It is that time of year when you start thinking about Christmas gifts. A study found, from a list of 25 most stressful things about the festive season, gift shopping, queuing in stores, and knowing what to get people came in the top five.

 

Gift buying should never be a chore. It should be a joy to think about someone else, and how your gift can put a smile on their face. If you’re buying for a good food appreciator (I have stopped saying ‘foodie’ which I find awfully cliché), then look at Sous Chef and thank me later.

 

Sous Chef is a website where food loving chefs, home-cooks and everyone else in between can get their fill of hard-to-get ingredients and good food.

 

The concept of Sous Chef is simple – stock exclusive, good quality products and cater for those who have a real passion for food. The website has a stonkingly good array of tableware, kitchen utensils, cookbooks, and ingredients that will make you want to weep tears of joy. I have my eye on the Loison Spiced Candied Pear Filone and will be placing an order by the time I have finished posting this.

 

I’ll be honest – I wasn’t in the know about the cult Sous Chef website until earlier this year, when I stumbled across Sous Chef when one of the Facebook groups repeatedly mentioned it.

 

Now, it is bookmarked on laptop of sites to browse when I need a pick-me-up.

 

 

I was fortunate to receive a care package from Sous Chef to review.

 

The box arrived with a patterned crepe paper covering, note from Holly the editor, and a hand-written signature by Julita, who the note said, had carefully packed the box. Opening the box felt like a gift, and it’s the small things like the inked signature, that make a difference.

Here is a video of me unboxing the products, which were packaged in cardboard, so recyclable and environmentally friendly.

 

 

 

Items in the box were a ramen bowl set, yuzu juice, and pistachio paste.

 

 

The ramen bowl set comprised of two beautiful midnight blue hued bowls, two ramen ladles, a Sous Chef Ramen Recipes Booklet, and a Sous Chef Drawstring gift bag. Another nice little touch, was the Japanese newspaper that the bowls were double-wrapped in. It made me want to start cooking Japanese food immediately. It was that same evening that I made a ramen dish of grilled salmon, yuzu dressed vegetables topped off with a drizzle of sriracha mayonnaise. I love the sweet citrussy tang of yuzu but have never cooked with it until now. Potent and moreish, all I used was four drops in the dressing (made by whisking olive oil and the yuzu into a pale emulsion), which I dunked the chopped vegetables into. I already had a recipe in mind when I cooked the salmon dish, and will be exploring the Sous Chef Ramen Recipes Booklet this weekend. Please do check back here to see more ramen recipes soon.

 

 

Pistachio is one of my favourite ingredients, and buying pistachio paste was on my to-do list this year. I forsee pistachio being ingredient du jour in 2020, so right now would be a good time to stock up on a jar and get ahead of the trend.

 

I haven’t opened my pistachio jar yet, because I am saving it for an indulgent New Year’s Eve treat, but I may well succumb to the pistachio paste and crack open the jar. I envisage dolloping a few liberal tablespoons of the paste into softly whipped double cream and slathering over a slice of warm brioche fresh from the grill. I have a brioche loaf sitting on my worktop, and I have double cream in the fridge, so who knows, I might well make this pistachio brioche treat as I have literally made myself hungry whilst writing this.

 

Sous Chef is a website where it is easy to while away a few hours stocking up your basket and dreaming of dishes to create. It is also a great resource for confused souls to buy loved ones culinary gifts to sate appetites.

 

Here are the links of products mentioned in the review, and some which I think might be of interest to you. I do hope you will check back to see the recipe of pistachio cream atop toasted brioche loaf.

 

https://www.souschef.co.uk/blogs/the-bureau-of-taste/what-is-ramen

https://www.souschef.co.uk/collections/gifts

https://www.souschef.co.uk/products/japanese-ramen-bowl-set

 

*Source: https://nypost.com/2017/12/21/festive-stress-is-ruining-americas-holiday-season/

*Care package from Sous Chef was gifted.

 

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