Floyd Cardoz
Chef-partner of Paowalla in New York. Culinary director and partner at O Pedro and The Bombay Canteen in Mumbai. Author of One Spice, Two Spice and Flavorwalla
Bowmore 15, single malt scotch; I love the smokiness and the smooth finish. It can be enjoyed both as an aperitif or as an after dinner drink.
Authentic home-made Goan sausages (smoked over the fire at home). There is nothing as delicious as home-made. The uses are endless, and it’s better than gold.
Truffle Honey; I love the way it works with cheese, especially blue cheese. It makes every cheese plate better.
Chef Thomas Zacharias
Chef-partner at The Bombay Canteen
A heavy-duty cast iron pan to add to my collection of kitchenware at home.
A nice boozy Christmas cake like the one my grandmom used to make, because what’s a Christmas without cake?
A bottle of Gin Mare (a premium Spanish gin made in the small fishing town of Vilanova, about an hour’s drive from Barcelona) and Tanqueray No Ten gin to share over good food and great conversations with friends.
Manisha Bhasin
Senior executive chef at ITC Maurya
Wheel work at Bklyn Clay, a community ceramics space, in New York, Oct. 17, 2017. Confounded by work, politics or just too much digital activity, anxious New Yorkers are turning to crafts as a balm and a corrective. (Adrienne Grunwald/The New York Times)
My own terrace garden, as I have always loved to grow my own vegetables and herbs. Because I believe in clean, organic produce. And I enjoy cooking with ingredients that are local and seasonal.
Fast-track pottery classes. I’m on a wait list right now to join a Delhi pottery club! It’s a creative medium, like food. And I think it’s important to have interests outside your profession — it adds another dimension to your work.
Artisan Indian kitchen vessels, just like the ones my grandmother used: typical Punjabi degchis and pateelas . They’re seasoned, heavy and therefore great for slow-cooking.
Plan to gift a book this year?
Manu Chandra (Chef-partner at Toast & Tonic, Monkey Bar, The Fatty Bao, Olive Beach) has put together a list that offers something for even the pickiest food snob.
The Angry Chef by Anthony Warner
This is a must-gift book, irrespective of occasion. If we’d been searching for someone to come along and nearly dethrone Bourdain from his sarcasm-fuelled, witty yet solidly-researched perch, then Chef Warner is the man who can make you rethink food, eating and pseudo health choices completely.
A Square Meal by Jane Ziegelman and Andrew Coe
A fascinating insight into how socio-economic circumstances have a huge role to play in the way our kitchens and food habits take shape. With great research into the foundation of modern American kitchens as we know them today. It also, at some level, puts into perspective how this quest for freshness in everything is a relatively new phenomenon; and not in fact how our ancestors always ate (or the American ancestors anyway).
The Hungry Empire by Lizzie Collingham
There was a lot more to colonisation than just the dominance geographically. The establishment of the Empire opened up confluences of food cultures in a rapid and effectual way. It’s nearly impossible to eat a meal today without the shadow of influence that the Empire created through trade and movement of food and ingredients across the world.
Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World by Mark Kurlansky
Mark Kurlansky is a masterful story teller on single, clean subjects. Spanning nearly a 1,000 years, the history of how a humble fish sparked wars, exploration, the means to discover new lands and sustained civilisations is utterly fascinating. The Basque History of the World and Salt are also books by him that are a must-read. (Now you can tell that my history education didn’t go to seed.)
The Food Lab by J Kenji Lopez-Alt
I’m a notorious non-cookbook reader. In fact, most of the ones I own, came as gifts; many still unread. But then there is Kenji. His extremely successful blog/website — where food and processes are broken down beautifully, experiments explained and comparatives done — is a more handy guide to any cook than a cookbook alone. It’s a fun read, and one that’s bound to make a better cook of you.
Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat
This is a book I suggest my chefs read. Samin is an amazing teacher, and the book takes readers on a very personal journey of how she herself came to become a fantastic cook. It’s a process: the discovery of taste, the development of flavour and the ability to respect and appreciate food in the kind of light that is fast fading from the kitchens of today.
