Book Club Bites: A Michael Saltz Manhattan with Jalapeno-Infused Bourbon

One of the main characters in Food Whore is Michael Saltz: a manipulative, secretive creep who lies to Tia to get his way.

And yet. It was important to me that he wasn’t a cartoon villain. We can spot overt power plays and runaway egotism a mile away. It gets more complicated when the person appeals to a desire within you.

For Tia, that’s recognition and making it in NYC. Michael Saltz offers that in an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime arrangement. Except there’s a catch…

This is a classic Manhattan, with a little twist: jalapeños and ancho chilis infused in the bourbon. Manhattan (the city and the drink) will always sting. We know that. Here, it burns. I used two dried peppers to one fresh one. Why? This is a flash-infusion. If you use all fresh peppers, it will take longer for the flavors to infuse into the bourbon. The dry peppers absorb the liquid more readily, releasing their flavor.

Like Michael Saltz, this is a glamorous, sophisticated drink that packs more of a punch than you might expect. Sip carefully.

RECIPE: Using a vegetable peeler, peel the skin off half an orange. Place inside a mason jar with two dried ancho chilis and one red jalapeño (ie: a green jalapeño that has ripened and turned hotter). Pour 8 oz of bourbon (half a standard mason jar) and let steep at room temperature for at least one hour. After 24 hours, pick out the peppers.

In a cocktail shaker, add ice and 2 ounces bourbon and 1 ounce sweet vermouth. Shake, strain, and pour into a short glass. Spritz the oil of one orange peel into the glass and add with maraschino cherry. Repeat three more times until the bourbon is done.

Turkey Chili (with coffee & cocoa)

Great chili has soul. You might come across chili recipes that boast extreme prep times, like some miracle 30-minute workout. These recipes are roll calls of cans and ready-made mixes: Goya, Ro-Tel, McCormick. The flavors are shallow, merely the sum of their parts and nothing more.

You can't get soul in 30 minutes. You can, however, get soul in an hour and a half and with two guest stars -- coffee and chocolate.

I've made the mistake of thinking that meat and beans were enough. They aren't. I've tried to compensate with corn and chorizo and sweet potatoes. Not quite. It's rather hard to make the leap from slurry to stew.

Coffee and cocoa powder are miracle workers. Call them the Instagram filter for your lackluster chili. They smooth out the edges, they boost the main players, they blur out the imperfections.

In a perfect world, you'd cook this low and slow. But this recipe is no floozy. She's got enough soul to last you bowl after bowl.

RECIPE: Boil 1 1/2 cups of dried beans and soak for 40 minutes. In a Dutch oven, sauté 1 onion, 2 large carrots, 4 celery stalks, 1 cup of bell peppers (I like a combo of red, yellow and green) and 5 cloves of garlic, all diced. Add 1 tablespoon ground cumin, 2 tablespoons chili powder, 1 tablespoon paprika, 1 teaspoon ground coriander, and 1 tablespoon of salt. When the onion is translucent, add 1 pound of ground turkey meat. Break up the chunks with a wooden spatula and cook for 5 minutes, until some of the turkey is browned. (If you're using a fattier meat, I would cook the meat first so you can cook the veggies in the fat. Ground turkey breast will just dry out if you sauté it too long and is better served by steam and stewing.)

Add one 20 oz can of pureed tomatoes, one 6 oz can of tomato paste, and one 32 oz carton of chicken broth. Add the par-cooked beans and 1 cup of the bean water.

Add one tablespoon of instant coffee (!!) and one tablespoon of unsweetened coca powder. Simmer, partially covered, for 90 minutes or more.