Vodka

Charred Rosemary–Infused Vodka Kachka offers a variety of flavored vodkas, including this smoky collaboration with the chefs at Ox in Portland.

Don't worry.you won't need to buy any crabs to make these mind-altering wings. The crab flavor comes from a jarred condiment that's pretty easy to find at Asian markets; if not, use the shrimp version.

Grilling fresh tomatoes concentrates their flavor, making them super delicious in this Bloody Mary mix.

June 24 is the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist, the traditional day to harvest green walnuts for making nocino, a delicious liqueur invented at a congress of witches, according to Anna Tasca Lanza, the doyenne of Sicilian cooking. Lanza's witches were Italian, but other countries from Croatia to France to the chilly Teutonic regions equally claim greenwalnut liqueur as their own. I learned to make it at the Institute of Domestic Technology, a cooking school in Altadena, California, where I also teach. When you harvest the nuts—working barefoot, according to some folklore—they are smaller than eggs, smooth to the touch, and crisp like apples, because the shells have not yet hardened. The nutmeats, at this stage, are jelly. Like most liqueurs, nocino is easy but requires patience. You slice the nuts and cover them with strong booze, sugar, and spice, and allow the mixture to infuse for forty days, until it is nearly black. The real test of patience begins after you bottle it. Ten-year-old nocino is said to be the best, and certainly you would never drink this summer's batch before cold weather sets in this fall. Mature nocino has a complex flavor of nutmeg, allspice, coffee, and caramel. Drink it neat as a digestif, or use it to flavor desserts. A few tablespoons of nocino lightly whisked into a cup of heavy cream will cause it to seize, as if magically transformed into cooked custard. The thickened cream is called "posset," and can be used as a sauce alongside cakes or other desserts. My nocino recipe is based on those from the Institute of Domestic Technology and Lanza's Sicilian cookbook The Garden of Endangered Fruit. Its fundamentals are green walnuts, 80-proof grain spirits, and sugar. (My secret ingredient is coffee beans.) You can change the aromatics if you like, but use small quantities, because the spices can take over. Green walnuts are sometimes available at farmers' markets, or can be ordered online at www.localharvest.org.

On a really hot day, freeze fruit for an hour or two prior to serving—it acts like sweet ice cubes.

Infinite Jest (1996)
By David Foster Wallace A Ten Commandments-size cast populates this rule-breaking modern classic, infamous for sprawling prose, endless footnotes,¹ and a madcap depiction of the future.² Confounding and delightful in equal measure, Jest takes place in the 'burbs of Boston,³ between a halfway house and a nearby tennis academy. Wallace had one of his central characters take his own life, and in a tragic true-life twist, Wallace did the same, leaving behind a magnum opus that will be argued and digested for infinity. Serve up a tennis-ball-yellow cocktail that mimics the zest and bounce of one fallen literary legend.

One of the few vodka-based tiki drinks.

This cocktail is from Ashley Christensen's Fox Liquor Bar in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Wiśniówka "Life is dandy, cherry brandy!" So goes a line from a poem by Russian writer Osip Mandelstam—meant to be ironic, of course, as he lived in the darkest days of Stalinism and died in the Gulag. Cherry brandy, cherry vodka, cherry liqueurs: These are the obvious consequence of Eastern Europe's famous and abundant cherry orchards, of which there are just as many in Poland as there are in provincial Russia. Do note that this recipe works for any kind of fruit that is not too sweet. In particular it is worth trying with black currants or Polish jagody—wild blueberries—if you can find them. The quantities given here are for a 34-oz/1-L jar, but do reduce them (or increase them!) in proportion to the bottle you are using.

Muddled peas add a fresh twist.

Martini drinker? Try this Italian take on the Vesper, which uses the slightly sweet aperitif Cocchi Americano.

"Using kombucha for tartness in this drink offers a flavor profile that we know and love in highballs like a Tom Collins, but with a different perspective." —Eamon Rockey; Aska, Brooklyn

If juicing sounds too healthy for you, may we suggest adding booze? The beets turn the vodka a fantastic shade of pink, and ginger adds a flavorful kick.

"Spirits are delicious when infused with fresh fruit. Vodka is like a blank canvas—it will take on the flavor of whatever you add to it." —Mary-Frances Heck, test kitchen director

You can use any ripe berries to make this seasonal pitcher cocktail.

Can't find aquavit? It's easy to make your own by infusing vodka with herbs and spices.

Sean Traynor, bartender at The Windsor in Phoenix, Arizona, created this crisp, beautifully hued cocktail for our story Spring Cocktails Perfect for Brunch. Sparkling wine is often used to top off a drink, but in this case Traynor mixes it with the rest of the ingredients in the cocktail shaker. The reason? He's using it more for its acidity and flavor than effervescence. For pure peach flavor, Traynor insists on a true peach-based liqueur, so put away the peach Schnapps; he recommends Sathenay Crème de Pêche de Vigne Liqueur, Rothman & Winter Orchard Peach Liqueur, or Massenez Crème de Pêche.