Infuse: Oil Spirit Water

Eric Prum and Josh Williams, the team that brought us Shake have added a new book (and product) to their growing line. Infuse starts with that ubiquitous Mason jar and tops it with their new product, the infuser cap.

Infusing stuff is not this revolutionary idea. It is as old as the hills. What is new is the design for the infusion top. Williams and Prum who are W & P Design found that they had loads of infusions sitting around in Mason jars. When they tried to add them to drinks or whatever...they ended up with infusing the table and floor more than the drink. Since they are designers, they set out solve the problem.

If you are one of those people, like myself, who has jars and crocks, and bottles of concoctions sitting around infusing and steeping, you will understand this problem.  My beautiful, oak vinaigrier is full of red wine vinegar, but the oak spout is often clogged making it hard to get to the vinegar. The tall Italian infusing bottle is equipped with a small spigot at the bottom to release the infusion, but the peels and spices are the first things sucked into the spigot, which immediately clogs. A bag of glass marbles aids in keeping the ingredients at bay, but doesn't allow for easy agitation of the infusion. And those Mason jars...well the current cherry bounce has more than once bounced onto my shirt!

W & P Design not only came up with a great design, but they came up with a book to show us how to use the design and become master infusers. Infuse, like Shake before it features photos of the mise en place for the recipes. For instance, the Olio Santo is a Calabrian chili oil.  On the table are the infuser, the oil and the peppers.

You, too, can master this recipe!

Olio Santo

1/2 oz of dried Calabrian chilies
8 oz of extra virgin olive oil

i         Grind the chilies in a spice grinder of food processor
          until coarsely ground. (Use gloves or wash your hands
          after handling!)

ii        Combine with the olive oil in an 8 oz Mason jar. Seal
           and shake briefly until the ground chilies are evenly
           mixed in the oil.

iii        Let sit in a cool dark place for two weeks to allow the
            oil to infuse and the chilies to settle.

iiii        Use sparingly as you wold use hot sauce. the infusion
             will keep u to two months if kept in a cool, dark place. 

As the title implies, there are many mediums to infuse, oil, spirits, and water for instance. Just when you think you have thought of EVERYTHING to infuse in every way...Infuse comes up with new ideas.

My biggest problem with the whole Infuse thing is that, after reading the book, I want at least a dozen stainless spouts to infuse away and the spouts are a tad pricey.  I will wait for the next iteration...the large mouth spout!

Now get out there and infuse something!