Specialty Vinegars: Bold Flavors for Brightening Dishes

What would a salad dressing be without vinegar? Flat and unpalatable, that’s what. But to people enamored with fancy oils, vinegar can seem like the poor stepchild—overlooked and unworthy of serious money.

That’s misguided thinking—“penny wise and pound foolish,” as people used to say—because a low-end vinegar can steal all the charm from a fine olive oil. Good vinegars will infuse your salads and cooked dishes with a bright, firm backbone and, in some cases, with a rounded, mellow note. Stock your pantry with vinegars in a range of styles so you always have the right one for the taste. Here are some must-haves and some optional-but-fun choices:

Sherry vinegar: Made in Spain from sherry wine, sherry vinegar is nutty, with warm, brown-sugar notes, but less sweet than balsamic vinegar. The best is aged in oak barrels and made by the same solera system used for sherry. In a solera, the vinegar is a perpetual blend of many vintages. So sherry vinegar labeled as Reserva 1980 isn’t entirely from that vintage, but some vinegar from that vintage is in the blend.

Sherry vinegar is especially compatible with nut oils (walnut oil, hazelnut oil) in salad dressing. To make a sherry vinaigrette, whisk together 1 part sherry vinegar, 3 parts oil, plus some minced shallots, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Use sherry vinaigrette:

• On poached, baked or grilled fish
• On steamed green beans
• On escarole and radicchio salad with toasted nuts, pears and blue cheese

Drizzle sherry vinegar:

• On sautéed shrimp with sliced garlic
• On roasted peppers
• On roasted portobello mushrooms or sautéed wild mushrooms

Champagne vinegar, made in the Champagne region of France from the same grapes used to make Champagne, is more delicate and subtle than conventional white wine vinegar. Use it in salad dressings for mesclun or other soft baby lettuces; with fish preparations; or in vinaigrette for marinated leeks or cauliflower, where you don’t want the tint of red wine vinegar. The Chez Panisse Café in Berkeley, Calif., serves oysters on the half shell with mignonette: a finely minced shallot softened in 1/4 cup each of Champagne vinegar and white wine.

Moscatel vinegar, the latest trendy vinegar from Spain, has the aroma of poached raisins and a gentle sweet-and-sour taste. Divine. Made from sweet Moscatel wine, it flatters any salads with fruit. Use in vinaigrette for roast beets or add a splash to braised red cabbage. Sprinkle a few drops on melon before draping it with prosciutto or serrano ham. Drizzle on grilled pork chops, or deglaze a pan with Moscatel vinegar to make a sauce for seared pork tenderloin.
 
Aceto balsamico tradizionale—the real balsamic vinegar—can come from only two regions of Northern Italy: Modena and Reggio Emilia. Made from cooked-down grape juice (not from wine), traditional balsamic vinegar is barrel aged over many years, even decades, becoming progressively denser due to evaporation. No wonder it costs so much: most of it is lost to the heavens. True balsamic vinegar has absolutely no caramel added, or anything else for that matter. It is as thick as maple syrup, as dark as bittersweet chocolate, as elegant as fine wine.

Use balsamic vinegar sparingly. A few drops will enhance a thick charcoal-grilled steak, a chunk of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, or a bowl of sliced strawberries. A mere drizzle will elevate grilled quail, a pork stew, braised rabbit or oven-roasted onions.