Good Food gift guide: Pick and mix a Christmas hamper of (mostly) Victorian products
- The NSW pick and mix Christmas hamper
- The top cookbooks of 2022, from big buy to budget
- Six gift ideas for people who like to drink
From our favourite cookbooks of the year to a craftily curated selection of food essentials and a lava lamp-like gin, this is Good Food's inspiration for a DIY hamper to beat them all.
FOOD
Mount Zero dirty olive brine
$13.25 for 330 ml
If your loved one (like seemingly everyone) has caught the dirty martini bug, indulge them with a top-notch brine. The clever cats at Mount Zero have taken a byproduct of the olive-curing process and bottled it. It'll bring a salty kick to pasta sauces (hello, puttanesca), seafood dishes, salad dressings and, of course, martinis.
Red Dog Chillies habanero peri peri sauce
$18 for 250ml
What's hot? Buying hot sauce made in the flood-affected Loddon region. Lifted by habanero and sweetened by pineapple, this peri peri sauce is made with chillies grown by Red Dog Farm in tiny Fernihurst. The combo of sweet and heat is killer for barbecued prawns on a stick at your next backyard party.
Hey Tiger Christmas Collection
$60 for 3 bars
Christmas flavours are layered into bars of ethically sourced cocoa, made in Melbourne. There's the toasty spice of speculaas with a hint of cherry in milk chocolate; gingerbread and caramelised white chocolate; and hazelnut paired with crunchy waffle pieces. Extra good is the 2 per cent donation from each sale to charity The Hunger Project.
heytiger.com.au or in-store at Milligram nationwide
Moon Mart XO sauce
$20 for 160g
Eun Hee An, chef at Sydney's beloved (now-closed) Moon Park, is making small-batch condiments in Melbourne. You don't need to be a Cantonese cooking whiz to love this umami-bomb of a sauce. Add it to fried eggs or veg grilled on the barbecue, as a partner for steak or pork chops, or to jazz up avo on toast. There's also a vegan version.
Kamebishi two-year-old soy sauce
$53 for 1 litre
If you think "it's just soy sauce", think again. This is truly artisan soy, made according to more labour-intensive traditional methods by a family who have 17 generations of experience. Aged in cedar barrels, the final product is more mellow and subtle than mass-produced sauces, making it perfect for delicate dishes such as sashimi. True luxury.
Tamarind Tree curry paste and tikka paste
$11.95 each
John Ger has been cooking for 40 years, from the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai to Lynch's in Melbourne. Now, he takes whole spices and Australian ingredients to create jarred curry pastes that somehow taste home-made. His tip? Marinate chicken in the tikka paste and grill it, before using the butter chicken paste to achieve a restaurant-quality version of the classic.
Pepe Saya chocolate butter truffles
$19.95 for 6
Marrickville chocolatier Adora uses Pepe Saya's cultured butter to create these limited edition Belgian milk truffles, available exclusively online. "They're sweet, creamy and decadent," says founder Pierre "Pepe" Issa. "We want to do it because it brings out the flavour of the butter so well." It's the second collaboration for the two businesses, after their eminently popular salted caramels.
KITCHEN KIT AND HOMEWARES
Mud Australia egg cup
From $50
Handmade in Sydney, one of these porcelain egg cups will make the bright yolk of a morning egg positively pop. A minimal silhouette makes it feel more contemporary than your average egg cup. With 19 colour choices, pick your loved one's favourite shade or match it to the rest of their crockery with ease.
'What to plant when' print
$30
This visual planting guide covers 52 herbs and vegetables and is designed especially for Victoria's climate. It's the work of two Victorian sisters: self-taught Mornington Peninsula gardener Elisabeth Kingman (aka Garden Girl) and Geelong artist Lisa McGlinchey. Every purchase contributes $2 to food rescue charity, FareShare.
Jessica Nguyen x Kip & Co napkins
$79 for six
Cook the table could be the motto of every owner of these scallop-covered napkins. Sitting pretty with chillies and tomatoes, the shells in shades of pink and coral make a summer-perfect print (and pasta recipe). Melbourne's own domestic goddess, Jessica Nguyen, says the range is inspired by long Italian lunches. We say salut.
Veraison magazine
$22
Fans of wine who don't care for the snobbery around it will gulp down this Melbourne-made magazine. Issue four is hot off the press in time for Christmas, with articles on wine branding, piquette, and art and agriculture, plus a guide to Melbourne CBD's best date venues and a picnic-ready spread of outdoor-friendly dishes to make and the tunes to go with them. Pre-order for delivery from December 16 onwards.
Sage x Clare salad servers
$59 for a pair
Potato salad at the park, deliciously retro caesar or pool-side prawn and avocado: there are few salads these statement servers won't enhance. Individually cast from resin in Melbourne, they're durable enough to throw in your beach basket along with a cold bottle of chardonnay. We reckon they'll even finish any "you don't win friends with salad" arguments once and for all.
Rocco's Bologna Discoteca merch
From $8
Melbourne's coolest lockdown pop-up, a hole in the wall serving fried bologna sandwiches and meatball subs, is now one of Melbourne's hippest hangouts. Naturally, it has the merch to match. T-shirts printed with a big square sandwich colonised by the Italian flag are a reminder of where it all began, while keyrings are a more low-key (sorry) way to show your loyalty.
Purchase in-venue: 15 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy
Nonna's Grocer produce candles
From $30
Inspired by her great-grandfather's Daylesford fruit shop, Wollongong designer Madeleine Hoy has created a range of candles bearing a striking resemblance to eggs, lemons and heirloom tomatoes. "My favourite reason for making the candles is the joy it brings people when they see them for the first time," Hoy says. "It's a nice mix of nostalgia and contemporary design."
In Bed linen tablecloth
From $130
In Bed's range of timeless linen tablecloths come in a variety of patterns, colours and sizes, making it easy to match with any interior style. They're made from 100 per cent flax linen, produced sustainably in keeping with the "responsible and respectful" ethos of founder Pip Vassett. Monthly donations from online sales have been passed on to Women's Community Shelters since 2017.
- More:
- Food
Emma Breheny – Emma is Good Food’s Melbourne eating out and restaurant editor.