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Vinegar

Personally, I would want to have about half a dozen vinegars available. They keep better and for longer than oils, so it’s good to have a varied selection suitable for different kinds of salads, confits (preserves) and sometimes cooked dishes. You will find dozens of designer varieties available but, as always, I say keep it simple and buy the best quality you can afford – some cheaper vinegars are too acidic and lacking in flavour.

Thais use a mild, plain white vinegar. Cider or Japanese rice wine vinegar can be used instead.

Wine vinegar
Originally the French word vinaigre, from which we get our word vinegar, meant sour wine, but now it embraces all similar liquids where alcohol is turned into acetic acid. As you might expect, wine vinegar comes either red or white, and the best quality is that made by the Orléans method, which, because of its long, slow fermentation in oak casks, has depth of flavour without the overpowering acidity.

Balsamic vinegar
After struggling in the past to find good-quality wine vinegar, when aceto balsamico (as it’s called in Italy) appeared, it was like discovering heaven. It is not a wine vinegar but a grape vinegar, made from fresh-pressed grape juice, aged in barrels of oak, ash, cherry wood, mulberry and juniper – all contributing to its unique flavour. Each year new grape juice is added and skilfully blended over a period of eight to 12 years to produce the dark, sweet-sour amber liquid that makes one of the best salad dressings of all.

Sherry vinegar
A very special vinegar made, if I may say, from a very special drink. I love Spanish sherry, both to drink and to cook with, and the vinegar from the sherry grape must (newly pressed juice) has its own delightfully rich, sweet, nutty flavour. Though quite different from balsamico, it is equally good sprinkled over salads and cooked vegetables just by itself.

Cider vinegar
As you’d expect, a vinegar distilled from cider, milder and less acidic than wine vinegar. It has a lovely, fragrant apple flavour and is good for salad dressings, particularly if the salad contains fruit.

Rice vinegar
It’s marvellous how vinegar turns up around the world distilled from whatever grows locally, so it’s not surprising that in the Far East vinegar is made from rice. The Japanese have the best quality, and I always have some handy for making oriental salads and dipping sauces.

Tips for measuring, temperatures, or conversion from imperial to metric

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Recipes that use this ingredient

Ajo Blanco – Chilled Almond Soup

Allgäuer Käsesalat – Cheese Salad

Almost Mayonnaise

American Blue-cheese Dressing

American Chef's Salad

American Meatloaf with Red Onion, Tomato and Chilli Relish

Anchoïade with Toasted Goats' Cheese Croûtons

Anya Potato Salad with Shallots and Vinaigrette

Baby Summer Vegetables with Lemon Vinaigrette

Baked Lamb with Rosemary with Redcurrant and Mint Sauce

Baked Stuffed Sardines

Barbecued Sardines with Summer Herb Sauce

Beef Tenderloin with Capers

Berliner Linsentopf - Lentils with Bacon

Birnen, Bohnen und Speck – Pears, Beans & Bacon

Blindes Huhn (“Blind Hen”) (Carrots & Green Beans with Bacon & Apples)

Bloody Mary Soup

Braised Wood Pigeon with Cider Apple Sauce and a Confit of Apples and Shallots

Breadcrumbed Calves' Brains with Tomato & Basil Dressing

Bremer Kükenragout (Chicken Ragout with Tongue, Brains and Prawns)

Broad Bean Salad with Pancetta and Sherry Vinegar

Brown and Wild Rice Salad with Dried Cranberries

Cabbage with Bacon, Apples and Cider

Calves' Liver with Melted Onions and Marsala

Camargue Red Rice Salad with Feta Cheese

Caramelised Balsamic and Red Onion Tarts with Goats' Cheese

Celery Baked in Vinaigrette with Pancetta and Shallots

Char-grilled Aubergine and Roasted Tomato Salad with Feta Cheese

Char-grilled Squid with Chilli Jam

Char-grilled Tuna with Warm Coriander and Caper Vinaigrette

Cheese and Herb Fritters with Sweet Pepper Marmalade

Chicken Cacciatora

Chicken Liver Pâté with Cognac, with Sweet-and-Sour Red Onion Salad

Chicken with Sherry Vinegar and Tarragon Sauce

Chilled Fennel Gazpacho with Olive Ciabatta Croûtons

Chilled Marinated Trout with Fennel

Chilled Spanish Gazpacho

Christmas Chutney

Chunky Green Salad

Cold Poached Egg Salad with Watercress Sauce

Compôte of Glazed Shallots

Confit of Cranberries for serving with Game or Duck

Cranberry and Onion Confit

Crisp Roast Duck with a Confit of Rhubarb and Ginger

Crisp Roast Duck with a Confit of Sour Cherries

Crisp Roast Gressingham Duck with a Forcemeat Stuffing and a Confit of Apples and Prunes

Deep-fried Prawns tied with Noodle Bows with a Sweet and Sour Dipping Sauce

Devilled Spare Ribs

Eggs Mayonnaise

Escalopes of Veal in Marsala

Fast Roast Pork with Rosemary and Caramelised Apples

Fennel Milanese Style

Fleischslat auf Bremer Art (Bremen Meat Salad with Frankfurters and Mayonnaise)

Foaming Hollandaise

Foil-baked Whole Fresh Salmon with Green Herb Mayonnaise

Four Star Salad

Fresh Asparagus with Foaming Hollandaise

Fresh Fruit and Mint Vinaigrette

Fried Halloumi Cheese with Lime and Caper Vinaigrette

Fried Herrings with Oatmeal and a Beetroot Relish

Gaisburger Marsch – Beef Stew with Potatoes and Spätzle

Gebratenes Rehschnitzel – Fried Venison Steaks

Geräucherter Zungensalat (Smoked Ox-Togue Salad)

Gesülzte Forellen – Jellied Trout

Giardiniere Pickles (Italian Garden Pickles)

Globe Artichokes with Shallot Vinaigrette

Gooseberry and Crème Fraîche Tart

Green Herb and Rice Salad

Grilled Lemon Chicken Kebabs

Grilled Venison Steaks with Red Onion, Grape and Raisin Confit

Gurkensalat (Cucumber Salad)

Hamburger Aalsuppe (Hamburg Eel Soup)

Hamburger Heringssalat – Herring and Apple Salad

Ham Slices with Anchovy Sauce

Hasenpfeffer – Braised Hare in Red Wine

Hausmacher Sülze (Homemade Brawn)

Hering in Saurer Sahne – Herrings in Sour Cream

Hirn Überbacken - Brains au Gratin

Hollandaise Sauce

Hot and Sour Pickled Prawns

Kaldshirn Suppe (Calf’s Brain Soup)

Königsberger Kohlsuppe (Cabbage Soup)

Lachstüten mit Meerrettich Rahm – Salmon with Horseradish Cream

Lamb Ossobuco with an ‘almost’ Risotto Milanese

Leber Süss-Saur (Sweet and Sour Calf’s Liver)

Linsen auf Schwäbische Art - Swabian Lentils

Marinated Chicken in a Jar

Marinated Cucumber and Sesame Salad

Marinated Courgette and Coriander Salad

Marinated Courgettes with a Herb Vinaigrette

Marinated Mushrooms with Garlic and Smoked Pimentón Mayonnaise

Mashed Black-eyed Beancakes with Ginger Onion Marmalade

Mixed Vegetable Salad a la Grecque

Mixed Vegetables a la Grecque

Normandy Pork with Cider

Oven-baked Chicken in Maple Barbecue Sauce

Oven-baked Pork Chops in Maple Barbecue Sauce

Penne with Wild Mushrooms and Crème Fraîche

Pepper-Crusted Fillet of Beef with Roasted Balsamic Onions and Thyme

Pepper-crusted Monkfish with Red Pepper Relish

Pfifferlingsalut auf Bremer Art (Pickled Mushrooms)

Pickled Beetroot with Shallots

Pickled Peppers and Courgettes

Pickled Shallots in Sherry Vinegar

Piquant Tomato Sauce

Poached Quail Egg Salad with Watercress and Tarragon Sauce

Pommersches Entenklein (Pommeranian Giblet Stew)

Pork Braised in Cider Vinegar Sauce

Pork Chops with a Confit of Prunes, Apples and Shallots

Pork Chops with Olives

Pork Kebabs with Honey and Ginger

Pork Sausages Braised in Cider with Apples and Juniper

Potato Chips with Red Onion, Tomato and Chilli Relish

Potato Salad with Roquefort

Pot-roasted Beef in Red Wine with Red Onion Marmalade

Preserved Pickled Peaches

Rabbit with Peppers

Red Onion Tarte Tatin

Rettichsalat (Radish Salad)

Rillettes of Duck with Confit of Cranberries

Roast Leg of Pork

Roast Quail Wrapped in Pancetta and Vine Leaves with Grape Confit

Roasted Figs with Gorgonzola and Honey-vinegar Sauce

Roasted Monkfish with Romesco Sauce

Roasted Tomato Salad

Roasted Tomato Soup with Purée of Basil and Olive Croûtons

Salmon or Salmon Trout Stuffed with Black Olives

Salmon Steaks with Avocado and Crème Fraîche Sauce

Salmon Trout with Aïoli

Salmon with a Saffron Couscous Crust and Tomato and Olive Vinaigrette

Sauerbraten Auf Norddeutsche Art – North German Sauerbraten (marinated in buttermilk and lemon juice)

Saure Meerrettichkartoffeln (Sour Horse-Radish Potatoes)

Sausages Braised in Cider with Sauteed Apples

Soused Herrings

Spiced Mustard Pickle – Piccalilli

Stir-fried Spiced Red Cabbage with Apples

Strawberry and Balsamic Ice Cream with Sweet Strawberry and Mint Salsa

Süss-Saure Grüne Bohnen - Sweet-Sour Beans

Sweet & Sour Lamb

Teriyaki Grilled Marinated Salmon with Marinated Cucumber and Sesame Salad

Thai Fish Cakes with Cucumber Dipping Sauce

Toasted Goats' Cheese with Blackened Sherry-vinegar Onions

Traditional Braised Red Cabbage with Apples

Trout Al Carpione

Veal Cutlets with Pecorino

Warm Lentil Salad with Walnuts and Goats' Cheese

Weimarer Ochsenzunge – Beef Tongue with Raisin Sauce

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