A really good, unexpected gift is a collection of spices from Penzeys. They have a gift box that can be filled with (I think) four of the large glass containers or eight of the small containers. It comes with bayleaves, cinnamon sticks and nutmeg nuts for "packing". I leave these items in their bags. If they were used for packing, they would crumble! But the value of the packing material makes the gift box free.

I've given this to a number of people and it has been their favorite for that year. Good luck in your search!

Good for Drew! Pursuing a passion for a career. Good luck to him! I think you should just go to one of those kitchen stores. I went to one at a mall a few months ago and over two hours. I still don't think I saw everything they had in the place. As I walked up to the store the front window had a display of enamelware collanders in 19 colors and patterns. I said to myself - "I'm in trouble now!"

You are bound to find something there!

Teresa

Look around and see if there are any reasonably priced 'cooking lessons' to be had in your area. Buy him one for his birthday and another for Christmas.

Ann

Does he have a particular interest in one area, for example, baking, or stir frying, or gourmet or comfort food, catering or the like? That would give you a better idea of what types of things would be immediately useful.

I really like Ann's suggestion of cooking classes. When I bought my first microwave they gave a free cooking class and it was valuable to me to this day. Just a couple hours but they packed a lot into it.

One thing I wish I had started to use earlier in life is a good meat thermometer. A top of the line Thermapen is expensive, but it would allow him to learn how to roast poultry and meats correctly. (You don't need to get one that fancy, though. You can get a decent instant read thermometer fairly cheaply.)

Good knives need not be expensive; Forschner Victorinox stamped blades with plastic handles ("Fibrox" is what they call their plastic handles) are quite reasonable (paring knives under $10, chef knives $30 or so) and the value for dollar is excellent. They're available from Amazon and a bunch of other online retailers.

If he doesn't have a good basic cookbook, I might suggest Julia Child's "The Way to Cook".

If he has a scientific approach to things, Shirley Corriher's "Cookwise" would be an excellent gift. Helps you to understand the why of things rather than just following a recipe.

A good source for used books is addall.com. I have no problems getting used cookbooks; after all, you're gonna spill stuff on it the first time you use it anyway. I've gotten some great buys on great cookbooks at places like thrift shops and junk shops.

arley basically wrote everything I was going to say :)

Good knives, a couple of great classic cookbooks, a piece or two of all-clad cookware.

BTW, if he goes to a good culinary institute they will require a set of high end, VERY expensive knives so check with him before you buy knives.

Even if he decides a cooking career is not for him, these classic gifts will last the rest of his life

Personally, I wouldn't buy him expensive items like a Thermapen unless he shows a specific interest in cooking meats. I think I would expand his universe with some kind of lessons or hands-on experience. Maybe a 4 hour session with someone who cooks professionally for the supermarket that you work for OR if a hands-on cooking class isn't available, how about a DVD set from a popular chef?

I guess what I'm trying to say is expose him to many facets from baking to Italian cooking (since he makes a great lasagna) and see where his interest leads.

BTW there's a good school up in New York called Paul Smith College. It might have the right mix of program, affordability and environment for Drew! One of our former students is an R.A. there and he's headed into a culinary career.

When my son was about Drew's age, he wanted a dehydrator ~ who knows why???? He knew! He makes beef jerky! I bought him a cheapo multi tiered dehydrator - it is still in use many years later. I have to warn you - making beef jerky stinks up your house:) Our local butcher was so excited to guide him in the ways of making beef jerky! BTW - my son is a fantastic cook today.

Drew has never been much into academics per say however he has always had a strong desire to hang out with me in the kitchen.
Now I am not a professional chef but I do try my best to follow recipes, guidelines and techniques.
He has seen and tasted some pretty tasty and sometime horrific attempts made by the 2 of us together...who knew ovenmits were that flamable LOL!!
(long story ahem....)

So he is planning on attending a local community college culinary arts program after graduation where he will start out with the basics.

But lets get him thru high school culinary class first.

I personally do not care for his cooking instructor. I met her on back to school night and may I say I thought she was a bit overwhelmed.
Her classroom was...messy and cluttered.

The second semester will focus on baking-hence the cake pans. I am hoping to pick up some tricks along the way.

He likes to cook for himself and has free range in the kitchen. He works at a grocery store and so he buys whatever he thinks he may want.

Throught his personal ordeals with his own health issues he was thinking about persuing nutrition...maybe working with patients or those with special needs.

He has a bright future ahead!

Cheers!
Susie

ps...tonight it was shepherds pie which he helped make and then invited some of his football buddies over to try-pic up on FB soon!!

One of my favorite cooking tools are leather potholders. Two would be ideal, and they're washable and something a guy would love. I love mine, and highly recommend them as great stocking stuffers.

Here is a link that might be useful: Leather Potholders

Susie, that's very exciting! I just love to hear this. My first reaction was to get him a large [18"-21"] canvas/cloth pastry bag and now that you say he will be working on baking soon I double that suggestion. To me the canvas bags are so much easier to work with and a large bag is so much more versatile than smaller bags. Not only can he use it for decorating but he can use it for things like stuffing manicotti or shells and making cream puffs and eclair shells or even making fancy mashed potatoes on his shephards pie. Smiles. Fantes carries them. The plastic lined ones are fine.

Lots of people don't have one and many don't think it's all that necessary but, one of my wish list items for a long time was a turntable. Doesn't need to be an expensive one. Helps a lot with cake decorating, but it's also very useful for laying out concentric rings of fruit in a tart, piping meringue on a pie, crimping the pie crust, etc. Sure, it's not a necessity, but it sure is fun.

I'm sure you have parchment paper, but it would be nice to get him a nice pack of the sheets. That way he can use it to his hearts content for not only baking but for practicing various things like piping or making en papilotte, etc., and not feel like he's using yours up.

I'm happy for him and you and look forward to hearing his future adventures.

Susie

My DH has been getting me fun little terasures for me at a restaurant supply place on Washington St (on a corner, near 3rd, I can get the address from him if you are interested). Most recently, he came home with 4 new 1/2 sheet pans ($6.00 each), another time he brought me a couple of new spiders (the brass strainers on bamboo handles), silicone scrapers, etc

The prices are great and everything is restaurant quality.

Alexa

Susie - DH just told me it is actually called Construction Mall and the addy is 1501 Washington.....

Williams Sonoma....Multi Purpose Chopper...exclusive to there shops!

In our neck of the woods, kids as young as 7th grade can enroll in community college courses with their counselor's approval. He doesn't HAVE to take his HS class? Also, maybe he can find a few hours working in a local, family owned restaurant. Hey he might even learn how to make pizza! With the holidays coming up, maybe even some local caterers need help. So I guess my suggestion would be the gift of helping him connect with some of the above.

Go Drew!

I add my happy and best wishes to him as he explores this career option. It's too bad the high school teacher was such a disappointment. I hope he doesn't learn bad habits from her. Of course, he has you to teach him the right way to do things.

I'd let him pick out his knives. My DS took a few semesters of culinary arts at our local community college (Yeah for community colleges!). Yes, he had to buy knives, but they didn't require expensive knives. He shopped around and found some useful but inexpensive knives that he liked.

If he's going to be studying baking, what about a good scale? I use mine a lot, and really like that it does ounces, pounds, kilograms and grams. I've started wishing all recipes gave amounts in grams.

It might be fun to give him a chef's coat. It's another thing the school will probably require, but probably won't provide.

Sally

Great idea, Sally.

I recently had a 6 year old niece stay with us for a while. I'd let her help in the kitchen safely (peeling carrots with a peeler, measuring stuff, etc.) What she absolutely LOVED, though, was wearing a chef's hat. It had a velcro adjuster so it would fit on her tiny head--she really got in to it.

They make chef hats in different styles, some of which are cool hounds tooth floppy rather than the starched French chef toque, and a youngish cook will probably find it cool rather than silly. See the link.

Here is a link that might be useful: chef hat

Susie, I was glad to get a chance to meet you and Drew. Besides being very knowledgeable about the food items we saw, he's got a personality that just sparkles! I wish him the best of luck.

One stocking stuffer that would be fun (and orange to boot) is a Zyliss julienne peeler. I got mine at Target so no shipping or handling involved. The photo is of green and yellow squash shaved with the it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Zyliss peeler

Both my brother and myself are out the family catering business, but, for his birthday 2 years ago I bought him a remote digital thermometer. After I gave it to him I mentioned I should have kept it.
He bought me one for xmas last year, and I have to say that is one of the most handy gadgets I own, use it as much as I use a spatula. The one I was given is not commercial,( an Onieda), but still works well, is remote or not, timer or temperature programmed. I use it for smoking, roasting, preserving, all applications that need time or temp.
They aren't pricy, 35.00 I think.

Agree with let him buy the knives, I am VERY picky about my knives, both in purchasing and using. No one better touch my birds beak paring knife! Only one store in NYC to find a replacement and set me back 50.00

If you don't have these, I would get him one of the following as budget allows: good mandoline, deep fryer, chinoise, tart pan(s), blow torch, and a home sous vide.

These will all give him a heads up in culinary school.

Whatever kind of knives he gets, he needs to know how to keep them sharp. Sharp knives are safer because you use less effort to accomplish your tasks.

The book 'Sharpening Made Easy' at the link is a very good primer on how to keep knives and other items sharp. Quite reasonable, too--around $13 including postage. The author will inscribe a copy to the gift recipient if you so desire.

At the very least, let him know about the sharpening website. Lots of good info on sharpening. Based on that website, I bought a paper wheel sharpening system a while back. It's virtually foolproof, and I can get a dozen knives razor sharp in under an hour. Only drawback is that the paper wheels require a dedicated bench grinder. But if you have space in your garage or workshop, it's definitely worthwhile.

Here is a link that might be useful: sharpening web site

Thank you everyone!!

I found a digital instant read thermometer at Wegmans today....not high end but it was orange....it will go into his stocking!!

I will most likely do a marshalls/tjmaxx run sometime this week...pretty sure I'll find something there!

Ruthanna, thank you-you are so kind. Drew told me a few days later that he really had a blast with the cooking ladies...he told me "Mom, your friends are so funny!!"

I am going to wait on the knives for now...I agree its a personal thing plus it will give me something to get him for graduation.

He has a lot of down time after school while I am at work and he along with his friends like to make all kinda of things. Lately its been a lot of sausage (thats what Mrs Muller is teaching thses days) so to shake things up today I got him a roasted chicken at Wegmans....this way he has a variety of things he can do kinda let his imagination run wild!!

Cheers!
Susie