Miles Collins

A quick guide through the minefield…

How often does the home cook use vinegar? How many homes have a bottle of cheap vinegar in a fancy bottle with a chilli inside? How many sets of vinegar and oil have you got in your cupboard from christmas’ gone by? Answers on a post card please.

Everyone is familiar with vinegar but far fewer I would suggest know just how versatile it can be. There are a number of vinegars to chose from and too many to address in one post so this is a quick guide to wine vinegars.

Unsurprisingly, we have to start in France in our pursuit of quality wine vinegar, and nowhere better than Orleans (excuse the French grammer but wordpress doesn’t do French letters!!?!!) in the Loire valley. This is the holy grail of quality French wine vinegars, far from cheap but worth every penny.

Of all the natural vinegars wine vinegar is the strongest with an acidity level of roughly 6%. Don’t let that put you off, look to some of the great wine producing regions and you will find a vinegar to match, I have used some brilliant vinegars from Rioja, Bordeaux and Champagne as well as Orleans. Exquisite vinegars that can really add a depth of flavour to many dishes.

I use a lot of red wine and sherry vinegar in my cooking, good quality ones will bring out the flavour of mushrooms, offal, seafood etc, and can also be flavoured with other ingredients such as herbs, chillies, onions, peppercorns and cinnamon. It is worth trying different vinegars out with your salad dressings but just remember the simple equation, cheap=harsh!

Try adding a splash of red wine or sherry vinegar to slow cooked onions, they bring out the natural sugar of the onions and makes a perfect foil to pan-fried liver. Butter for grilled meats can be flavoured with reduced vinegar; simply boil a small quantity of vinegar by half with some finely chopped shallots and some fresh tarragon and stir into softened butter.