Experiences make the most memorable gifts. The ultimate home cooking kit or interactive class is the perfect foodie gift and will give your loved one an experience they won’t soon forget. A class or kit won’t collect dust on the shelf either. This is a good alternative gift for the home cook in your life who is already level with kitchen staples like a Dutch oven, kitchen knife and good cookware. Also, most make for a very entertaining evening when Netflix the tail is almost dry.
Pre-assembled cooking kits and digital cooking tutorials are there to support all culinary endeavors, from paella to palomas. There are cocktail boxes for the energetic among us, complete kits for pastry chefs and others for making sushi or kvass. There are also options for interactive online cooking lessons that you can gift remotely and simply tastings for those who don’t like wearing an apron.
From the simple to the serious, these are the best cooking kits, home experiences and cooking lessons to gift.
A bakit box
For the baking curious, Bakit Box will ship all pre-measured ingredients (including perishables) to complete a baking project without having to go to the store or buy bulk ingredients you may not use again. Think meal kits, but for baking. You can subscribe to Bakit or spring for a stand-alone box to make batches of delicious sweets like churros or red bean mooncakes for about $25 each.
Cocktail Courier
These homemade cocktail kits are another holiday gift project for a budding mixologist. The service ships boxes of ingredients and garnishes for a variety of cocktails, including ready-made and seasonal selections like a Halloween-inspired Old Fashioned set or a birthday cake cocktail. You can choose the sets in different sizes and with or without a bottle of alcohol included.
Williams Sonoma
I made my first paella this year and it wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be. But it helps to have the right ingredients – bomba rice, paella spices – and a pan to cook and serve it. This set from Williams Sonoma has a lot of them for under $60.
Unusual goods
For the would-be baker, this hands-on kit has the essentials to get your sourdough starter started. Package includes three packets of instant sourdough, artisan salt (16 oz.), muslin cloth, matching dough scraper, and dough beater. In addition, there is a book of recipes for making very tasty baked goods.
Bean can
Bean Box is a coffee club, but they have some unique gift boxes. My pick goes to this coffee and chocolate tasting set. These two delights are truly a classic pairing on par with PB&J, and the sampler box includes four freshly roasted coffees (1.8 ounces each) paired with four artisan chocolates and tasting notes for each.
I’d say it’s hard to go wrong with this one.
A master class
Thomas Keller is the American chef with the most Michelin awards. In this in-depth video tutorial hosted by the MasterClass online portal, Keller walks you through some of the techniques that have made his restaurants, such as Per Se and The French Laundry, so iconic. Specifically, the download-and-rewatch course takes students through preparing fish and other seafood, sous vide cooking, and even some of Keller’s favorite desserts. Pair this MasterClass subscription with a real sous vide stick for the perfect themed cooking gift that’s sure to result in some delicious dishes.
So Tarot
The Tadka Tarot is not your typical deck of tarot cards. You will receive 28 illustrated cards that teach you how to cook more intuitively through the lens of traditional Indian ingredients, mostly vegetables and spices. Each card will dive into the flavor profile, so you’re not just following recipes, but learning how to create your own from scratch.
The deck alone costs $35. The complete $150 kit includes the deck, seven essential Indian spices and a masala dabba to store your new spices.
A master class
Speaking of great, in-depth cooking lessons, Yotam Ottolenghi also has a MasterClass course available. There may not be a working chef today who does a better job of preparing vegetables and legumes in interesting ways than Jotham. His course explores plant-based spreads and dips, including labneh, muhammara, and other delicious appetizers that are perfect for entertainers or homemakers.
View all MasterClass food and drink tutorials here. The subscription is $180 for the year and includes the entire library of classes in dozens of categories and practices.
Airbnb
These experiences may require you to leave the house, so I apologize in advance.
Food tours are by no means new, but the standard tasting tour and walking tour have certainly gotten better over the years. Since Airbnb launched its Experiences platform a few years ago, they’ve added thousands of options, including a tapas tour of Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter called “Tapalicious” ($90 on Airbnb.) Or if someone on your list is planning a jaunt to Mexico City, treat them to a street taco workshop by a local chef for only $27 per person.
There are countless food-based gift ideas to book through Airbnb in almost every major city on Earth. You can search by city and use dozens of other filters—drinks, meals, wellness, specific neighborhoods—so the perfect cooking class or food tour is waiting for you when it arrives.
The chef and the dish
Here’s all the fun and know-how of a private cooking class from world-class chefs, but from the privacy of your home or apartment. The Chef & The Dish brings Michelin-starred culinary masters into your kitchen via video chat from places like Italy, Japan, Singapore, Spain, New Orleans, Turkey and Thailand. Dinner will be great from now on. Classes for two start at $299, plus $50 for each additional person, making a class of four as cheap as $100 each.
You can also buy gift cards for cooking classes and let them choose the lesson themselves.
Amazon
If you are giving this book as a gift, it should come with a strong and clear disclaimer. Foraging and eating the food you find can be very dangerous. While it can be fun, it does require some professional guidance. Bradford Angier’s popular book teaches you to identify edible plants, fruits, berries, and nuts. This portable guide even explains how to find bird eggs for scrambling or catching edible insects.
There’s even a very short section on cannibalism etiquette. No, I’m not kidding.
You are receiving price alerts for For the curious forager in training
golden belly
The MakiMaki Sushi Set has everything you need to make fresh sushi at home. I mean everything, including slabs of sushi tuna, toro, hamachi, salmon and all the toppings. Making sushi turns out to be a lot of fun, satisfying, and a lot easier than I thought it would be. It’s a fun gift for DIY foodies that you can all enjoy together.
Bam Bamboo
This handy set includes all the kitchen tools needed to make a dim sum star, including steamer baskets, a wooden rolling pin, a wooden rolling pin, a dough scraper, a dough cutting ring, tongs, dumpling molds, silicone steamers and four pairs of wands.