Top 10 Cookbook And Drink Gift Pairings: The Hard Alcohol Edition

J. Garbee

Saffron Makes So Many Things Better. Much Better.

Those crazy low Amazon prices are great if you're buying a new cookbook for yourself, but they quickly deflate that $50 $32 Noma perceived gift value. What better to pair with a cookbook than something to drink? Because those "blueberries surrounded by their natural environment" in René Redzepi's new cookbook are going to take a long time to make. Which is precisely why your friends will appreciate the Scandinavian aquavit you hand over along with that cookbook. Stove-side sips to fill the time.

Turn the page for the rest of our Top Ten 2010 Cookbook and Drink Pairings, The Hard Alcohol Edition.

J. Garbee

Windowsill Essentials

10. Ocean Wise Cookbook + Alaska Distillery's Smoked Salmon Vodka:
Because what says 2008 2009 2010 more than Sarah Palin? On that note, we all could use another shot of smoked salmon-flavored vodka from Alaska Distillery. This recently released Ocean Wise sustainable seafood cookbook from Vancouver Aquarium wouldn't hurt, either.

9. Kansha + Yamazaki Single Malt 12 year Whisky:
Because any cookbook by Elizabeth Andoh deserves a long, thoughtful look. Her latest, Kansha, is an elegant spread of vegan and vegetarian Japanese dishes, as narrated in her characteristic cultural history discovery tone (Andoh was born in New York but has lived in Japan for more than forty years). All you need with that creamy sesame pudding is a glass of fine Japanese (yes, Japanese) Yamazaki whisky.

J. Garbee

Dessert And Digestif

8. Dulce + Milagro Añejo:
Anejo tequilas, like many Mexican pastries, are misunderstood souls (they're not all canned condensed milk and double-shot sort of ingestibles). Dulce by pastry chef Joseluis Flores takes that tres leches cake and flavors it with coffee, then tops it with a chocolate-kirsch sauce. The sort of thing we'd pair with $40 Milagro añejo , a real value for such a smooth sipper.

7. Southern Pies + Vermont Sapling Liqueur:
Because baking a peanut butter cream pie with chocolate crust from this new pie cookbook and serving it with really good maple syrup-based liqueur is a much more useful, and fun, nod to North/South history than Civil War reenactments. Trust us. The green tomato pie recipe (a dessert version seasoned with cinnamon and nutmeg) in the book? Well, we're going to leave that one up to you.

6. At Home With Madhjur Jaffrey + Sub Rosa Saffron Vodka:
Sometimes, you get so excited you spill your last few threads of saffron, as we did when flipping through Madhjur Jaffrey's latest book. These are good moments to have Sub Rosa's saffron vodka, a food-friendly and complex saffron and spice-infused vodka, on hand.