5 Things This Creative Tastemaker Thinks Everyone Should Have in Their Kitchen

Anyone who’s ever tried cutting into a homemade or store bought loaf of sourdough bread knows that a simple kitchen knife won’t do the job. You need a serrated knife capable of cutting through the thick crust to give you that perfect slice. 

Pick the wrong one and your loaf, or even the knife itself, could crumble into pieces. 

“Sourdough bread is like a bread knife killer,” Dixon says. “In the last three years we’ve gone through three or four. There’s just a point where they just give up.”

Dixon has since picked up the KIN Knives Bread Knife, a single piece stainless steel bread knife with sharp serrated teeth that makes quick work of any crusty loaf. 

“This thing eats up sourdough loaves no matter how tough the outside,” he says. 

The blade length runs nearly 12 inches, which can make the knife feel more like a weapon than a kitchen utensil. 

“I always feel like I’m in Dune,” Dixon says of his experience with the KIN Bread Knife. “I’ve also had very small bread knives, which are terrible, so maybe it’s good it’s so long.”

He admits that the long blade may take some getting used to for people who are used to smaller knives. 

“I’m amazed at how long it is,” he says. “It must have something to do with the motion.” 

Speaking of motion, the knife’s offset blade may help reduce the amount of times your knuckles hit the cutting board when you’re making yourself a slice of toast. 

While it’s been smooth cutting so far, Dixon says he’s unsure if the KIN Knife will last longer than the prior ones he’s had to throw out. Serrated knives are typically harder to sharpen than a chef’s knife, but the pub owner says he’s able to get his sharpened locally. 

“A good-quality Japanese steel knife is something you can get sharpened forever, basically,” he says. 

If you’re a daily coffee drinker, you’ve likely been advised to cut the cafe trips and make your morning cup of Joe at home to save money. Dixon can attest to the fact that buying coffee every day can get expensive. 

“I used to live in London and I spent a fortune on barista coffee,” Dixon says. “Now I live in the country and one of the first things I thought was, ‘Oh god, what’s going to happen now? I’m going to have to make my own.’” 

After discovering the Alessi Moka Pot, making a cup of coffee is now something Dixon enjoys and actually prefers over buying a cup.

“I think it makes the best coffee ever,” he says. 

For those who haven’t had Moka Pot coffee before, the stovetop brewer often produces a much stronger product than you get from an automatic drip coffee maker. Dixon calls it “espresso adjacent.

“When I get home [from traveling] I get the real rocket fuel,” he says. 

He recommends buying a bigger Moka Pot than you need for your home and only filling it about halfway.

“The trick is to buy a moka pot that makes 10 coffees and then you just make four from it,” he says. “The strength ratio is really good.” 

The Alessi Moka Pot is made for those with gas stoves, though the brand also offers versions that work with induction cooktops. 

Even though Dixon loves his daily coffee, he admits he can only have about one and a half cups before he needs to switch to a different beverage. He has a feeling he’s not alone in that.

“I have a theory that we’re entering a new era of less caffeination,” he says. “I feel like we came through an era where everyone was on three or four cups of coffee a day and now everyone’s like, ‘Oh I can only have one and then it makes me too jittery.’

For Dixon, that next beverage is often a cup of chai, the famous Indian-spiced tea that’s now found in cafes and homes around the world. 

“Chai is very grounding, comforting, but also very tasty,” he says. “I love all the flavors.” 

Chai still has some caffeine, though less than what you’ll find in a typical coffee. When made in a regular pot or saucepan, it can also quickly boil over and make a mess of your stovetop if you’re not keeping a constant eye on it. 

That’s where the Loka Chai Makes comes in. This specially designed pot boils the water, milk, and stirs the spices and tea leaves for you, incorporating all the flavors into your beverage while aerating it, giving the chai that classic mouthfeel that made it a cafe favorite.

You can use just about any type of milk, though the brand recommends brewing higher-protein milk on a lower heat to avoid scorching it. 

Dixon was first introduced to the Loka Chai Maker by former music buddy Nikhil Shah, founder of music streaming platform Mixcloud. 

It works on all stovetop types, is dishwasher safe, makes about three cups of chai, and the strainer comes in either stainless steel or silicone. The company has its own brand of chai, though it can also be used with a homemade blend of spices and tea leaves. 

The built-in strainer catches the tea leaves and spices so there’s no surprises at the bottom of your cup. 

When Dixon says that White Mausu Peanut Rayu is his favorite condiment, he’s not joking. 

“It’s just incredible,” he says. “I use it on pretty much everything.” 

The peanut rayu is similar to chili crisp. It contains chili flakes, peanuts, sesame seeds, fried garlic, and sea salt, all mixed together with soy sauce and sesame oil. 

“It’s sort of a bit crunchy, it’s very salty, it’s very kind of umami,” Dixon says. 

One of his favorite ways to use it is during breakfast time; he’ll take a piece of sourdough toast and top it with hummus, a fried egg, and last, but certainly not least, the peanut rayu. 

“It’s a great breakfast because it gives you a little bit of a kick,” he says. 

When asked what’s the strangest thing he’s put it on, he responded with a fresh salad. 

“It wasn’t that weird at all actually,” he said. 

Salad cream is something most Americans aren’t familiar with, but for the native Briton it’s something he keeps in his kitchen at all times. 

“It’s British mayonnaise with a terrible reputation,” Dixon says. “It’s mayonnaise with vinegar.”

As the name suggests, it’s mostly used on salads but it can also be used on sandwiches or anywhere else you might use plain old mayo. 

“It’s genius,” he says. “This needs reinventing into a hipster product. In fact perhaps that’s my next thing.”