A SERIOUS KNIFE 

It’s something of an understatement to say that serious home chefs appreciate a good knife. You might not be in time to commission a bespoke knife from Roscommon company Smyths Knives (order early for next year!) but a Cook’s Knife with a beautiful 2.5 mm stainless steel blade, ultra -rare stabilised Irish oak burl handles, brass and copper handle pins, a total length blade of 12.5cm and a cutting edge of 6.5cm (the devil’s in the detail with knives!) should bring a glint to their eye! It comes with a smart solid elm display/presentation case. €279; www.smythsknives.com.  

THE THERMOMIX

A Thermomix has long been discussed in our house. The Man with a Pan is interested, having seen it at work in professional kitchens, the other (me!) sniggers and suggests piling all our kitchen equipment – from sous-vide machine to vacuum-sealer – on top of one another, with a lowly battered frying pan on top. Multi-level cooking! The Thermomix® TM6® is made with state-of-the-art technology, so it goes. Stir, mix, blend, chop, grind and knead. Cook your main, sides, and dessert on multi levels with different settings at the same time – slow-cook, steam, fry, caramelise, brown. Prepare to bake with weighing function, whip and whisk. To the original 20 different cooking functions are now added an egg boiler and warm-up, fermentation, thickening, sous-vide–ing, rice cooking, kettle and automatic blending function! Other complicating factors include WiFi connectivity for software updates and digital recipe platform Cookidoo – there’s even a Thermomix “community”. Not for me. But loads will love it. About €1,300; www.vowerk.ie.  

A COUNTERTOP GRILL  

Ok, this is a nice one. This I could use. A Nisbets Essential Contact Grill is a sturdy and professional-looking countertop grill for cooking steak, chicken breast, toasties and paninis. I like its Simple Controls for Dummies – on/off and a temperature dial – and think it looks much smarter than say, a George Foreman. I actually can’t quite believe the price and am already imagining the post-Christmas toasties we – and the kids! – can surely coax of out this machine. €125.99; www.nisbets.ie.  

THE PRO STEAMER  

If someone is planning to turn over a new leaf in January and start steaming, The Cuisinart CookFresh Professional Steamer is a nice little piece of kit – it also looks very elegant, so if you are sure you won’t offend by suggesting the recipient starts steaming, this is a very smart kitchen gift. €219.95; www.juicers.ie.   

KING OF THERMOMETERS 

We reached Peak Thermometer over two lockdown summers, as our barbecues and smokers worked overtime. The Man with a Pan loves a gadget and the The Meater Block (with either four or two wireless probes) is a smart phone-connected gizmo (you can also use it without) which walks you through the cooking process, with alerts for time and temperature and an Advanced Estimator Algorithm to estimate how long you need to cook and rest your food. The advantages – no wires from the thermometer and the app is genuinely easy to use. And the second two probes can be purchased separately, if you go for two to start. €299; www.store-eu.meater.com.  

A SOUS-VIDE COOKER

The Anova Precision Cooker is a brilliant wand-style cooking element which allows you to cook your vacuum-packed meat, fish or veg in any receptacle at all, a plastic box, a deep casserole. Just set the temperature and plunge the cooker in, affixing to the side of the vessel. €214.50 (reduced from €429); www.anovoculinary.com.

THE MONSTER MANDOLINE

Bob Toal of Triggerfish Cookshop in Blackrock in Co Dublin calls the De Buyer Mandoline Revolution Master “The Daddy of all Mandolines” and it is a beast! If they have space to store it, it’s a wonderful gift for anyone who loves creating beautifully presented dishes. A double horizontal blade, scalloped and fluted to cut all types of fruits and vegetables, six sizes of julienne combs, an extra-long pusher for long vegetables or fruit, giant chips, carrot sticks, courgette chips, vegetable tagliatelle and a round pusher for easy and smooth cutting of cubes and lozenges and smooth or wavy round slices means hours of fun and Instagram-ready presentation. Everything is top-quality stainless steel. €330; www.triggerfishcookshop.ie. (If this is too big a commitment to time and space, the Man with a Pan was very happy with the much more modestly priced (€64) Japanese Benriner mandoline which Bob also stocks. As long as the celeriac remoulade keeps coming, I’m happy with it too.)

YOUR MEAT’S IN THE MAIL

Vegans and vegetarians look away now. Perhaps Christmas is not the best time to be talking about consuming reindeer! But, assured that this is a present meat-minded chefs will love, I am suggesting venison from sustainably managed Coopers Hill Farm in Sligo from whence you can order a full butchered deer to be delivered to your Viking friend. The delivery includes 5kg of shoulder meat, 10kg of haunch, 3kg of saddle and half a kilo of fillet. Check that the recipient has a decent-sized freezer or go for the smaller options included steaks and fillet. Call 087 792 8789 or email venison@coopershill.com.

THE CHOPPING BOARD

Caulfield Country Boards is a small family-run Irish business in Carnaross, Co Meath, making chopping and serving boards from beautiful, sustainably sourced hardwoods. The Native Collection is a collection of hand-manufactured boards made from home-grown, hardwood beech and features original illustrations of native Irish species, including the stag, robin, hare, owl, mouse and salmon. I love how the wily Red Fox is rendered in wood. From €50; www.caulfieldcountryboards.ie.

A BOOK BY DAVID CHANG

It’s hard not to like Korean-American bad-boy chef David Chang, founder of the Momofuku restaurants (all over the world) who snuffled and gorged his way through Netflix series Ugly Delicious and Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. Confined to barracks with his wife and toddler during lockdown, Chang, often cooking with the most mundane of ingredients, became one of the most-watched chefs on Instagram. With cooking options limited, he learned to love his microwave, proving with delicious irony that necessity is always the mother of invention, and too many gadgets don’t necessarily a great chef make. Cooking at Home Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying About Recipes (And Love My Microwave): A Cookbook, David Chang, Penguin, about €22; order at your local bookshop.