The Pantry Dispatch
Guides to the foods, makers and techniques behind what we stock.
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Kitchen Know-How
Spices for Chili: The Core Five and When to Add Them
The five spices that carry a pot of chili (dried chile, cumin, oregano, chipotle and bay leaf), how much two university extension...
Buying Guide
Gifts for Foodie Couples Who Cook and Pour Together
Four gift sets for a couple who cooks and eats together: a pasta night, a tinned fish tasting for two, a cocktail...
Kitchen Know-How
European Snacks to Buy, From Prato Biscotti to Danish Licorice
European snacks sorted by country: biscotti, amaretti and pastilles from Italy, anise pastilles and nougat from France, licorice from Denmark, Swedish candy,...
Buying Guide
Wedding Favor Gift Ideas Guests Will Eat, Not Leave Behind
Edible wedding favors priced per guest: honey straws, French anise pastilles, Italian fruit pastilles and a mini chocolate bar, with what each...
Buying Guide
Gifts for Japanese Food Lovers, From Yuzu to Sencha
Four gift sets for someone who cooks and eats Japanese food: yuzu seasonings and katsuobushi, sencha and genmaicha, matcha, and a few...
Buying Guide
Linen Napkins Gift Guide: Dinner and Cocktail Napkins
Napkins are a host gift that gets used at the next dinner. Embroidered linen dinner napkins from Coral & Tusk, cotton cocktail...
Buying Guide
Holiday Gifts for Nurses That Survive a Twelve-Hour Shift
A food gift for a nursing unit gets shared by people you may never meet, across day and night shifts. Sealed, labeled,...
Buying Guide
Holiday Gifts for Family: One Food Gift for the Household
One gift for a whole household is easier to choose than six small ones. Four boxes built around a family occasion, breakfast,...
Buying Guide
Edible Birthday Gifts for the Person Who Has Everything
A birthday gift that gets eaten leaves no clutter behind. Craft chocolate for the sweet tooth, tinned fish and crackers for the...
Buying Guide
Christmas Gifts for Teens Who Snack, Sketch or Cook
Teens are hard to buy for until you watch what they already do. Swedish candy for the snacker, hot chocolate for cold...
Buying Guide
Seasoning Gift Sets: How to Choose One a Cook Will Use
A seasoning gift set gets used when it matches how the person already cooks. What to check on the label, how long...
Buying Guide
Gifts for French Food Lovers, From Dijon to Paris
A gift for someone who loves French food reads well when it names a place. Mustard from a stone mill in Beaune,...
Buying Guide
Edible Gifts to Make From the Pantry in an Afternoon
Six edible gifts to make in one afternoon, all dry or set chocolate so they travel and keep: two spiced sugars, a...
Buying Guide
Christmas Gifts for New Moms That Need No Cooking
A new mom's first Christmas runs on odd hours and one free hand. Food gifts that need no cooking and no fridge:...
Buying Guide
Edible Gifts for Kids: Candy, Cocoa and a Project
A food gift for a child works when a parent would say yes to it. Swedish candy, hot chocolate, honey straws for...
Buying Guide
Holiday Gifts for Friends Who Love Good Food
A holiday gift for a friend should feel personal without turning into a project. Food gifts at about $15, $30 and $60,...
Buying Guide
Christmas Gifts for Her From a Fine Food Shop
The easiest Christmas gift for her starts with something she already reaches for. Pairs for the tea drinker, the chocolate lover, the...
Buying Guide
Gift Basket vs Hamper: The Difference and Which to Send
A hamper is a basket, but not every gift basket is a hamper. What the two words mean, where the British food...
Buying Guide
Journal Gift Ideas for Her, and for Anyone Who Writes
A journal gift works when the notebook, the pen and the person match. Four kinds of writers, the diarist, the list keeper,...
Buying Guide
Edible Gifts for Men Who Say They Want Nothing
A man who says he wants nothing usually means he does not want more stuff. Food solves that: it gets opened, eaten...
Buying Guide
Cookie Gift Box: What to Bake and How to Pack It
A cookie gift box works when the cookies are sturdy, packed tight and eaten while they are good. Which cookies to bake,...
Kitchen Know-How
What Is a Pantry Staple? A Definition and a Working List
A pantry staple is a shelf-stable ingredient you use often enough to keep on hand and replace before it runs out. The...
Kitchen Know-How
Olive Oil for Bread: A Dipping Oil Recipe and Ratios
A dipping oil for bread is a ratio, not a secret. A base recipe per quarter cup of oil, four variations, how...
Kitchen Know-How
How to Use Polenta in Baking: Cakes, Crumbs and Crust
Polenta in a bake gives crunch and a sunny crumb, and the grind decides how much. Fine vs coarse meal, an olive...
Buying Guide
Last Minute Food Gifts That Do Not Look Last Minute
A last minute food gift looks planned when it has three parts: a jar, a bar and a tin, wrapped together. Three...
Buying Guide
Gifts for Mom Who Cooks, Beyond Another Apron
A mom who cooks for everyone rarely buys the good bottle for herself. Gifts sorted by how she cooks: a finishing oil...
Buying Guide
Christmas Gifts for Chefs and Serious Home Cooks
A cook who takes food seriously already owns the knives. The gift is the ingredient they would not splurge on: a balsamic...
Buying Guide
Christmas Gifts for Bakers: Vanilla, Cocoa and Salt
Most gift lists for bakers are tools, and a baker who bakes already owns them. What runs out is the vanilla, the...
Kitchen Know-How
How to Build a Foodie Advent Calendar for Adults
A foodie advent calendar does not have to come in a printed box. Twenty-four small things to eat, packed in numbered bags,...
Buying Guide
Gifts for Grandparents Who Say They Need Nothing
Grandparents who say they need nothing usually mean they have no room for more things. Give what gets used up: a tin...
Buying Guide
Gifts for Dad Who Cooks, from Grill to Pantry
A dad who cooks already owns the pans. What he uses up is the seasoning: a rub for the grill, a jar...
Buying Guide
Secret Santa Gifts for Adults, by Spending Limit
Secret Santa hands each giver one named person and a fixed limit, often for a coworker known by name and not much...
Buying Guide
Christmas Gifts for Cocktail Lovers Who Have the Bottles
A cocktail lover already owns the spirits they like. The gift that gets used is what goes beside the bottles: a new...
Buying Guide
White Elephant Gift Ideas for Adults That Get Stolen
The white elephant gift that wins is the one that changes hands three times, and food is good at that: everyone can...
Buying Guide
Sympathy Gift Basket Ideas That Feed the Household
In the first days after a death, a household is fed by everyone, and the fridge fills. A few weeks later the...
Buying Guide
Get Well Gift Basket Ideas for Someone Resting at Home
Someone recovering at home has a lot of time and not much appetite. A get well basket that fits: caffeine-free tea for...
Buying Guide
Drink Gift Basket Ideas Without a Bottle of Wine
A drink basket does not need a bottle of wine. Four baskets built for four kinds of drinker: the tea drinker, the...
Buying Guide
Hanukkah Food Gifts for Eight Nights
Eight nights means eight small gifts, not one large one. A plan for adults: a finishing olive oil for the cook, a...
Buying Guide
Spanish Food Gift Ideas, from Conservas to Jamón
The person who misses Spain does not miss a souvenir. They miss the tin opened at the bar before lunch, the Sunday...
Buying Guide
Christmas Gifts for Teachers That Leave the Classroom
A teacher at Christmas receives a desk full of mugs and classroom supplies. A good teacher gift is for the person who...
Buying Guide
Italian Gift Basket Ideas, Region by Region
An Italian gift basket works when it has a place behind it. Four baskets, each from one region: pasta and sugo from...
Buying Guide
Thanksgiving Gift Basket Ideas for the Host and the Day After
A Thanksgiving basket is not a Christmas basket a month early. It goes to a host who has cooked for two days,...
Buying Guide
Holiday Gifts for Employees and Coworkers That Get Eaten
An office holiday gift is two different problems: what a manager gives a team, and what coworkers give each other. A shared...
Buying Guide
Christmas Gifts for Neighbors, Small Enough to Make a Dozen
A neighbor gift is rarely one gift. It is eight or twelve of the same small thing, left on doorsteps in the...
Kitchen Know-How
Stocking Stuffers for Adults Who Cook, Pour and Snack
A good adult stocking holds things that are small, sealed and used up by spring: a tin of sardines, a bar of...
Buying Guide
Client Gifts in Denver: The Limits, the Budget and the Box
Before a Denver firm chooses a client gift, it has to know who the client is. A $25 tax line applies to...
Buying Guide
Sencha vs Genmaicha: Which Japanese Green Tea to Buy
Sencha is one of the most widely drunk green teas in Japan, made of rolled leaves; genmaicha is green tea mixed with...
Buying Guide
Marco Polo vs Earl Grey French Blue: Which Tea to Buy
Both are scented black teas from the same Paris house, brewed at the same numbers, and they could hardly smell more different....
Buying Guide
Dark Milk vs Milk Chocolate vs Dark: How to Choose a Bar
Dark milk chocolate sits between the two bars most people know: milk chocolate with a dark chocolate's cocoa percentage. What the U.S....
Buying Guide
Graza Drizzle vs Sizzle: Early or Late Harvest Olive Oil
Graza's two squeeze bottles come from the same olive variety grown in the same place. What separates them is when the olives...
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