GIVE IT ZING, MAKE IT SING—WITH VINEGAR

I’VE got a magic ingredient right in the pantry. A few drops of this special essence works magic in sauces, stews, and salads. It turns hum-drum dishes into snappy, gourmet creations. It gives foods zing, it makes them sing.

What is it? Vinegar! Yes, regular vinegar like you use on everyday salads, plus special vinegars, those made with varietal wines, cask-aged or flavored with fruit or herbs.

A palate of vinegars--from the left, sweet Málaga wine vinegar, Sherry vinegar, raspberry "balsamic," white wine vinegar, and Pedro Ximenez (also Sherry) vinegar. Missing from the pantry is red wine vinegar.

Vinegar is produced by the action of acetic bacteria, which consume the alcohol (in wine, cider, beer, honey, rice lees, fruit juice) and transform it into acetic acid.  (The word vinegar derives from “vin aigre”, meaning “sour wine.”)

Sometimes acetification happens during the making of wine, in which case, it is a serious defect. However, the ancients knew that this soured wine was a potent preservative, for the high acidity prevents spoilage of foods. They also knew vinegar as a useful condiment. From both the need to preserve food and to season it derive all the various pickles, relishes, chutneys and sambals which liven up meals the world over.

Commercial wine vinegar is made in industrial-scale vats, producing a sharp vinegar with little depth of flavor, in only a few days. 

But in wine regions such as Jerez (Sherry), vinegar is produced by allowing the base wine, made from Sherry grapes, to acidify and mature slowly in the solera system of stacked oak barrels. The most mature vinegar is drawn off from the bottom row of casks—the solera (from suelo, floor).

Cask-aged vinegar has depth of flavor and color as well as acidity. The ones made from sweet wines, such as Málaga and Pedro Ximenez, are sweet as well as tangy.

As the wine slowly turns to vinegar, it takes on a mellow, rounded flavor, giving Sherry vinegar its special appeal. It has higher acidity (7 percent or up to 8 percent for aged reserva vinegar) than industrial wine vinegar (6 percent), so a little goes a long way. Most Sherry vinegar is produced from the Palomino grape (the same variety used for fino Sherry). That made from the Pedro Ximenez grape produces a semi-sweet vinegar. Sherry vinegar has its own protected denominación de origen, Vinagre de Jerez.

Other wine regions have specialty vinegars also, such as red wine vinegar from the Rioja and single varietal vinegars such as Garnacha red wine vinegar.

Other vinegars to be found on the shelf in the supermarket are cider, white, malt, rice and balsamic. Real balsamic vinegar comes from Modena, Italy, and is fermented from the boiled must of the white Trebbiano de Spagna grape. It is aged in wood casks from 10 to 100 years. However, most of what is sold as balsamic are industrial copies, colored with caramel (sugar) and never aged in wooden barrels. (I never use it.)

Store vinegar in a cool, dark place. Good ones should be purchased in glass bottles, not plastic. In the kitchen, use only glass, enamel and stainless steel when cooking with vinegar. Don't use vinegar with aluminum, copper, zinc or cast-iron, as the acid reacts with those metals.

Sherry vinegar adds tang to sauce for pork chops with apricots.

Vinegar tips:

• For flakier pie crust, add a teaspoon of vinegar to the pastry dough.

• To enhance the sweetness of strawberries: macerate sliced berries with sugar and a spoonful of vinegar.

• Add a few drops of vinegar to meringue to stabilize it.

• Use vinegar to de-glaze a pan after sautéing and you create "instant" sauce. Chicken breast, liver, fish, steak, all taste better with a shot of vinegar. This is a good way to use herb or fruit vinegar too.

• Use vinegar when food needs a flavor boost, such as in salt-free cookery.

• Add six tablespoons of vinegar to water when making fish stock or chicken broth. Vinegar enhances the stock's flavor.

• Use a few drops of vinegar in rinse water to get sparkling glassware.

 Chile Vinegar

This recipe was given to me by the late Don Mauricio González Gordon, Marques of Bonanza, who headed the Sherry house Gonzalez Byass (makers of Tio Pepe). One good way to use chile vinegar, Don Mauricio told me, is to add it to lentil stew right before serving.

Pack a small flask with chile peppers, stems removed. Add Sherry vinegar to fill the flask. Stopper tightly. Let set at least one week. Use as required, topping up the bottle with vinegar as needed. 

Pork Chops With Apricot-Vinegar Sauce

Fruit balances vinegar's tang in this savory sauce for pork chops.

In olden times, when vinegar was an essential preservative, the sourness of vinegary foods was balanced with sweet fruit and honey. Thus, sweet and sour tastes have long been part of traditional cooking. 

Ibérico pork chops, marbled with fat.

I used ibérico pork chops for this recipe. Marbled with fat, they are exceptionally juicy.

    4 thick-cut loin pork chops
    Salt and pepper
    1 tablespoon olive oil
    4-6 firm-ripe apricots, halved
    2 tablespoons minced onion
    1 clove minced garlic
    ¼ cup apricot jam
    1/3 cup Sherry or Pedro Ximenez vinegar
    1/3 cup water
    Sprig rosemary or thyme

Sprinkle the chops with salt and pepper and allow to stand 30 minutes.

Heat the oil in a skillet and sear the apricots, cut-side down, about 1 minute. Turn and sear reverse side. Remove them and set aside.

Simmer chops with apricots and vinegar.

Sear the pork chops on both sides and remove. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of fat.  Add the minced onion and garlic to the pan and sauté until softened and beginning to brown, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the apricot jam, vinegar, water, salt and pepper, rosemary or thyme. Stir to combine.

Return the pork chops and apricots to the pan and cook until pork is cooked, turning them once, about 5 minutes, depending on thickness.

Tender pork with a sweet and sour sauce.

Vinaigrette
Vinagreta

Mix vinaigrette in a jar--easy to shake it up. Use best extra virgin olive oil and Sherry vinegar.

Vinaigrette sauce is a marvelous addition to many dishes. For instance: spoon it over grilled fish immediately before serving. Combine it with green beans, artichokes, asparagus, cabbage, boiled potatoes, beets, cooked leeks. Toss with cooked prawns and sliced avocado. Add to cooked and drained beans or lentils for instant seasoning. Stir into hot pasta and add grated cheese. Use vinaigrette for both marinade and basting sauce for foods on the grill.

Additions to the basic vinaigrette: fresh herbs (parsley, chives, tarragon, dill, basil, etc.), chopped hard-cooked eggs, cumin or caraway seeds, chopped scallions, pimentón (paprika), minced anchovies, blue cheese, toasted sunflower seeds.

Makes about 1 cup vinaigrette.

    4 tablespoons Sherry vinegar
    1 teaspoon Dijon or whole-grain mustard
    1 teaspoon salt
    Freshly ground black pepper
    1 clove crushed garlic (optional)
    2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
    Herbs, as desired

In a clean jar stir together the vinegar, mustard, salt, pepper and garlic, if using. Whisk in the olive oil. Cover with lid. Keeps in a cool place for several days.

Shake the jar well before using the dressing.

Cauliflower Vinaigrette
Coliflor a la Vinagreta

Cauliflower marinates in a tangy vinaigrette.

Vinaigrette makes a tasty dressing for cooked vegetables. Those such as cauliflower and roasted eggplant can be marinated for hours. However, don’t add vinaigrette to green vegetables such as beans or broccoli until immediately before serving, as the vinegar leaches out the bright green color.

Serve the cauliflower as a side dish (great with foods from the grill) or toss it with salad greens.

4 cups cauliflower flowerettes (about 1 pound)
2 teaspoons wine vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
¼ cup vinaigrette (recipe above)
2 tablespoons chopped chives
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 tablespoon roasted pumpkin seeds

Smoked pimentón (paprika)
Salad greens to serve

Bring a pan of water to a boil with vinegar and salt. Add the cauliflower and cook to desired doneness, crisp-tender takes about 6 minutes. Drain and refresh with cold water. Drain well.

Place the cauliflower in a bowl and add the vinaigrette. Combine well. Allow to marinate at least 30 minutes or up to 24 hours. Add the chives, parsley and pumpkin seeds. Sprinkle with pimentón and serve with salad greens.

Marinated cauliflower makes a good side dish.

For more recipes with vinegar, see the following posts:
Escabeche http://mykitcheninspain.blogspot.com.es/2012/03/escabeche-tangy-marinade-for-cooked.html 

Adobo  http://mykitcheninspain.blogspot.com.es/2012/03/adobo-another-tangy-marinade.html 

Apricots are in season! They inspired the recipe for pork chops.

THE GAZPACHO DIARIES, WEEK 2

Ripe, juicy tomatoes, best for gazpacho.

It's all about the ingredients! The first gazpacho I made this summer was not up to snuff. It was a hot, hot day, when a body craves the cool tang of a good gazpacho. But, it was desire unfulfilled.

Garlic from the garden.

“The garlic tastes like plastic,” said Ben, my best critic. And so it did. Purchased at the supermarket, it was old and likely shipped from China, probably in plastic crates. A week later I harvested my own garlic, fresh, juicy and pungent.

“And, the tomatoes taste of nothing.” They were pretty tomatoes, big and deep red. But, Ben was right. They were too early, ripened under plastic to ship to northern markets.

Now that we’ve got locally grown tomatoes, I bought several varieties of ripe, red ones to try in gazpacho—plum tomatoes (in Spanish they are tomates pera—pear tomatoes), big beefsteaks, pricey Raf tomatoes. The big, mishapen beefsteak tomatoes, often with discoloration and blemishes, seemed to me to have the right combination of sugar and acid, sweetness and tang. They also had the best texture, but that was of less importance as they would be pureed for gazpacho. The Raf were equally delicious—but best to save for slicing. The plum tomatoes had nothing to offer in flavor, though they had fewer seeds than the other varieties. And the August version of the pretty ones I had used earlier in the season (variety Daniela, widely grown commercially) were as dull as they were before. They are as if stamped from a mold.

Since then, I have been experimenting with each of the ingredients in basic gazpacho (scroll down to last week’s blog to see the basic recipe).

Country bread is best for gazpacho.

Bread. Sturdy country bread made from pale unbleached flour and baked in an horno de leña (wood-fired oven) really is best. But, I absolutely would also use any leftover baguette or roll, once it was one or two days old. In the traditional kitchen, gazpacho was a way to use up stale bread. Soaked in water until softened, the bread is squeezed out and beaten with the olive oil to make a smooth emulsion.

Do you really have to remove the crusts (as I specify in the recipe)? No. Crustless bread makes a more refined gazpacho, but, so what? And, yes, you can substitute good whole wheat bread.

What you shouldn’t use in gazpacho is packaged bread with preservatives and added sugar.

Vary the gazpacho with single varietal olive oils.

Olive oil. It has to be extra virgin. My everyday oil is an extra virgin with a supermarket label (my own olive oil was used up months ago). Like most olive oil from Spain, it is a blend of olive varieties. Either different varieties of olives are all milled together or, with higher quality oil, the olives are milled separately, then a coupage is blended to achieve a balance of flavors.

For the gazpacho experiments, I added different single oil varietals to the same batch of gazpacho. I used Picual, Hojiblanca, Arbequina and Vidueña (which I had never tried before). Picual and Hojiblanca—the most widely grown olives in Andalusia—were very similar (perhaps because they were made by the same cooperative)—pleasantly fruity. The gazpacho with Arbequina oil had a distinctly sweet almond taste while the Vidueña had a bitter edge, not unpleasant with the sweet tomatoes.

Some other time I might try out flavored olive oils—smoked, herb, citric—to give gazpacho another dimension.

Vinegars, from the left, red wine, white wine, PX and Sherry. Plus, unripe grapes and lemon juice.

Vinegar. I also tried out different vinegars as well as lemon juice in another batch of gazpacho. They were white wine vinegar, red wine vinegar, Sherry vinegar, Pedro Ximenez Sherry vinegar, lemon juice and verjuice (made from unripe grapes). White wine and red wine vinegar have 6 percent acidity while Sherry vinegar has 7 percent. So, I added less Sherry vinegar to 1 cup of gazpacho. The lemon juice was much less acidic, so the gazpacho needed propotionately more.

Plain white wine vinegar—the most widely used in Spain—was just fine. Fruity and tangy. The Sherry vinegar we liked best for depth of flavor, mellowness as well as acidity. The PX vinegar had a distinctive raisiny-winy taste—not quite compatible with gazpacho. Lemon’s citric acid gave a completely different tang, delicious in a different way. The homemade verjuice was not very satisfactory, maybe not enough of it.

Different peppers for gazpacho.

Peppers, cucumbers, onion. These are all nonessential ingredients, so did not merit extensive trials. The green peppers most used for gazpacho in Andalusia are the skinny, green Italian frying peppers. Their bittersweet flavor and crisp texture are just right as a chopped addition. While red bell pepper is hardly used at all, I must say, it sure looks pretty in a picture!

Salt. It never occurred to me until this minute to try different salts in gazpacho. Next batch.

Water. Cold spring water is best, but not easily come by. I use well water. Rather than chlorinated tap water, use bottled water to dilute the gazpacho. For an interesting variation, try fizzy soda water. Add it immediately before serving, so it doesn’t lose its bubbles.

Which gazpacho is best? Today's gazpacho!