook online gift card. Satisfy a sweet-toothed pal, or just pretend it’s a gift and eat it all yourself – we would!

5. Savernake Knives – Savernake Knives has been supplying Michelin star chefs with bespoke and unique knives, which provide precision, sharpness and durability since 2017 and continues to do so as the Wiltshire-based bespoke knife brand reveals its Autumn/Winter 2018 collection including The Savernake G&T slicer – the perfect gift for the discerning drinker. Created especially for people who take pride in the art of crafting a superb drink, this practical knife is truly customisable, allowing you to choose the blade finish, select the handle finish and even engrave with a name or date. A beautiful addition to any home bar. RRP £220.00, buy here.

6. Gin Baubles – Gin-gle all the way with Pickering’s gin-filled baubles. Available in a rainbow of colours, the gin-filled baubles come in pink, blue, purple, yellow, red and green with a rose gold screw lid and a silk red ribbon, sure to add a splash of Christmas joy to trees and households across the country. First produced as a fun offering at a Christmas fair in 2014, the first proper production run in 2015 sold out in just a few days. Each bauble contains 50ml of Pickering’s Gin. Buy from Pickering’s, Selfridges, John Lewis, 31dover.com and over 200+ retailers across the country.

7. Tefal All-in-One Electrical Pressure Cooker – Pressure cookers have come on in leaps and bounds in recent years and no self-respecting foodie would be without one in their kitchen. Cooking with pressurised steam, the All-in-One cooks food faster than conventional methods, while preserving nutrients and natural flavours, for healthy and tasty meals in minutes. There are 25 one-touch programmes; pressure cook (low/medium/high), slow cook (up to 9 hours), steam, brown, simmer, reheat and bake. It also has specific recipe functions for rice, porridge, baby food or stew/soup. The DIY Chef mode lets you adjust the cooking time and temperature manually to create your own recipe, or follow one of the 30 recipes that comes with it. Delayed Start lets you delay the cooking process by up to 24 hours and there’s also a keep warm function. Sleek and compact, the All-in-One won’t take up much space, and is a great gift for students heading back to halls in the New year. It also comes with a steam basket, trivet, measuring cup and spatula, all dishwasher-safe for easy cleaning. £99.99 from Curry’s.

8. Joule by Chefsteps – We all want a stress-free Christmas (actually, we want a stress free life, but hey). The Joule by Chefsteps could actually bring her one step closer to her dream though… the smallest at-home sous vide tool on the market, simply select a recipe, set Joule to work and use resulting free time to either work on other dishes, spend time with loved ones, or curl up on the sofa to watch a Christmas classic. Joule promises perfect, restaurant standard results every time, and using water as a means of cooking eliminates the need for less healthy ingredients such as oil or butter – a much welcomed cooking technique for those whose New Year’s resolution is to aim for a healthier lifestyle. Buy from Amazon for £189.

9. Deux Flutes d’Armand de Brignac – Two elegant Champagne flutes and a bottle of prestige cuvee Armand de Brignac Brut Gold in a stunning wooden case. Available from Harrods priced £465.

11 White Truffle Oil –Truffle oil is a delightful culinary ingredient, and the diverse selection from Fine Food Specialist offers a wonderful array of oils to choose from. Imparting the flavour and aroma of truffles to any dish, truffle oil has fast become a staple larder ingredient. Beautifully packaged, the FFS assortment of truffle oils are a great gift idea for the foodie in your life. Prices start at £8.55 for 100ml. See the full selection here.

12. Smith & Sinclair Alcholic Treats – Okay, so these may be more for the drinker in your life, but drinkers need to eat too right? Smith & Sinclair, the brand coined the Willy Wonka for adults,and creators of the World’s first Alcoholic Cocktail Gummies, has reimagined its original grown up treat with the launch of five new selection boxes – Gin Obsessed, Night in, After Dinner, Party, and Celebration – complete with new flavours and recipes as well as its award winning original flavours. The expertly mixed cocktail selections have been curated with every social occasion in mind from after dinner to parties and everything in between. The selection boxes contain six new delicious recipes such as Mocha Espresso Martini with coffee sugar, and Elderflower Spritz with thyme sugar, to compliment four original flavours including Berry Daiquiri with mixed pepper sugar and Gin & Tonic with lemon sugar. All the gummies have been made with premium spirits, fresh fruit, herbs and syrups, mixed and coated with garnish infused sugars. Buy online at the Smith & Sinclair website, from John Lewis, or a vending machine in Harvey Nicks!