FLAVORED oils are invaluable summer ingredients, at home over salads, grilled vegetables, meat, fish or almost anything else for that matter. They’re also among the simplest exotic kitchen creations imaginable.

You can pay $15 or even $30 for a half-liter bottle of flavored oil, or you can pay for oil plus herbs plus bottle, more likely to be around $10 a liter, and wind up with something considerably better.

Image Credit... Evan Sung for The New York Times

And when you make these yourself, not only do you know the quality of your ingredients, you know how you want them combined; when I see chili-rosemary-chive-pink peppercorn oil, for example, I want to run the other way. When I make ginger oil, I can’t wait to cook with it.