Infuse: Oil, Spirit, Water (24 page)

Inspired by the salty lime sodas commonly found at roadside stands in Thailand, this syrup infusion is the perfect addition to carbonated water. In many Asian cuisines it’s common to make drinks savory through the addition of salt, a flavor combination that wakes up your taste buds.

Great for adding to cocktails (see
spiked salted lime soda
.)

Salt may sound like an odd ingredient for a sweet syrup, but it actually adds a new flavor dimension to limeade and soda water that keeps you coming back for one more sip.

Prik Nam Pla

Like every good New Yorker, weeknights at home often find us ordering in. For us, our go- to is Thai food, and we’ve discovered that a few infusions—spicy chili-fueled hot sauce, spiked salted lime soda—magically upgrade the whole meal from standard delivery to a truly satisfying dinner. Still hungry? Mix up a batch of popcorn topped with a sweet and spicy sriracha infused butter, put on a movie, and enjoy a great night in.

Makes one cocktail

This effervescent cocktail combines Salted Lime Syrup with fresh lime juice, club soda, and a Thai spirit called Mekhong (which is similar to a rum and is infused with herbs and spices). If you can’t find Mekhong, this recipe also works well with a high-quality white rum.

Movie Night

There are so many people who deserve credit for their help on this project, but, with limited space, I want to thank a few in particular … To my parents: Thank you for not only listening to my crazy ideas, but encouraging me to pursue them. I learned everything I know about perseverance and persistence from you. To our friends: At this point, y’all are old hats at being hand models, taste testers, and sounding boards for our (sometimes harebrained) ideas. We can’t thank you enough for your help and enthusiasm. We’ll make it up to you someday (and not just with a copy of this book). To Bianca: Words can’t sum up how grateful I am for your patience, insight, and support. You’re there through it all, and you just keep adding to every project we tackle. “Better half” doesn’t even begin to describe it. Thank you for everything. To Josh: When I showed up to that first day of college with nothing more than a duffle bag and a few dreams, little did I know that the kid across the room with the stack of cookbooks next to his bed (and a bottle of peach bourbon under it) would become my lifelong friend and business partner. Cheers to shooting for the moon, and having a good time doing it.

To my parents: Thank you for instilling and supporting my passion for cooking and food, and for funding my obscenely expensive cookbook-buying habit for so many years. Hopefully my time spent away from college at culinary school now actually makes some sense. To Eric: Thanks for being the best business partner, friend, and hand model I could ever hope for (your nails look great by the way … did you get a manicure?). To Bianca: Thank you for transforming our attempts at writing into what you read today in this book. You are a truly talented editor. To our friends who gave their time, advice, and support for free: Thank you (a special thanks to a certain Australian silverware hunter, you’re the best). To Rebecca: Thank you for being my sounding board and tremendously patient better half. Your support and advice made this book what it is today. Thank you for putting up with so many late nights and crowded refrigerators packed with strange looking Mason jars labeled with things like “ROAST-PINE-MEZ // DO NOT OPEN.” Thanks for not opening that. And an even bigger thanks for tasting it when I did.