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The Food Lover’s Guide to Valentine’s Day

With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, we know you’re racking your brain to figure out what to gift your significant other. Roses and chocolate are fine and dandy, but why not think about what your partner will actually use this year. We’ve already told you what to wear and which stylish gifts are sure to please your lady, but what if your boo loves eating and drinking above all? We found five perfect gifts for the obsessive gourmand that will rev his or her appetite to the fullest.

Mantry
MantryThis is no ordinary food-of-the-month club, folks. Mantry (The Modern Man’s Pantry) helps subscribers discover the absolute best American Artisan food and how to use it in their kitchens. Every month, the good people at Mantry scour the country, handpick the absolute best ingredients they can find and ship it to you in an American-made crate. The delicious bounty arrives with a manual including no BS recipes and a story to tell. Hungry yet? $75 per month, Mantry

The Gramercy Tavern Cookbook
The Gramercy Tavern CookbookOpened in 1994, NYC’s Gramercy Tavern has been one of America’s most esteemed restaurants for two decades with eight James Beard Awards under its belt. No big deal or anything. Even if you can’t make it there for Valentine’s Day, you can bring home 125 recipes that put farmer’s market ingredients in the spotlight and special behind-the-scenes stories from the iconic restaurant. $30, Amazon

Godinger Lava Cake Stand
Lava cake standIf your beau is a baker, she will be thrilled to receive something on which to display her work. Godinger’s Lava Round Cake Stand is designed with richly-textured metal so her sugary treats will shine. If she loves it, maybe she’ll give you some cake cake cake if you know what we mean. $49, MyHabit

The Meadow Salt Set 
The Meadow Salt SetThink about a world without salt. Everything we ate would taste terribly bland. As your gourmand partner knows, sodium chloride doesn’t just come in the form that sits in little glass shakers on diner countertops. Which is why a set of artisan salt is a great way to explore its versatility. The Meadow specializes in such gourmet treats, which is why we trust them to deliver only the best in their namesake salt set. $62, The Meadow

Le Creuset Signature Cast-Iron Dutch Oven
Le Creuset Signature Dutch OvenYou may not think pots and pans are a sexy enough gift for V-Day, but your foodie mate will beg to differ. Le Creuset makes some of the best cookware on the planet, so it’s kind of a no brainer. Red is classic and a festive choice for the holiday. And we can almost guarantee you’ll get some lovin’ after the Coq au Vin if you gift this gem. $280, Williams-Sonoma

Amanda Gabriele
Amanda Gabriele is a food and travel writer at The Manual and the former senior editor at Supercall. She can’t live without…
Forget wine — Beer and cheese is an unbeatable combination
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Beer and cheese

When one hears the term cheese pairings, wine is the beverage that most often comes to mind, we'd wager. Because, of course, it is. The pairing of wine and cheese is as classic a coupling as peanut butter and jelly, bacon and eggs, or chocolate and strawberries. They're meant to be together. But that certainly doesn't mean that wine is the only adult beverage that can dance an alluring tango alongside everyone's favorite dairy product. Beer, as humble as its reputation can be, is also a beautiful balance to cheese's immense offering of flavors. While some may think of beer as not being as multi-dimensional and varied in its palate-pleasing capabilities as wine, this is not the case - especially now that we live in a world with so many exquisite craft beers, stouts, and lagers.
Of course, another classic accompaniment to cheese is bread or crackers. Why might that be, one might ask. Is it because we're simply in need of a starchy vessel to usher the cheese into our mouths? The answer is actually a bit deeper than that. Starches like bread and crackers are made from the same yeasty ingredients as beer, so their pairing makes perfect culinary sense.
This isn't to say, though, that one can simply pick up a hunk of cheddar and crack open a Budweiser and expect culinary artistry. The science is a bit more nuanced than that, so we're here to help you find the best pairings for your favorite beers and cheeses.

How to pair beer and cheese

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Mijenta has a cristalino tequila perfect for bourbon drinkers
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If you’re new to tequila, you might not know all the terms. Even if you’re just a beginner, you probably know all about blanco, reposado, añejo, and maybe even joven. But chances are, you’re not familiar with Cristalino tequila. This reasonably contemporary style is simply añejo tequila that’s been charcoal filtered to remove its natural caramel color and various impurities.

The style is more than just a little popular. It’s actually the fastest growing style of tequila according to Nielsen data. The newest brand to get in on the Cristalino trend is Mijenta.

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There's much more to the IPA than bitter hop bombs
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The IPA has been described as the cilantro of the beer world. It’s assumed by some novice drinkers that you either love it or hate it. On one hand, it’s one of the most popular beer styles in the American craft world. It’s loved by many drinkers for its liberal use of hops and fresh, crushable flavor profile.

But haters of the style dislike it because they have an assumption that all IPA beers are aggressively hopped and uncomfortably bitter. While there are IPAs that fit that criterion (and fans of that style can’t get enough of them), there are also a handful of other types of IPAs to fit any palate.
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