This dishwasher safe cutting mat is a great was to improve the functionality of any cutting board. It’s large enough to accommodate a large board, but it can also be cut to size for more specialized shapes. Plus, this one is much better than others we’ve tried, since your cutting board won’t slip and slide atop its surface even when its wet. It’s sturdy enough to stand up to frequent use, but it’s flexibility is a great asset, as you can easily pour your chopped veggies from your cutting board onto the mat and then right into the pot with less mess. Plus, it’s a great tool to use when you’re having trouble getting a grip on an unruly jar.

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This cutting board is not only durable, but it also will prolong the life of you knife blade. The “pull and slice” technique is the common way to slice food in Japanese cooking, which can often lead to chipped edges if using a hard cutting board. But this one is coated in layers of soft plastic that provides much better protection for your knives and protection for your fingers, since it’s non-slip. Plus, the material has strong antimicrobial properties—one of the highest standards in Japan—so it won’t hold germs as much as a standard cutting board would between uses. It’s wood core keeps the cutting board from warping from use and high-temperature dishwashing. And since it’s not entirely made of wood, it much more light weight to use.

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The only one of its kind, this vessel is designed like a reverse dutch oven—with a large, domed lid and more shallow base—and is made from thick cast iron, so it both seals in steam and retains heat to yield the perfect loaf. It’s large enough to accommodate nearly any size of bread and doesn’t require the elaborate workarounds like dutch ovens, baking stones and other equipment does. The Challenger is a combination cooker, which features a large, sturdy lid and a flatter base. It’s much easier to load your dough into the vessel without having to move around high walls and it’s also easier to reach in and score your dough. It’s crafted from heirloom-quality, hand-seasoned extra-thick cast iron, which delivers robust radiant heat to promote even cooking. The dark material does an incredible job at retaining its temperature and steam; it’s essentially an oven within your oven, so the temperature won’t be lost when you remove the lid and the lid itself creates an incredibly tight seal to prevent heat leaks (and achieve that perfect golden crust). Plus, the sturdy cast iron won’t crack like clay bakers will.

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Cook, teacher, author and Friend of Milk Street Özlem Warren’s cookbook is a love letter to the always fresh, incredibly varied cuisine of Turkey—which is most often savored around a table with family and friends. Warren shares some of her favorite recipes from her hometown of Antioch, Antakya throughout its pages, such as Dried Baked Apricots with Walnuts; Turkish Flat Breads with Spinach, Feta and Peppers, Peynirli Pide; and Homemade Red Pepper Paste, Biber Salçasi; all of which are inspired by the rich lands of Southern Turkey. Warren has loved food since she was a child—her mother and grandmother would cook lunch each day to be enjoyed in her courtyard surrounded by fig trees. And Antakya’s cuisine is bursting with aromatic herbs, bold spices, hearty grains like bulgur and freekeh and simple flavorings like olive oil and molasses. It’s inspired by ancient traditions and has influences from Ottoman, Arabic and French cuisines. In this book are some of Warren’s own favorite Turkish recipes, each lovingly made and passed down from her grandmother to her parents and now to her own family’s table. The book was named Best in the World at the 2020 Gourmand World Cookbook Awards in Heritage for Turkey and received an Honorary Mention at the 2020 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards.

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This cast-iron Korean-made grill pan’s concave shape comes from a Korean cooking practice of inverting the domed lids of rice pots and using them for cooking: Drippings and liquids would collect in the center well, allowing the meat to sear properly. And once the fat and flavorful juices have pooled into the center, you can use it to lightly fry aromatics, vegetables, kimchi and more. This grill pan is lighter than other similar models, but still retains and distributes heat well—making it perfect for sliced meats and vegetables, tofu and mushrooms. And its hand-poured enamel coating makes it easy to clean and doesn’t require seasoning, so you can get cooking even faster.

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Made in Japan by one of the country’s most sought-after ironware producers with a 100-year legacy in the trade, this small pot is ideal for soups and stews. The style is often used for traditional Japanese nabe (hot pot), but its durable cast-iron craftsmanship and stunning lid carved from Japanese cypress wood will make you reach for this pot every chance you can get. We love how this pot is sturdy yet light enough to use often, and it’s great at retaining heat. Plus, it has small feet on the bottom to keep it stable and to keep the heat away from your table, and its handles fold flat for easy storage.

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Staub's durable enameled cast iron cooks evenly at a broad range of temperatures and has low-stick properties for easy, no-fuss cooking—for best results, use low or medium heat. The company thickly glazes the outside of its cookware and lines the interiors with a matte-black enamel, so it's impervious to chipping. Whether you're braising browning or roasting, there’s very little you can’t cook in this dish, and we consider it an absolute kitchen essential. Staub's handsome designs and rich colors will look great on any table, and the pieces are durable enough to be passed on to the next generation.

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125 Simple Weeknight Recipes from the World’s Healthiest Cuisine

So much more than fish and pasta, the true cooking of the Mediterranean is a lesson in how simple, healthy food can be prepared from almost anything.
Spain, Italy and France and Greece are just the start. The cooking of the Mediterranean also includes Turkey and Syria, Tunisia and Morocco, Israel and Egypt, Bosnia and Algeria. With thousands of years of culinary history and hundreds of cuisines, the Mediterranean region has one thing in common: big flavors married to everyday ingredients that combine and transform quickly and easily.

And though every recipe delivers big, naturally healthy flavors, the ingredient lists don’t go on forever. Nor does the cooking. It’s food you really can make for dinner, even if you start cooking at 6 p.m. and need dinner on the table in an hour. Real food for real people. Most of all, Tuesday Nights Mediterranean delivers food inspired by the many and diverse countries that make up the Mediterranean region, not just the usual suspects. This is not a diet cookbook, but it does offer naturally healthy recipes with big, interesting flavors.

Every kitchen should have a Chinese-style cleaver, whose tall, heavy-duty blade and forward-heavy balance do most of the work for you when chopping big batches of vegetables and mincing meats or herbs. We found an excellent model from Japanese producer Toryumon that, unlike most flat-bellied cleavers, has a slightly curved edge similar to a European-style chef’s knife, so American home cooks will find it easier to use. Plus, the barrel-shaped handle can you more control than a standard shape.

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Based on a family recipe, Nong’s Khao Man Gai Chicken and Rice Sauce packs flavor and tradition in every pour. Thick yet pourable, this sauce is savory, tangy and incredibly well balanced. It’s punctuated with visible bits of fresh garlic and ginger—adding a bright zip that balances the rich, salty umami of the soy base. There’s also a pleasant heat, but not so aggressive or overpowering to prevent the layers of flavor in the sauce from shining through. There’s not much that wouldn’t benefit from a good pour of the stuff.

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These artisan-crafted tea towels are made from 100% linen and come in a set of three. They feature a classic blue stripe pattern and a durable double-rolled hem. Use them to line your breadbasket as a proofing cloth—you can even dampen the towels and drape them over your dough or other baked goods to retain moisture and prevent a dried-out surface.

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This style of whisk is the secret to perfectly mixed bread doughs and pastry crusts, since its flat shape and spiral end prevent overmixing and adding too much air. This one is handcrafted from black walnut wood and secured with a sturdy aluminum brass ferrule. And it has an end made from strong stainless steel wire, so it can stand up to even the stickiest doughs and is easier to clean than more tightly woven whisks.

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Handcut from black walnut wood and polished to perfection, this bread lame is as beautiful as it is functional. Use this tool for scoring bread dough before it goes in the oven, so it can grow and expand into an airy loaf. The lame has stunning brass thumb nuts that tighten and release the double-edged razor blade, and the brass safety guard is adorned with elegant French scrollwork. Plus, it’s available in both right- and left-hand orientations.

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This incredibly rich syrup has notes of butterscotch, honey and toasted sugar, with a heady base of vanilla and dried fruit. A member of our kitchen team likened its richness to a melted Werther's candy. It’s medium-bodied, which means it can easily be drizzled, but never too watery like store-bought versions. Compared to others, this one has a strong “true maple” flavor to it—nothing like more run-of-the-mill syrups that often have an off pine taste. This incredibly dark, rich syrup has notes of butterscotch, honey and toasted sugar, with a heady base of vanilla and dried fruit. A member of our kitchen team likened its richness to a melted Werther's candy. It’s medium-bodied, which means it can easily be drizzled but is never too watery like store-bought versions. Compared to other maple syrups, this one has a strong “true maple” flavor to it—nothing like more run-of-the-mill syrups that often have a piney off-flavor.

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Standard potato mashers are often too bulky and always end up crammed in our kitchen drawers, but this one folds flat so it doesn’t take up nearly any space! The oval-shaped blade grid make quick work of even the most unruly spuds and even other types of food. It’s constructed from sturdy stainless steel, so it will hold up to frequent use, and the silicone-coated, ergonomic handle makes it easy to use. Plus, the masher end is edged in silicone to protect the surface of your pot or pan while using the tool.

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These sweet morsels are made from bits of cacao beans that are clustered together with tiny crystals of caramelized sugar. These won’t just dissolve like a chocolate bar would—they pack a significant crunch from the cacao’s natural texture and the crispy sugar in a way that’s truly special and nothing else we’ve ever tried. The two primary flavors are the rich chocolate and rich bourbon—which brings a unique, complex depth. The chocolate is naturally bittersweet (but sweeter than plain cacao nibs, thanks to being cooked in sugar), with plenty of red fruit notes. The bourbon adds a pleasant booziness to each bite and also a strong vanilla and oak character that’s a lovely companion to the fruity, bitter chocolate. The second wave of flavor is that of warming spice.

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We’ve been on the hunt for a top-quality ginger honey for ages, and none compare to this incredible jar. This is the first we’ve found that uses real, finely minced fresh ginger and not lackluster dried ginger powder—producing a robust spicy-sweet floral flavor with a touch of earthiness. Punctuated with tender ginger bits, the unusually high-quality base honey used here is thick, golden and flavorful in its own right.

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Harvested from eucalyptus forests dotting southeastern Tasmania, this thick, pale and creamy honey has a unique woodsy quality we’ve never tasted in any other honey before. It wakes up the palate with the smallest hint of malty bittersweetness, which comes across more herbal—never puckery. And it draws you in with the pleasant aroma of chamomile and other delicate white blooms.

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