9 Foods Infused With Booze (Slideshow)
Dave Arnold is a master of experimental cuisine, but he outdid himself in 2007 when he invented a way to make a pickle that packs a serious punch. According to The New York Times, he uses a vacuum machine to force all the moisture out of a peeled, quartered cucumber, then breaks the seal, forcing in an eight-to-one mixture of gin and vermouth, with a dash of simple syrup. Each spear contains roughly the same amount of alcohol as a standard martini!
Whipped Lightning
Boozy whipped cream is admittedly pretty darn genius. Whipped Lightning sells canisters containing cream, grain-neutral spirits, and flavors including pumpkin pie, coconut cream pie, chocolate mint, spiced vanilla, white chocolate raspberry, and hazelnut espresso, with an alcohol content of 16.75 percent.
Beer Mustard and Beer Cheese
Both of these products are kindred spirits, because they both take an everyday food, mix in beer, and — voilà! — a fantastic new food product, soon to be found at a pub near you. Plenty of companies make both of these products — we like Kosciusko and Floyd, respectively — but they're also fun to whip up at home. While you shouldn't expect to get a buzz from eating either of these (unless you're a major lightweight), you can still definitely taste the beer. And it tastes good.
Vodka Turkey
Yes, vodka turkey. Back in 2010, the folks from Georgi and the now-closed bar P.D. O'Hurley's got it into their heads that a vodka-infused turkey would be a good thing, so they devised a recipe that involves marinating a turkey in 20 ounces of fruit-flavored vodka and injecting more into it after it's done cooking. We had the chance to sample the results, and it basically tasted like someone had spritzed some vodka onto a slice of turkey. Certainly creative, though! If you'd like to make one for yourself, Gothamist has a recipe.
Cupcakes
California-based Hapa Cupcakes specializes in alcohol-infused desserts, and they sound outrageously delicious. Flavors include chocolate whiskey, strawberries and champagne, cinnamon sugar Kahlua, and banana rum, and a dozen sell for $34. Show up with some of these and you'll definitely be the life of the party!
Pizza
Yes, alcohol-infused pizza exists, at a Boston-area chain called Salvatore's. In 2011, they introduced a "21-plus pizza" that packs a boozy punch. The secret? Dried cherries that have been rehydrated in raspberry vodka. The pizza, which you actually need to be 21 to order, also contains fresh mozzarella, Gorgonzola, prosciutto, and orange blossom honey, and as the alcohol in the cherries doesn't burn off during cooking, you can really taste it (although you'd probably need to eat several pies before getting buzzed).
Oranges
Yes, Virginia, you can make a boozy orange. All you need is an orange and a little bottle of vodka. According to this Pinterest board, all you have to do is remove the stem and enough of the space around it to insert the bottle. Then poke around inside the orange to release some juice and stick the open bottle inside the hole, facing down. Let it chill for six to eight hours, remove the bottle, peel the orange, and enjoy your Screwdriver!
Watermelon
Watermelons are apparently very absorbent. So much so that a mini-watermelon can actually hold an entire bottle of vodka if done properly. To do this, cut a small "plug" out of the watermelon, making sure you cut all the way into the flesh. Then insert a funnel and slowly pour in the vodka until it's all absorbed, which can take upward of an hour (you can also just put the open vodka bottle upside-down in the hole and let it drain. Then re-insert the plug, give it a few more hours to distribute, and slice it up. Beware, this is going to be strong! One small watermelon is enough to get a whole group of people feeling pretty buzzed.
Jell-O
The famous Jell-O shot might just be the most widely consumed boozy food, most likely because they're sweet and really easy to make. While it might seem like they haven't been around for too long, "jelly shots" actually date back to the 1860s, when none other than the father of the modern cocktail, Jerry Thomas, included a recipe for one in his legendary The Bon Vivant's Companion. It included cognac, rum, lemon juice, and gelatin. Today they're made by replacing some of the water in Jell-O with liquor, and are one of the more dangerous items to introduce to a party.