Want menus, recipes, and more tips? Visit Cook’s Illustrated Best Holiday Guide:
Lisa McManus, the Gadget Guru, presents the test kitchen’s picks for top gifts this year. They’re impressed us during equipment testing and proved their worth through the years. We trust these videos make your holiday or Christmas shopping easier for the food and cooking fans on your gift list. In Part 3, we share our picks for food processors, tea machines, and carbon-steel knives.
Links to equipment and our reviews:
Cuisinart Custom 14 Food Processor:
Read our review:
Breville Tea Maker:
Read our review:
Bob Kramer 8″ Carbon Steel Chef’s Knife by Zwilling J.A. Henckels:
Read our review:
Watch Gift Guide Part 1:
Watch Gift Guide Part 2:
Cook’s Illustrated Best Holiday Guide:
19 Comments
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I really wonder how you choose the models to test. There are hundreds of options out there…how do you narrow it down?
If I know they cook I give an AccuSharp knife sharpener for $10.00. I have never given one where they didn't mention what a great gift it is. I have given about a dozen over the years.
👍👏👏👏
Oh, and I'm surprised it took them this long to realize that a high carbon steel bladed knife works better than your average stainless steel blade. Stainless might not rust easily, but it does get dull fast. HCS blades are harder and keep an edge longer than SS, but they do rust if you don't take care of them properly! Always wash them by hand, and dry them thoroughly immediately after washing.
The sound is bad on this one. I've got the computer volume maxed out and it's still low and some what muffled. I don't know who's responsible for sound on these videos, but they are consistently low, with some being worse than others. They have got to update their stuff or trouble shoot their issue.
I drink tea nearly every day. I don't need a fancy "tea maker" like that. Keeps tea warm for hours? Ew, tea loses it's flavor just after a short while and becomes bitter if it sits around. No thanks. I just make one cup and that's it. No need for a pitcher of tea.
This is slightly questionable since they also recommended the Breville blender. They do make great products but this is starting to sound a bit more like a brand promotional bias here hmmmm
One word…expensive.
I laughed mightily the first time I saw one of those hyper expensive tea makers. I do a lot of cooking and a lot of baking and do so with these expensive gadgets.
I like that test kitchen does ratings and comparisons, even for things that don't interest me.
I like high carbon steel for blades but the prices for knives is often ridiculous and does not relate to the cost of materials or workmanship. Often you are paying for a name, not a superior product.
The prices the list are complete bullshit
LOL!
"And whole chicken seemed to butcher themselves." I don't know why I'm laughing this hard, but can you just imagine?
Yes, Christmas.
I will stick to my Wusthof Classic and Victorinox knives. As for electric tea maker? I wonder what Japanese, Korean, Chinese people would think about it. After all they know how to prepare a perfect cup of tea.
I love my breville tea maker! I've had mine for 2 years and use it multiple times per week. I was hesitant because of the price, but got an open box from Amazon at a discount. I drink different teas, which require different temps and different times for steep. This also makes it so easy when I get distracted with getting the kids out the door for school. No more bitter tea from over steeping, and no more cold tea from forgetting about the pot. This will keep the tea at the right temp for an hour after steeping. Totally worth the cost for tea drinkers.
I am not able to find the cuisinart food processor for less than $199. where can I find it for 160?
"Wears like iron." Let's hope not, since steel should be much less ductile than iron.
wow, the two things that I actually want… are worth a fortune… tea maker and the knife…. uff
That tea maker was pretty cool. Generally I hate single-purpose devices like that, and I've never understood why anyone would want something tea specific when a normal kettle does the job. But when this thing actually lowers the tea basket down then it might actually be worth it, if you drink tea all the time
Hmmm, that knife is no longer available on amazon.