Best Valentine's Day Kitchen Gifts for a Home Cook

Stirring a sauce doesn't take much skill but it does require time and attention. This automatic stirrer will free a home cook up to do more important things and ensure a sauce or slow scrambled eggs stay moving.

KitchenAid might make the most well-known stand mixer on the market but Bodum makes the cutest. This compact baking buddy features a dough hook, beater and whisk attachment and seven speeds to make the perfect batch of bread dough or cake batter  

Whether it's beef or bibimbap, you'll be ready with this set of steak knives and chopsticks from Schmidt Brothers and Cote Korean Steakhouse.

If your special person cooks, they probably produce a lot of kitchen scraps. Those can be turned into compost and Lomi's countertop food processor will give the organic waste a big head start.

Cognac is a critical bottle for any chef to have on the bar. It's ace for a nightcap but also adds depth of flavor to savory sauces and desserts. 

There are plenty of quality Dutch ovens to choose from -- Le Creuset, Staub, Vermicular -- but Milo's enameled pot has a very distinct minimalist look. It also clocks in at a palatable $125 for the 3.5-quart size. Compare that with those French and Japanese luxury brands that'll likely cost you nearly three times as much. 

The Milo comes in 10 great colors and makes the perfect Valentine's Day gift for a chef who is short an enameled cast-iron pot.

When a chocolate maker as good as Compartes pairs up with a scotch producer as good as Macallan, we pay attention. Secure a box of ten decadent truffles made with premium Scotch for $40. 

For beef eaters, Wagyu is worth the hype. Swirled with rich marbling for dynamic flavor, this beef can cost some serious coin, which is why a bundle is the most economical way to buy it. 

Snake River Farms specializes in the stuff, and you can secure this pack of best sellers, which has four Wagyu filets, 2 ribeye filets, 2 Frenched pork chops, a pack of hot dogs and a pound of beef for $260. That may sound like a lot, but wait until you try it.

CookUnity is one of the best-prepared meal delivery services I've tried, and I've tried just about all of them. If someone you love would welcome a break from cooking, drop a few weeks of these healthy and tasty meals on them, all of which are created by professional chefs and delivered fresh. Want to learn more? Read my full review of CookUnity here.

For a recipe hawk, having a dedicated tablet stand for the kitchen is key. This sleek unit doubles as a cookbook stand for any analog compendiums they have lying around from previous years.

My dad actually bought me and my three siblings cast-iron skillets for the holidays last year. While I'm grateful, I wish it was this one, which is lighter than the average cast-iron skillet (ours were quite the addition to our suitcases coming back home). This one is nonstick and makes for an excellent serving dish for something like a large chocolate chip cookie. Plus, it's just so darn lovely to look at.

If you want something even lighter but equally equipped to handle high heat for cooking steak and other meats, try our favorite Made In blue carbon steel frying pan ($89).

This is a smaller board perfect for serving cheese and charcuterie on date night at home. The olivewood's natural grain patterns are undeniably beautiful and so is the price; just $17 for the Italian-made statement cheese board. Add it to a gift box or basket with fine cheese and a bottle of wine for a wow factor your valentine is sure to love. 

If there is one chef whose cookbooks we can't stop thumbing through these past few years, it's Yotam Ottolenghi. The Israeli-born British chef and restaurateur is a master of flavor with a focus on plant-based cooking. 

In his latest release, Flavor, Ottolenghi and author Ixta Belfrage hone in on the process and technique for unimaginably flavorful recipes like coconut dal, eggplant dumplings and chickpea pancakes with mango-pickle yogurt. Exotic flavors made accessible, this book makes for one of the most perfect Valentine's Day gift options out there. 

I don't know who Melinda is but she makes some mighty fine sauces. Many of these dippers and condiments have good heat, although not tear-inducing, they are also built with complex flavors that make them hot sauces fit for a true chef or food fan. I've been crushing hard on the habanero honey mustard and spicy garlic parmesan all year. This is a perfect food gift for Valentine's Day, you can haul in a gift box sampling of six sauces for $40, and spice up your relationship. 

Who said oven mitts can't be stylish? These smarter mitts have built-in magnets to plunk them on the fridge or grill to keep them together when not in use.

I'm fortunate enough to have an Italian market one block away that sells fresh pasta. My snobby self just can't go back to the dried boxed stuff. You can send any pasta-loving Valentine 4 pounds of freshly made pasta from Raffetto's in New York (via Goldbelly) for $30.

Choose from five different cuts including linguini and pappardelle and seven different recipes like classic egg or add more adventurous varieties such as lemon red pepper or rosemary. Whatever they don't use in the first few days can be frozen and thawed for later.

You may not use a petty knife every time you crack a recipe, but having a good precise utility blade for small and intricate cuts is huge, especially when slicing fish, tomatoes and other soft foods exactly how you want them. Shun is a world-class purveyor of Japanese steel, and its elegant 6-inch Sora utility blade would be a welcome addition to any chef's block.

Step 1 is to make sure they like truffles before you go buying them -- because they ain't cheap. Most of us normal folk don't cook with or eat truffles on a regular basis, so scoring a few ounces for your valentine to shave over pasta or risotto will be a major treat. 

Bonus: You might get to enjoy them too.

Does a box of meat strike you as a strange Valentine's Day gift? Well, it shouldn't -- unless your partner is a vegan, I suppose. Porter Road's best-of-box is a treasure trove of quality cuts including two dry-aged ribeye steaks, two pork chops, 2 pounds of dry-aged ground beef and 1 pound each of bacon, country sausage and chorizo. From there, the possibilities are endless.