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Christmas Gifts for Beginning Home Cooks

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Gifts for the New Chef-in-Training

Do you know someone who is just becoming interested in seriously learning how to cook? Perhaps a son or daughter, living on their own for the first time at college. Someone who recently got married and wants to learn to cook better for their spouse. Or anyone else who simply reached a point of being tired of living on restaurant food, takeout and frozen dinners.

This gift guide is here to help you out with some terrific gift ideas for that budding home chef. Presented here are numerous cookbooks, kitchen gadgets, small appliances and other items that will help that new cook become inspired, prepare better meals, and learn how wonderful and fun cooking can be. I've selected them from my many years of home cooking experience and they are items I know have helped turn me from someone who could just barely boil water for pasta into someone who now loves to cook and hold elaborate dinner parties. So why not take a look through the products listed below - you'll surely find something that would make a wonderful holiday gift - or any-time-of-the-year present as well!

Photo credit: mconnors on morguefile

Table of Contents

  1. How Do You Feel About Cooking?
  2. Best Cookbooks for New Cooks
  3. More of My Favorite Cookbooks
  4. Basic Tools and Cookware for the Beginning Chef
  5. More Basic and Useful Kitchen Tools
  6. Spices, Seasonings and More for a New Chef
  7. Good Eats: The Complete First Season on DVD
  8. If You Could Buy Just One Thing For A New Home Chef...
  9. Home Cooking "Stocking Stuffers" on Ebay
  10. What people are saying on Twitter about home cooking
  11. Check Out More of My Holiday Pages
  12. What's Your Recommendation for a New Chef?
  13. About Me

How Do You Feel About Cooking?

Photo: maxstraeten on morguefile

As you a "Master Chef" or a master of the take-out menu? Sound off on how you feel about home cooking!

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Best Cookbooks for New Cooks

Great Basic Books on Cooking

Of course, any new chef needs some good cookbooks, and it can be very difficult for that person know where to even begin. The bookstore shelves are overflowing with new cookbook titles every day - which ones to chose? Some look very pretty and exciting but are not well-written or easy to follow for a novice chef.

The cookbooks listed below are some that I believe are wonderful - if not absolutely essential - for a beginning home chef. Any of these titles would make for an excellent gift for a new cook.
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More of My Favorite Cookbooks

Other Great Ideas for a New Chef

Want more cookbook recommendations? Then check out my list of my Top 10 Favorite Cookbooks of all time. Many of these are also great titles for a new chef.
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Basic Tools and Cookware for the Beginning Chef

Essentials for the Home Kitchen

It's time for that new home chef to get serious about her cookware. Time to throw out cheap, worn out pots and pans from the Goodwill store, or cheap non-stick pans that are actually a hazard to use if their coating is worn and scratched. Help that new chef learn how the right tools make cooking that much more fun and easy at home.
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More Basic and Useful Kitchen Tools

Get That Home Chef Started Right

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Spices, Seasonings and More for a New Chef

Help Them Kick It Up a Notch with These Products

Learning to season well is an important part of becoming a great chef. Here are some products to help the budding Master Chef make average food taste extra special.
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Good Eats: The Complete First Season on DVD

For every sale from Amazon on this page, Squidoo donates $1 to Room to Read

Alton Brown is a hero of many who have discovered, through his fun and engaging television series, the science behind good cooking. So why not gift a new chef with the first season of his television series, still considered the best by many? These episodes make for fun as well as educational viewing.
Good Eats: The Complete First Season

Good Eats: The Complete First Season

Amazon Price: $45.88 (as of 05/30/2012)Buy Now
List Price:

Many cooking basics are covered in this first season, including preparing steak, potatoes, eggs, dough, ice cream, turkey, roast chicken, gravy, rice, fish, chocolate mousse and that classic, French Onion Soup. Armed with this information, almost anyone can become a home "Iron Chef"!

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If You Could Buy Just One Thing For A New Home Chef...

What Would It Be?

What do you think is the single most important, basic tool or cookbook that a new home chef should have?

Home Cooking "Stocking Stuffers" on Ebay

For every sale we donate $1 to Room to Read

Still stuck for gift ideas? Check out these home cooking-related auctions on Ebay, each with a current bid under $25. You never know what you might find!
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Check Out More of My Holiday Pages

Looking for more gift guides and ideas? Or other subjects related to the holiday season? Then check out the rest of my winter holiday lenses on Squidoo.
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What's Your Recommendation for a New Chef?

Happy holidays!

Got any other products or books you recommend for a beginning chef? Feel free to leave them here, and thanks for visiting my gift guide. I hope you got some ideas for good gifts for this Christmas season.

  • ItayasDesigns Apr 20, 2012 @ 12:54 pm | delete
    When I was learning to cook the Better Homes And Garden Cookbook was a standard in the kitchen. It covers pretty much everything and will provide endless recipes to experiment with. :)
  • sousababy Dec 11, 2011 @ 10:21 pm | delete
    Alton Brown is fabulous - he really inspired my man-servant to cook (and do so in a germ-a-phobic manner too). His books are great and I love watching him on the Food Network (his skits are so funny). Oh and I want that big white chicken of his. Thank you for such a great lens - I am learning to cook gluten-free (dietary restrictions in my family) and I am loving it (so far).
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About Me

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I'm a self-proclaimed Jane of All Trades who has written for numerous sites on-line including the Yahoo!Contributor Network, Demand Studios and Suite101.... more »

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