Gourmet Buying Guide to Food, Tools, and Cookware
Cyber Monday Deals 2012 for Foodies
Cyber Monday is held every year following Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. Cyber Monday has become a huge day for online stores. This is a great opportunity for you to find fantastic deals on holiday gifts for your favorite foodie or cook. Many of these online shops have incredible deals for Cyber Monday. You can find gifts for everyone...
Best Places to Buy Gourmet Food Online
Looking for the best places to buy gourmet foods? Let me show you my favorite online stores for getting the best specialty foods at the best prices.
Best Places to Buy Kitchenware Online
Fancy cookware or kitchen tools aren't necessary to cook great food. They can, however, make your life a whole lot easier. Here are five of favorite online stores for kitchenware, in no particular order. So whether you're looking for a chef's knive or a cherry pitter or that whatchamacallit that does that thing, look here first. These shops...
Top 11 Places to Buy Edible Gift Baskets
Gourmet gift baskets make a wonderful gift any time of the year but are especially welcome around the holidays. Don't know what to give someone or short on time? Almost everyone loves and appreciates the gift of food. It's hard to go wrong. There are thousands of gift basket companies, a few good ones and a lot of not so good ones. Here are...
The Best Food of the Month Clubs
Why give a gift just once when you can give someone a gift every month of the year? Some of the most respectable producers of delicious foods out there offer incredible food-of-the-month clubs to fit every taste and budget. From gourmet chocolates to craft coffees to artisan bacon, homemade pies to farmhouse cheese to fresh seafood - there is a perfect food-of-the-month club for you or your favorite foodie. Here is a list of my favorites.
Where to Buy the Best Seafood
Finding great seafood can be more difficult than the actual cooking itself. If you live far from the ocean or in a small town, your choices can be very limited. Luckily, with modern shipping and online shopping, high quality seafood is available to everyone. But if you're looking for some great seafood, here are the companies I recommend.
Mail Order Gourmet Appetizers - Have Your Party Delivered
When planning a party, especially a large one, using prepared foods can be a huge time saver. Cooking for 5 or 6 people is one thing, but what about cooking for 12 or 20 or 50! Here are some companies that will deliver high quality appetizers right to your door. Just heat and serve.
The Top 5 Ice Cream Brands by Mail Order
Call me sentimental, but there is something amazing about walking into a shop where the ice cream is made by hand. Even the most mundane of flavors seems extraordinary compared to most of the stuff you find in the frozen food section of your local supermarket. Here are some of my favorite ice cream artisans.
What to Bring to the Party - Suggestions for a Gourmet Lover
If you have been invited to dinner or a party, but have not been asked to bring anything, you may still want to consider bringing a gift. The gift of drink or food is almost always appreciated. Even if your gift does not match well with the theme or flavors of the gathering, your small donation is highly unlikely to have any negative impact...
Best Online Wine Shops
A great meal is made even more memorable with a great bottle of wine - a bold Cabernet Sauvignon for that perfectly cooked steak, a great bottle of Shiraz to go with those sweet and spicy barbecued ribs, a beautiful Pinot Noir to enhance an earthy dish of mushroom risotto, a luscious, buttery Chardonnay for that grilled salmon, or a nice...
Drinking Chocolates
"Drinking Chocolates" are made from real chocolate as opposed to "Hot Cocoa" which is made from cocoa powder (the powdery remains of chocolate liquor after cocoa butter is removed). Drinking chocolates are not instant like hot cocoa. You must add hot milk, cream, or water . Because of the higher cocoa butter content, drinking chocolates will...
Places to Buy Gourmet Salts
All salts are not created equal! As most cooks know, using sea salt rather than iodized or kosher salt adds more flavor to a dish. Sea salts, however, come in a variety of flavors and colors. Experiment with different salts in your recipes and see what happens. For best results, many of these salts should be sprinkled lastly on a dish like a...
Gift Ideas for the Outdoor Gourmet Cook
Cooking outdoors, whether on your patio or deep in the woods, can create delicious foods as great as any restaurant kitchen. If you or someone you know loves cooking outside, here are some unique gift ideas that you are sure to love.
How to Shop for Gourmet Food
Shopping for gourmet foods can be very intimidating. Many products have labels in a foreign language and price variations that make no sense to the casual observer. How, then, is a consumer to make any rational buying decision without spending hours of preliminary research? Don't despair. Here are a few easy tips to reduce your stress and...
5 Vintage Cooking Gifts
Some kitchen tools just can't be improved upon. Many of them designed almost 200 years ago, are just as useful and reliable today as when they were first introduced. Not only fun to use, these items become kitchen essentials and are great for everyday cooking in the kitchen. Well-made out of superior materials, they will generally last a lifetime. Here are my picks for five vintage cooking tools you should make a part of your kitchen toolbox.
Where to Buy the Best Premium Meats - Beef, Pork, and Lamb
Butcher shops are almost nonexistent anymore and we are stuck with limited choices at our local supermarket. The only time we see the butcher is when he comes out of the back to restock the cooler. If you know of a good butcher in your city, make him your friend. If you can't find a real butcher locally, check these online shops for incredible...
Where To Buy Wild Game
A few decades ago wild game was a huge part of the average American's diet. As people moved away from the country and into the cities, however, we lost this connection to the land. Consumers relied more and more on factory farms and our meat choices were reduced to beef, pork, chicken, and lamb. Today several companies specialize in game meats and have made these once rare products readily available to consumers.
Edible Mushroom Varieties
There are many edible varieties of mushrooms, many of which are available at specialty shops, natural grocers, and from farmers markets. Many varieties are wild and are collected by mushroom hunters. These photos are intended to show you the different edible mushrooms out there and not to be used for identifying in the wild. Leave that to the...
Hug Your Local Butcher
The village butcher is a relic of the past, a memory for most Americans. In a country of fast food, online shopping, giant chain-supermarkets and mega-department stores, no one is willing to be inconvenienced by making a separate trip just to buy meat. The number of butcher shops in America is near extinction levels. Butcher shops thrive in other parts of the world, so why not here?
Thanksgiving Survival Guide from Gourmet Food
Thanksgiving is a wonderful time of the year; friends, family, food, cooking, eating, stress, stress, stress. If you are the host of this year's Thanksgiving gathering, you may be experiencing a little anxiety. How am I going to cook all this food? What if nobody likes my food? I need help! Although I can’t help you keep Aunt Martha out of...
Best Places to Buy Gourmet Cheeses Online
Gourmet cheeses are a world apart from the factory produced cheeses found in the chain supermarkets. Gourmet cheeses can be hard to find locally if you don't have a specialty market or cheese shop. Here are some online sources where you're sure to find some fantastic tasting cheeses.
Top 10 Places to Buy Restaurant Equipment
If you are starting a new food service business or have an existing one, having good, working equipment will make or break your establishment. Restaurant equipment is one of the biggest expenses for your business, choose wisely. The upfront cost is important but remember to calculate the cost of repairs or replacement in the years to come. Also, remember that large restaurant equipment's depreciation can be calculated into your financial statement.
Top 10 Chocolate Bunnies for Easter
What is Easter without a chocolate bunny rabbit? Among a basket of jellybeans, chocolate eggs, and marshmallow chickens, only the chocolate rabbit stands alone. Towering over the other treats, the bunny surveys all he sees and decides he is the most worthy of being eaten. Rightly so, but all bunnies are not created equal. For a truly gourmet...