Q: As someone who lives with a bona fide geek boyfriend (computer programmer) who also happens to be as geeky gifted in the kitchen and cooks for us daily, I was wondering if you'd offer me any cooking/kitchen related gifts that might bridge the two worlds for the sake of his birthday present.
Sent by Paige
Editor - We just recently got introduced to these Error kitchen tea towel designs from the Netherlands by Pieke Bergmans, with the pattern composed of graphical irregularities that appear when something goes awry on a computer screen (we haven't seen something like this since the days of Photoshop 3.0). There are 6 different designs and they're subtle enough to be pleasingly decorative, while also giving a wink-wink detail to those who take a closer look.
If your partner is also inclined to enjoy the occasional or regular libation, this Cocktail Chemistry Set offered at ThinkGeek will likely appeal to his mad scientist inclinations. Because drinking anything from an Erlenmeyer Flask seems that much more interesting (reenactment of scientist turning into monster upon drinking secret formula is required at least once).
There's also this Space Invaders Cutting Board, while a tad expensive, is likely to appeal to his geekier side, while also being extremely useful for daily cooking duty.
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I'm a programmer (for AT) and a I love to cook, so consider me your target demo. :)
My wife recently bought me some gear to do sous vide at home in our crock pot. "sous vide" is part of the scientific cooking trend; a technique where you cook food in a water bath at a controlled temperature to achieve perfectly cooked meats/fish/veggies/etc.
The key to my setup is this controller which can be used with a slow cooker/crock pot or with a rice cooker (cheaper or commercial cookers are better than fancier home models). She also picked up a Food Saver (to vacuum pack the food to be cooked) and a small propane torch (for searing meat after cooking). The controller is a lot cheaper and smaller than a dedicated device like the Sous Vide Supreme.
Anyway, it totally appealed to my gadget and programmer control-freak side and has been surprisingly more practical than I expected it to be as a kitchn technique.
Great book - What Einstein Told His Cook: Kitchen Science Explained by Robert Wolke.
Well, I'm a programmer and an enthusiastic cook.
Since I work with technology the whole day... in the kitchen I prefer to keep it simple. The things that get me most excited are a good Staub cast-iron (or Le Creuset), an AllClad pan or a good cutting board (the space invaders one was nice).
You can always give him an edition of McGee's "On Food and Cooking". That's a bit more nerdy.
As a reformed programmer but current geek cook might I suggest getting him a homebrewing starter kit. Homebrewing beer combines cooking and science.
http://www.uncrate.com/men/entertainment/books/cooking-for-geeks/
Cooking for Geeks! It is a new book, and I have read some really great reviews for it.
Just curious - what is the source of the images at the top of the post? I really like them.
Twinkle, there is a link at the top to the images (the error tea towels). :-)
Thinkgeek has a cool intro-to-molecular-gastronomy kit. You can probably get all the pieces somewhere else for cheaper, if you just wanted to use it as a checklist:
http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/kitchen/c2b1/
Cookie cutters in the shapes of beakers, flasks, atoms, and test tubes, as seen on http://notsohumblepie.blogspot.com/
Lots of stuff from a company called Fred & Friends (most available on Amazon) - in particular, I like the Equal measure measuring cup, which is a liquid measure that looks like a beaker and equates measurements (cups, ounces, mls) to things like "volume of half a human brain" and "150,000 poppy seeds"