People who love to cook love good equipment. But serious kitchen gear is expensive. So, why not group together to give them something they’ll treasure.
To make it easy to collect without hassle or embarrassment, let online service GroupTogether.com do it for you. It takes 5 minutes to set up (easily) and then friends chip in online + sign the card. The money gets sent to the organiser to buy whatever you like. Everyone’s happy.
Here’s our top 10 from a bunch of great “at home” cooks and kitchenware specialists.
The best for slow cooking and lasts forever
“A chef is only as good as their knives” says Tristan Lutze from The Essential Ingredient. Depending on which variety of knife you’re looking for, you might consider pressed Japanese steel, forged German steel, wooden handle, shaped hilt and any number of other variations. I can’t live without my Shun Japanese steel chef’s knife”.
For over a century the world’s best chefs have been cooking in copper saucepans, preferred for their unmatched responsiveness to changes in temperature. Be sure to choose a brand with a quality stainless steel interior, a high grade of copper and a base that won’t warp. We love our DeBuyer pots and pans!
This is not only a beautifully iconic piece of equipment, but an endlessly useful tool. Attachments allow you to use it as a pasta maker, sausage stuffer, meat grinder, fruit pulper and much more.
Love it or hate it, it claims to do it all – perfect French sauces cooked at the perfect temperature and stirred continously, chopped salads, dough kneaded, cocktail whizzed, everything but take the rubbish out. You’d better be sure your friend really wants it before forking out $2000+. Find your nearest direct seller online at Thermomix.
If you’re a cook, you can’t have enough cookbooks. Here’s our most recent 5 easy to cook but yum faves – combining great pics for inspiration and enough instruction to get it right!
You could put a bundle of “essentials” together but rather than take the Ikea option, choose the tools that are worthy of the job. Susie Loudon, the owner of dreamy kitchenware store, The Bay Tree in Woollahra put this list together of fave “must haves”.
Another coffee mug?! Rather group together for a Limoges tea or coffee cup that makes that cuppa a luxurious experience.
Even a good cook likes inspiration sometimes. Great cooking schools like Accoutrement in Mosman, Sydney offer classes with top restauranteurs like Serge Dansereau and Peter Gilmore. You can buy a voucher or a series of classes. Some are “hands on” classes too.
Remember mum’s old casserole dishes? Super practical but …. Now you can choose a selection of porcelain that’s feisty enough to cook in but beautiful enough to serve from. Mud Australia makes gorgeous colours. If classic is more your style, Pilluvuyt is perfect for a tart, quiche or pies. Yum!
We don’t sell gifts. We take the hassle out of collecting for a group gift. Set up a collection in minutes on www.GroupTother.com – Click “Start collection”, answer a few simple questions about your collection and we do rest – friends will receive our email, click to contribute, sign the card and it’s done. It’s free to set up. Ideal for birthdays, “pass the hat round for a friend in need”, thank you for the teacher, farewell etc.
During the first week of September, 52% of working days in Victoria (and 40% of working days in New South Wales) were completed at home.
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed everything about the