๐พ๐ฅ๐ท~A Few Words From Susan~๐ท๐ฅ๐พ I have a new favorite dish to share this week, a sweet-and-sour cipolline that comes together in a single pan - more on that below. Developing it got me thinking about vinegar, and how easy it is to treat it as an afterthought when it can do so much more than add a sharp
finish. This week, we are looking at vinegar a little more broadly, starting with the article, Why Every Home Cook Needs More Than One Vinegar. It is about choosing vinegar for flavor, not just acidity, and how your choice can make a real difference in the finished
dish. Our Kitchen Partner this week is American Vinegar Works, maker of slow-fermented, barrel-aged
vinegars using American ciders, wines, beers, and sakes. They are offering TableTalk readers a discount on purchases made directly from their website. In the video, I am making Cipolline Agrodolce step by step, using American Vinegar Works Quince & Chardonnay Wine Vinegar. This is a traditional Italian sweet-and-sour dish, but I tweak the
usual balsamic approach a bit by using another Mediterranean classic flavor - quince. And since vinegar naturally leads to vinaigrettes, the Cestari
Glass Salad Shaker is 20% off this week. The measurements and recipes are printed right on the bottle, so homemade dressing is easier to mix, pour, and store. Best, Susan
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Subscriber Bonus - Scroll Down to See if You Won! Each week, we announce a winner of a free Cestari product - you pick your prize from our entire product catalog! One winner is randomly selected from subscribers each week, and announced at the bottom of the newsletter.
Special Offer for Newsletter Subscribers from our Kitchen Partner This week's featured Kitchen Partner is American Vinegar Works, a Massachusetts producer dedicated
exclusively to small-batch vinegars for cooking and cocktails. Their vinegars begin with carefully selected American wines, ciders, and beers, then are naturally fermented, aged, and bottled in-house using production methods that trace back to the early 1800s. American Vinegar Works believes that if American craft
beer, cider, sake, and wine can be this good, American vinegar deserves the same attention. Instead of rushing fermentation, they let time do the work, producing vinegars with depth, character, and flavor beyond sharp acidity. Their Quince & Chardonnay Wine Vinegar is the one I use in this week's Cipolline Agrodolce video. Made with California chardonnay, aged in American oak, and finished with quince, it brings bright acidity, earthy caramel notes, and a gentle sweetness to the dish. American Vinegar Works is offering TableTalk readers a special discount on purchases made directly through their website. Use the link below and enter code ONION10 at checkout.
Trivia Question"What civilization left us the earliest written records of vinegar
production and use?" Answer at the bottom of the newsletter
Cipolline Agrodolce, Step by Step
I loved developing this recipe - and now that it's done, I love eating it. The Quince and Chardonnay Wine Vinegar gives it a much different taste than using traditional balsamic vinegar. It works well served with a pork roast, or on a charcuterie platter - or spread on a baguette with a little melted gorgonzola. That last
is my favorite.
Tip of the Week: Finish Rich Foods with Acid If a soup, stew, braise, or sauce tastes heavy or flat, try a teaspoon of vinegar
before adding more salt. A small amount of acidity can brighten flavors and make a dish taste more balanced without making it taste sour. This works especially well with bean dishes, long-simmered meats, and vegetable soups.
Why Every Home Cook Needs More Than One VinegarMost of us did not grow up with a collection of vinegars. In my childhood kitchen, there were three. Red wine vinegar was for salad dressing. Apple cider vinegar was for potato salad, macaroni salad, and coleslaw. Distilled white
vinegar was for cleaning. Today, I probably have ten different vinegars in my pantry, and that is not because I became a vinegar collector. It is because I eventually realized that vinegar contributes much more than astringency. A recipe may need acidity, but the vinegar you choose can also add fruit, wine,
grain, wood, sweetness, sharpness, or depth. That is the mistake many home cooks make. They treat vinegar as if it is interchangeable. A recipe calls for a tablespoon of vinegar, so they grab whatever bottle is closest. That may work, at least technically. But it misses the opportunity to add another layer of flavor.
No one would substitute beef stock for chicken stock without expecting a different result. Vinegar works the same way. Every vinegar starts as something else. Wine becomes wine vinegar. Cider becomes cider vinegar. Rice wine becomes rice vinegar. Beer becomes malt vinegar. The original ingredient leaves its
fingerprint behind, and that fingerprint matters. A cider vinegar will not taste like a sherry vinegar. A rice vinegar will not taste like a balsamic. They may all bring acidity, but they do not bring the same flavor. When choosing a vinegar, start by thinking about the dish you are making. If the food is delicate,
you may want a lighter vinegar. If the food is rich or roasted, you may want something with more weight. If the dish already has fruit notes, a fruit-based vinegar may reinforce them. If you want depth, a slow-fermented or barrel-aged vinegar can bring more than simple sharpness. The point is not that one vinegar belongs to one category of dish. The point is that vinegar is an ingredient, and it should be chosen with the same care as oil, stock, cheese, or wine. You do not need ten bottles of vinegar to cook well. Start with a few different styles and taste them on their own. The next time a recipe calls for vinegar, do not ask only, โWhat do I have?โ Ask, โWhat flavor do I want?โ That is when vinegar stops being just a pantry staple and starts becoming one of the most useful ingredients in your
kitchen.
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Reader's Tips for Vinegar
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Diane
from Lancaster, Pennsylvania shares, "When I hard-boil eggs, I add a splash of vinegar to the water. If one of the eggs cracks during cooking, the vinegar helps the whites set more quickly and keeps the mess to a minimum." Barbara from Mesa, Arizona writes, "I soak
onion slices in vinegar and water for about ten minutes before adding them to sandwiches. It takes away some of the harsh bite and leaves them crisp and flavorful." Marlene from Fort Wayne, Indiana says, "I add a teaspoon of vinegar to the water when cooking red cabbage. It
helps the cabbage keep its deep purple color instead of turning dull during cooking." Karen from Boise, Idaho writes, "After I sear chicken or pork in a hot pan, I pour in a splash of vinegar and scrape up all the browned bits. It takes about a minute and turns what is stuck
to the pan into a quick little sauce." Joan from Burlington, Vermont writes, "When a recipe calls for buttermilk and I don't have any, I stir a tablespoon of vinegar into a cup of regular milk and let it sit for five minutes. It thickens right up and works in pancakes,
biscuits, and cakes."
๐ก Answer to Trivia Question: The
Babylonians, whose records date back roughly 5,000 years.
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