Michelin-soled shoes
Around £180
The tyre company already has an influence on how some chefs cook but it also has some sway in the sartorial stakes. Initially launched with Claude Bosi as brand ambassador, the GT1pro Magister Chef Shoe with a ‘Michelin-powered’ technical sole has now been through a number of iterations but remains the ultimate piece of swag for the star-chasing chef. Features include water-resistant leather, an aluminium protective toe, and a lace-free design for easier cleaning. The shoes should be used on smooth kitchen floors only, so no wearing them down the pub.
Witloft Leather Knife Roll
From around £300
These handcrafted knife rolls are made from real cow leather and are available with either five or nine pockets of various sizes. Handily, they also include some rather nice blade guards to stop the knives damaging the leather. The roll fastens with two buckles and can be carried by the handle or worn across the body with the detachable shoulder strap. Pair one of these with a close-fitting white T-shirt and you’ll look just like Carmy from The Bear (maybe).
Savernake Knife
£315 - £435
Like all the knives in its range, Savernake’s signature knife is fully customisable. Chefs can choose their handle material (options include English walnut and veneer stripes compressed in thermal resin), handle shape and even the degree to which the blade is sharpened. Working out of an old saw mill in Wiltshire, Savernake’s principle bladesmith Laurie Timpson has opted for a design that is a middle ground between soft-yet-durable durable German knives and Japanese knives, which are sharper but brittle and harder to sharpen.
Restaurant Gordon Ramsay: A Story of Excellence
£60
Ramsay has churned out a lot of cookbooks in his time but only a handful have been penned with other professional chefs in mind. Released earlier this year, this behind-the-scenes look at one of the UK’s most famed restaurants is certainly one of them. Containing 40 detailed recipes created by Ramsay with input from the Chelsea restaurant’s current custodian Matt Abé, the book also details the colourful history of Ramsay’s flagship - which launched 25 years ago and has held three stars for 23 years - through some highly readable anecdotes.
Noma Projects gear
Various
For the ultimate way to jazz up your scrambled eggs or roast potatoes then look no further than this new range from Copenhagen trailblazer Noma. Products in the Noma Projects range include wild rose vinegar, forager’s vinaigrette, corn yuzu hot sauce, and vegan XO sauce and are guaranteed to add some oomph to home-cooked meals. They’re not cheap - a 250ml bottle vinaigrette costs £24 and 175ml of XO sauce will set you back £33 – but then they have been made by the team behind one of the world’s most famous restaurants. For those with deeper pockets, Noma Projects recently launched a subscription service (of sorts) called Taste Buds. £528 per year gets you four deliveries of the latest food innovations from the Noma Test Kitchen (some of which won’t ever be released more widely), behind-the-scenes videos, recipes and the chance to attend foraging events with new Nordic legend René Redzepi.
The Chef’s Press
From £24
The Chef’s Press is a vented, weight-adjustable cooking tool that causes food to colour more evenly and cook 20-30% faster by making better contact with the cooking surface. Developed by San Francisco-based chef Bruce Hill in 2004, the products are manufactured in California and come in a choice of weights (8oz, 13oz or 18oz). These exactingly-made weights - which have vents to allow steam to escape and can be stacked - can also be used to submerge foods for sous vide cooking if that's your bag.
Atavi pasta
From around £20
One of the world’s most vaunted chefs has put his name to a range of furiously-expensive dried pasta. Albert Adrià - one of the chefs behind the now closed El Bulli - uses processes that aren’t usually associated with pasta making including fermentation, nixtamalization, and smoking to create new flavour profiles. The range includes umami (100% durum wheat ‘remastered’ via koji fermentation); smoked (100% durum wheat that has been toasted and smoked over wine canes); and sourdough (durum wheat ‘enhanced by natural leavening’) – although none of the pastas are flavoured as such. All of the interest comes from how the wheat has been treated with the exception of the umami pasta, which contains a small amount of aspergillus oryzae (AKA koji mould) as well as powdered wheat gluten.
Kataba Chef’s Plating Tweezers
£17
Channel your inner Clare Smyth with these plating tweezers. Kataba has a huge range of tweezers in various finishes including camo (pictured), pearlescent and sold colours. The website also stocks a range of niche cooking tools sourced from Japan including scallop shuckers, cooking brushes and mandolines.
Tormek Professional Knife Sharpener T-2
Around £800
Be the envy of your chef mates with this heavy-duty knife sharpening device. Using a patented guidance system, the user can set the exact angle they want their knife sharpened at. Key features include a fine-grained diamond wheel optimised to provide a high level of sharpness as well as efficient steel removal and an additional composite wheel with integrated polish that removes the burr.
