The Gift Guide!
I thought I'd continue the tradition this year.
My friends! I hope you all had a great holiday and ate everything that you wanted to eat, and maybe just a little more. We had turkeys and stuffing and lobsters and salad and a few sea urchins (keep reading to order your own!)…it was an amazing feast. You know I love seafood in the fall, and this is the absolutely most prime season for it.
Here I have for you my gift guide, hopefully it’s early enough for you to get some nice things for your family and friends. Tell me as well…are there things that you like to give to loved ones for the holidays?
Oh…and a few of these include a link to the Mercado Little Spain Shop, and many of you have a discount there—if you forget the code, go to the bottom of this email and you’ll see it!
So here we go!
Read
Well…who would I be if I didn’t recommend TWO books that I published with World Central Kitchen this year:
The World Central Kitchen Cookbook
I’m guessing (hoping!) that all of you have a copy of the book by now…so maybe now it’s time to get a copy for your friends! There are amazing recipes from chefs and cooks in almost 20 countries around the world, plus stories from many, many volunteers and friends who have worked with the organization since 2010.
I told you about this when it came out, but maybe you haven’t seen it yet? If not, get your copy and please tell me what you think!
Hungry Ghosts and Get Jiro, Anthony Bourdain
If you’re in the mood for comic books, you should definitely pick up a copy of my old friend Tony Bourdain’s Hungry Ghosts or Get Jiro. Tony was a super creative guy, and you don’t have to look any further than these crazy chef-horror stories to see it!
Juke Joints, Jazz Clubs, and Juice, Toni Tipton-Martin
Toni, who won the Julia Child Award in 2021, is an absolutely brilliant historian and researcher whose last cookbook Jubilee focused on Black culinary traditions throughout American history. This time, she’s focused on Black cocktails, with some really amazing research coming up with stories and drinks that will be new to many of us. Now that you’ve all stocked your bars, it’s time to see what Toni is mixing up!
Seafood Simple, Eric Ripert
Whatever you want to learn in life, you need to go to the best. If you want to learn how to cook seafood, there is absolutely no one better to learn from than my friend Eric…this book will absolutely change the way you cook.
Mas, he is truly a poet-farmer…he writes stories like he grows his peaches, each memory cared for and brought to life in beautiful, thoughtful detail. This book is an immigrant story both very personal to Mas and resonant with so many other immigrants around the world, inspiring and heartbreaking, a story of family, history, memory, and lifetimes of resilience.
Zaytinya Cookbook (pre-order)
You could wait until the book comes out to gift it to friends…but wouldn’t it be nicer to give them something to look forward to? Pre-order today, write them a nice little note, and they’ll have something to look forward to in March!!
Eat
Last year I told you about Masienda’s Tortilla Starter Kit, to make amazing homemade tortillas at home with Masienda’s heirloom corn (of course, this is the corn we use for our tortillas at Oyamel!). This year, I wanted to tell you about Masienda’s amazing beans from Oaxaca. Look at the colors! They cook so beautiful and meaty, they’re amazing on their own with just a little broth and some good bread, or you can cook them into a chili.
Live Purple Urchins from e-Fish
I love sea urchin. And I love an amazing sustainability story. My friend Jeff Tedmori from e-Fish tells me that these urchins are native to CA, but they're a real problem….when humans killed off a huge number of otters at the turn of the last century, the purple urchins no longer had a predator. As a result, they've blown up in numbers and decimated the kelp population, which is the keystone species in the area. So what Jeff is saying is that we need to eat these urchins to help the kelp and bring our oceans back to a healthy place! I will happily do that for the seas. The scallops are great too!
I said it last year, and I’ll say it again…we Spaniards have been eating tinned fish way before it was cool. If you want to go for an everyday option, go for sardines in olive oil or mussels in escabeche; if you want to try something unique, I absolutely love these razor clams. Until the end of today (Monday) you can get 10% off with the code JAMON10 on everything at the Mercado Little Spain shop!
I love to give this box to friends, especially ones who live far from the parts of the world where pink pineapples, yellow dragonfruits, and golden papayas grow.
I think this stuff is amazing. It adds flavor and depth to recipes in a way that people don’t even realize…they’ll give it a taste and think: José, what is that?? Burlap & Barrel does great sourcing of spices—this pepper is from a family farm in Indonesia, where it’s grown and fermented in the traditional way.
If you didn’t stock up on smoky complex pimentón after we talked about it a few weeks ago, now is the time to get yourself a tin and put the other two in the stockings of the people you love!
If you’ve had a salt air margarita, you know that it’s one of life’s most simple, perfect drinks. And you too can make it at home! The key ingredient to the salt air is sucro esters, which you can get (for yourself or a margarita-loving friend) at Modernist Pantry, along with anything else you might want to explore the world of modern, avant-garde cooking. Here’s the recipe.
Send someone one of the most amazing desserts of all time! And while you’re at it, make one for yourself…
I’ve told you about them before…and even if you’re not near one of my restaurants, you can still try the most incredible burger on earth.
Okay, so this one is really a gift for your four-legged friends…wouldn’t they love to wake up to some Mediterranean-inspired treats and food over the holidays? I can’t imagine any better way to tell them that you love them! Oh, and a portion of the proceeds of each bag is donated to World Central Kitchen.
Gift
Bar Tools
If you read my post last week, you saw all the ways to upgrade your bar. Time to make the upgrades, for yourself or someone you love! Here is the Yarai mixing glass, a fine mesh strainer, a cocktail shaker, and cocktail picks. If you’re buying bottles of alcohol to stock the bar, support your local liquor store!
I love the incredible porcelain from Sargadelos in the region of Galicia, the northwestern part of Spain. They have been around for more than 200 years, and the designs are representative of Galician history and culture. I have a coffee set at my house, and would love to keep adding to my collection!
While I’m talking about Spanish kitchenware, I can’t forget the iconic porrón! Bring it out at your holiday party and get the fun started…just make sure to fill it with white wine, sparkling, or clara (beer and lemonade)—really anything but red wine unless you have seasoned drinkers! (If you’re in New York City, you can pick one up at the shop at Mercado Little Spain.)
A gift subscription to The Chef’s List
This link will give you a 15% discount when you send The Chef’s List to a friend! If you know someone who likes to travel and eat, they will love to be in a community with people like them. This week we’re going to Athens, Greece!