SpiceLines

For spice-loving cooks with unrequited wanderlust, here are 9 stylish, not-too-costly gifts that say, “Darling! I’ve given lots of thought to your innermost cravings. Now go have fun!” And you, meanwhile, can spend all the pennies you’ve saved (and then some) on a fabulous Lindsey Thornburg cloak, which naturally you will wear trekking through the Marais in search of vanilla bean crocodiles from Madagascar.

Now, let’s go shopping!

1. OK, maybe 2009 will not be the year to spend 13 days exploring The Hidden Tribes of China ($6,495, geox.com) but any homebound cook who gets Beyond the Great Wall ($26.40, amazon.com), will warm to Jeffry Alford’s and Naomi Duguid’s culinary tour of “the other China.” The authors (oh so tantalizingly profiled in The New Yorker’s November 24, 2008 food issue) have a life to envy: traveling the world with camera and pen in hand, this time they’ve nibbled their way through Tibet and Central Asia, bringing back gorgeous photographs and flavor-packed recipes. Mark the page for Dai Chile-Fish Soup with Flavored Oil, add a jar of Tien-Tsin red peppers ($2.35/2 oz.,savoryspiceshop.com) and pray for a dinner invite.

2. There’s no one who writes about Chinese food quite like British journalist Fuschia Dunlop. Here she is on stir-fried rabbit heads: “I won’t begin to describe the silky richness of the flesh along the jaw, the melting softness of the eyeball, the luxuriant smoothness of the brain…”

In Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper ($16.47, amazon.com), Dunlop draws you into her 14-year obsession with Sichuanese cuisine and later with the foods of Hunan, Xinjiang and Fujian. Never one to turn down a taste of something rubbery or squishy, she tracks the evolution of her appetites from her first taste of hui guo rou (“fat pork stir-fried with Chinese leeks in an indescribably delicious chilli bean sauce”) in Chengdu to her final stare-down with a live caterpillar in her parents’ Oxford kitchen. In between, she ruminates about Chinese attitudes towards the foods they eat and ultimately about the character of the people themselves.

For a really memorable gift, wrap Dunlop’s memoir with a bag of rare green Sichuan peppercorns ($24.00/8 oz., le-sanctuaire.com); bookmark the recipe for Qingxi Red-Braised Beef Hotpot, which calls for a tablespoon of the fizzy, tongue-numbing spice.

3. It’s possible to pinch pennies and still offer culinary friends a transporting experience. One way is to put together a “flight” of a single spice that explores flavor nuances of variety and terroir. For less than $20 (penzys.com), for instance, you can give four different types of “cinnamon”--powdered and in sticks or chunks—ranging from warm, woody Ceylon cinnamon, with hints of citrus and clove, to powerfully aromatic, “hot” Vietnamese cassia (a.k.a. the “other cinnamon”). Oh, yes, and while you’re at it, why not launch this cinnamon adventure with a ribbon-tied sheaf of SpiceLines recipes for Indian-Spiced Sweet Potatoes with Kashmiri Chilies, Turmeric and Cassia, and Butternut Squash Soup with Ceylon Cinnamon, Smoky Paprika and Orange Zest. (All free, of course, but please credit this blog, www.spicelines.com.)

4. Saffron is the world’s most costly spice—it takes 150,000 crocuses to produce 1 kilo—but with Les Grandes Safrans du Monde (68.04Eur, lecomptoirdespoivres.com) you can give someone special a saffron world tour that won’t empty the pocketbook. Gerard Vives, a Marseilles-based spice hunter, has assembled five vials of fragrant red threads from Greece, Morocco, Spain, Iran and Kashmir in a handsome wooden coffret. Uncork a glass tube from Kashmir: the scent is floral, with hints of acidity; then sniff the saffron from Spain: the aroma is deeper, darker, almost redolent of tobacco. (You could spend hours just inhaling the slight differences.) Vives is also a chef and he includes a sheet of recipe suggestions, such as chilled oranges bathed in a sweet syrup of Spanish saffron, with a “jam” of green olives.

5. Artisanal soy sauces are lovely, especially if you’re creating a gift for a cook with an acute sense of taste. Start with Kishibori Shoyu ($15, deandeluca.com), beautifully wrapped (already!) in crinkly white paper with black Japanese calligraphy. This exquisite soy sauce, from the small island of Shodoshima in the Seto Inland Sea, is made of steamed soybeans toasted wheat, salt and mineral water that are left to ferment in cider barrels for one year. The slow fermentation produces complex organic acids; for you, that means a rich, deep umami flavor so good that it’s almost drinkable. Maybe a thimbleful.

For contrast, add a bottle of Yamasin Shiro Shoyu ($6.99, cortibros.biz), a white soy sauce, made mostly from wheat and a few soybeans in Aichi prefecture, with a light, mellow flavor that’s ideal for delicate dishes. Finish up with Bluegrass Soy Sauce ($5/5oz., bourbonbarrelfoods.com), a meaty, slightly smoky elixir made in Kentucky from non-GMO soybeans and limestone-filtered spring water. This small batch soy sauce, brewed and aged in bourbon barrels, is savory and a little sweet, perfect for dipping slices of rare-grilled steak.

6. Techies will have to wait for an affordable immersion cooker, but in the meantime there’s the Cuisinart Spice and Nut Grinder ($39.99, chefscatalog.com). I love my Krups for grinding single spices, but anyone who’s making ras-el-hanout with a dozen or more spices, would certainly appreciate the capacious cup on this easy-to-operate machine. It’s also good at grinding tough stuff like nutmeg and cassia bark to a fine powder and makes your kitchen smell delectably like a bazaar. Get the party started by adding a jar of whole spices for ras el hanout (consult Paula Wolfert’s recipes in Couscous and Other Good Food from Morocco) and Spicelines recipe for Chicken Tagine with Green Olives, Carrots and Preserved Lemons.

7. Love Oaxaca, but not heading to Mexico anytime soon? A block of La Soledad Chocolate ($7.95, melissaguerra.com) will transport the food lover to the sidewalks around the Mercado de Abastos in an instant. Soft and crumbly, scented with Ceylon Cinnamon and enriched with almonds, this Mexican chocolate has been made by the Chavez Pombo family since the 1930’s. Eat it out of hand, or, at that price throw in a carved wooden molinillo ($5.95), traditionally used to whisk hot chocolate to a froth. (Go here for the recipe.)

8. Finding the right spice containers can be tricky. I’m partial to old aquamarine Ball jars with zinc lids, but buying cheap requires frequent trips to junk stores with names like Grannie’s Panties. For cooks with wanderlust, a high quality stainless steel masala dabba ($29.95, gourmetsleuth.com) might be perfect for storing frequently used spices, either for ethnic cooking or everyday use. This traditional Indian spice box has two clear lids, a set of seven small tins and a spice spoon. You could fill the small tins with a selection of spices for Indian or any other ethnic cuisine, but be careful—the tins that come with the set do not have individual lids; the clear inner lid fits snugly over them, but this is really designed to sit on the kitchen counter.

9. Dinner for two at El Bulli? Priceless, once you factor in the airfare—and that’s assuming you could get one of the 8,000 reservations (out of 2 million requests). But Ferran Adria’s sleek, brushed stainless Spoon with Clip ($46/each, le-sanctuaire.com) lets the playful cook fool around with aromas from the comfort of the home laboratorio. Start simple, with sprigs of fresh, slightly bruised rosemary or lavender, then move on to essential oils—say jasmine, rose or black pepper—dotted on a strip of paper. Eventually the lucky recipient will be able to mix and match aromas with aplomb. Today, strawberry sorbet with black pepper essence, tomorrow…who knows?

Oh, and about the crocodile woven of Madadgascar vanilla beans. I last saw it at Goumanyat et Son Royaume. For that, you'll need a trip to Paris.

I'm ready!