Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Inexpensive Gifts Every Cook Wants

The L&T Cheryl DeGroot
/
KNKX
Blue nitrile gloves are must for your kitchen. Reasons why below.

Don't look for sous vide cookers, wi-fi enabled digital electronic smokers, or enchanted knives forged by the dwarves of Middle Earth on this list.  For holiday gift-giving Nancy Leson and I recommend these inexpensive items any cook will be thrilled to get. 

Nancy Leson and I both recommend keeping some of those nitrile gloves in the kitchen.  My reasons: Sooner or later everybody cuts themselves in the kitchen.  Slip on a glove to prevent the band-aid from getting wet or leaking blood into the white sauce.  Nance likes them to prevent getting her fingers stained when working with  turmeric.  If you're handling hi-octane chilies gloves are good insurance against unfortunate transfers of capsaicin to (ahem) sensitive parts of one's body.  And, as you can see above, they're also good for a goof.

Three of Nancy's favorites all for around $20.

The Oxo triple timerlets her time multiple activities simultaneously.  Wine disks can be folded and inserted in the bottle mouth to prevent drips after pouring.   The dough whiskis the perfect tool for mixing batters,  soft doughs and sourdough sponges.  

Credit Nancy Leson / KNKX
/
KNKX

A listener sent me a coir (coconut fiber) scrubber AKA tawashi.  I've been using it  for years to scrub pots, pans and vegetables.  It simply would not wear out.  Available online.

Credit The L&T Cheryl DeGroot / KNKX
/
KNKX
Somehow, after years of use I managed to lose my old one. Here's its replacement. $1.95 at a local Asian market.

The Dexter/Russell sandwich spreader is one of my favorite small tools. It's great for spreading condiments, butter or peanut butter.  Use the serrated side to cut the sandwich.  Available from restaurant supply stores and online.

Credit Stein / KNKX
/
KNKX
I love this thing. And so will anyone you give it to.

Any home cook or baker will thank you over and over again for a gift of parchment sheets.  Pre-cut to half-sheet pan size they are so much handier than those awkward rolls.

Now that nobody carries matchbooks anymore...you'll never again endure a wobbly table at home or in a restaurant with the (Fabulous) Wobble Wedge!

Credit Nancy Leson / KNKX
/
KNKX
Soft, flexible rubber wedge shims ideal for leveling tables. Box of 30, $12.

"Nothing's as mean as giving a little child something useful for Christmas." – Kin Hubbard

Dick Stein joined KNKX in January 1992. He retired in 2020 after three decades on air. During his storied radio career, he hosted the morning jazz show, co-hosted and produced "Food for Thought" with Nancy Leson and wrote and directed the Jimmy Jazzoid live radio musical comedies and 100 episodes of Jazz Kitchen.