Vinegar: Varieties and Use

[godito]

Escabeche! Pork escabeche, chicken escabeche or just any vegetable (couliflower and carrots come to mind, but red onions are great also)

Ooh, beef tongue escabeche also!

I also use vinegar to marinate quite a bit

[ned]

I had a drink at a Japanese restaurant not so long ago that was vinegar infused with plum then mixed with soda and served with ice. Odd drink, definitely not sweet. Had the quality of an aperitif. Not for quaffing.

[Kevin Weeks]

How do all of you use vinegar? 

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This was amazingly good:

http://seriouslygood.kdweeks.com/2005/06/sherry-vinegar.html

[Steven Blaski]

Can anyone recommend their favorite vinegar brands for the three varieties below?

red:

white:

champagne:

Thanks.

Steven

[Megan Blocker]

I've been very into champagne vinaigrettes with garlic and sherry vinaigrettes with shallots recently.

Outside of the salad realm, I'm a big fan of vinegar in my pasta sauce. I use a touch - just a touch - of balsamic vingar to finish my quick tomato, basil, and garlic sauce. It makes things just a little more piquante, but the flavor of the vinegar does not impose itself too much.

Another pasta I make has garlic, onions, olive oil, hot pepper flakes, broccolini, and balsamic vinegar. It's one of my favorite comfort foods. This one definitely emphasizes the flavor of the vinegar, but cooking it down with the onions and garlic and a little pasta cooking water makes it sweet. Yum.

Mark Bittman had a recipe for chicken with sherry sauce that I used, but ended up using sherry vinegar instead of wine (since I didn't feel like going to the liquor store). It was good, too!

Growing up, my dad used Ken's Red Wine Vinegar dressing to marinate flank steak. I remember loving this, but suspect it would be too sweet for my palate at this point. But, out of nostalgia, this past weekend I marinated flank steak in olive oil, garlic, rosemary, and red wine vinegar. It was a raging success!

Edited September 9, 2005 by Megan Blocker (log)

[CaliPoutine]

In sally schneider's a new way to cook " sherry vinegar chicken"

Cook's illustrated " braised chicken with swiss chard, tomatoes and balsamic vinegar"

Yummy!!

[russ parsons]

i finish most soups and stews with a small shot of vinegar. it freshens the flavor and makes a terrific difference.

[fifi]

Let us not forget a good dousing of malt vinegar on crisply fried fish.

[Smithy]

Let us not forget a good dousing of malt vinegar on crisply fried fish.

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Yet again, Fifi beat me to the punch. I'll add: malt vinegar on chips. Lemon juice will do in a pinch, but it isn't the same. People in the States look at me oddly when I ask for vinegar for my fries, so it's always a relief to order chips in Canada or England and get the right stuff.

[torakris]

In sally schneider's a new way to cook " sherry vinegar chicken"

Yummy!!

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This is one of my favorite recipes!

Vinegar is used quite a bit in Japanese cooking. In simmered dishes (especially with chicken), in nanbanzuke--the Japanese version of escabeche and even in stirfried dishes. The latest health rage in Japan is drinking vinear, especially black vinegar. The Japanese black vinegar is quite mellow in comparison to its Chinese counterpart. I even saw a black vinegar yogurt...

For the longest time one of my favorite dishes was a sweet and sour pork made with bamboo shoots and shiitake with balsamic vinegar, then the restaurant stopped serving it...

[Pierogi]

I seem to be a vinegar magnet. I have just about every type of vinegar marketed. Rice wine, balsamic, white balsamic, sherry, Champagne, red wine, white wine, cider, I could go on but I won't. Apparently, I've never met a vinegar I won't buy. Some of them I've purchased for a specific recipe. Some of them because they're...*quote*...staples...*unquote*. Some I bought just 'cause they seemed interesting (anyone for some Mango-Chili flavored vinegar from Trader Joe's?).

The problem is I buy them and they sit on the counter, or in the fridge, or in the pantry, and when I do think to use them, or need to use them for a specific recipe, they've gone musty-tasting, or have a slime plug in them.

I do make salad dressing pretty regularly, and that's what I use the vinegars in most. I'll also drizzle some of the more interesting ones over plain steamed or roasted veggies. But other than that, unless a recipe says HEY, USE VINEGAR ! I never seem to think of them.

What do you all use vinegars for other than the obvious salad dressings?

[Bueno]

I'm a proud Vinegaholic and wear the badge for all to see (it's on my forehead, if you must know).

I use vinegar on fruit, in soups, in braises, in pan sauces, in marinades, in raw dishes, to pickle with, and even on ice cream! The uses for vinegars go so far beyond salad dressing. You just need to eliminate that imaginary barrier and open yourself up to all the different applications.

An aged balsamic on ice cream or fruit (sparingly, mind you) is glorious. Where would a bearnaise be without vinegar? Obviously pickling revolves around the stuff. Ceviches / sashimi / sushi are welcoming muses. Actually, Asian cuisines in general are big on using vinegar in their cuisines.

My vinegar collection is at least 25 strong.

[infernooo]

I found a new one today - Tomato vinegar (ingredients - tomato).

Love my Coconut and palm vinegars too (thanks Filipino's).

[Doodad]

We cook lots of Asian foods and make our dipping sauces. We are always out of vinegar.

[Gifted Gourmet]

tons of great vinegar ideas and discussion can be found here

Anything by Andiesenji will be both innovative and useful!

[Jean Blanchard]

I found a new one today - Tomato vinegar (ingredients - tomato).

Love my Coconut and palm vinegars too (thanks Filipino's).

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I bought tomato vinegar a couple of months ago when I was in France. Mostly because it looked so pretty in the bottle. I've yet to open it. How do you use yours?

[Bueno]

Ice Wine Vinegar, Pear Vinegar, Radish Vinegar, Tomato Vinegar, Rice Wine Vinegar, Riesling Vinegar, Meyer Lemon Vinegar, Kumquat Vinegar, and Yuzu Vinegar are.... I suppose, the favourites of my collection. But honestly, I love them all like sour children.

[DMS]

Try looking in Sally Schneider's The New Way to Cook - she uses vinegars quite often in that book.

[MattJohnson]

Also, I don't think that slime cap indicates the vinegar is bad. I think its just a mother forming. I've been reading up on making one's own vinegar and remember reading that.

[Toliver]

You're on the right track with salad dressings. Don't forget you can also make some interesting cole slaws with your different vinegars.

Vinegars go great with most pork dishes. Also with sausages, brats, and the like (helps to cut the richness).

Vinegars are a good addition with some bean dishes, too. I always add a liberal splash of vinegar to my mom's Navy Bean soup.

[Kerry Beal]

I have a bottle of japanese Uchibori Apple Dessert vinegar I was given by the Canadian distributor. I haven't tried it for anything yet.

Any suggestions?

[andiesenji]

The thing that few people seem to consider is drinking vinegar.

I don't mean drinking it straight, but try diluting some with water or club soda (I always have a soda siphon filled and ready to go because I use it a lot and also in baking some quick breads).

A dollop of one of the fruit syrups, added to one of the "fruity" or milder vinegars - even a good apple cider vinegar - then charged with soda water, makes a great drink.

Consider that the Roman army routinely drank diluted vinegar because it was safer than water when they were on the march and we all know how successful they were!!

A friend who visited several Balsamic producers around Modena a few years ago, was treated to "sipping" Balsamic that was served in the tiny liquer glasses that are pretty much useless for anything else. (The glasses I mean..)

He brought me a bottle of very old Balsamic that was obviously intended for export because it includes a little booklet printed in both English and Italian.

I finally opened it during the holidays last year and it has extraordinary flavor. I transferred some to a little bottle with a dropper - meant for flavored extracts - and use a few drops at a time. I have to confess that a couple of drops have ended up on my tongue..........

Edited November 16, 2007 by andiesenji (log)

[John DePaula]

I love this recipe for Roasted Fig Chicken.

Sometimes I like to use dried apricots, in place of the figs.

Note: the recipe omits 1/4 c. water from the ingredient list.

[viva]

The thing that few people seem to consider is drinking vinegar.

I don't mean drinking it straight, but try diluting some with water or club soda (I always have a soda siphon filled and ready to go because I use it a lot and also in baking some quick breads).

A dollop of one of the fruit syrups, added to one of the "fruity" or milder vinegars - even a good apple cider vinegar - then charged with soda water, makes a great drink.

Consider that the Roman army routinely drank diluted vinegar because it was safer than water when they were on the march and we all know how successful they were!!

A friend who visited several Balsamic producers around Modena a few years ago, was treated to "sipping" Balsamic that was served in the tiny liquer glasses that are pretty much useless for anything else. (The glasses I mean..)

He brought me a bottle of very old Balsamic that was obviously intended for export because it includes a little booklet printed in both English and Italian.

I finally opened it during the holidays last year and it has extraordinary flavor.  I transferred some to a little bottle with a dropper - meant for flavored extracts - and use a few drops at a time.  I have to confess that a couple of drops have ended up on my tongue..........

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That's a neat idea. I made a blackberry vinegar with the summer blackberries, and I bet that would taste great with club soda.

[Eman57]

I was just wondering if anyone can help me figure out how they measure the strength of vinegar. Is it measured in grains? If so which direction does the scale go in? The one im using is 120 grain and i need a stronger one.

Thanks!!

Edited June 27, 2011 by Eman57 (log)