24.2 Vinegars and dressings

Vinegar is a thin, sour liquid. People have used it for thousands of years to keep food, to cook with, as a condiment and to clean. It is made by fermentation. Bacteria feed on the alcohol in wine or some other alcoholic liquid and turn it into acetic acid, until no alcohol is left. So a vinegar is only as good as the liquid it started from, and it tastes of that liquid.

Its acid is also why vinegar keeps. Bacteria do not grow where it is acidic, which is why vinegar and lemon juice can be used to preserve food.

Choosing and storing vinegar

Good vinegar looks clear and clean, never cloudy or muddy. Commercial vinegar is pasteurized, so an unopened bottle keeps indefinitely somewhere cool and dark. Once it is opened, cap it tightly and it lasts about three months. Strain off any sediment that forms, but throw the vinegar away if mold grows.

Kinds of vinegar

Flavored vinegars

A flavored vinegar is an ordinary vinegar with herbs, spices, fruit or other foods left to steep in it. Any commercial wine or distilled vinegar will do as the base, with whatever herb, spice or fruit you like. Poor ones are made by adding flavoring to low-grade vinegar. The idea is old. Clove, raspberry and fennel vinegars were sold in the streets of Paris in the 13th century, and in the 18th and 19th centuries making fruit vinegars was one of the jobs of running a household.

Balsamic vinegar

Italy has made balsamic vinegar for more than 800 years, though it has only recently become popular in the United States. Traditional balsamic begins as red or white wine from grapes grown especially for it, among them white Trebbiano and red Lambrusco. The wine is reduced, then aged in a series of barrels made of different woods, such as juniper, mulberry, ash, locust, cherry and oak, for at least 4 years and sometimes as long as 50.

The long aging and the small amounts made keep true balsamic very expensive. Most of the commercial balsamic that comes from Italy is now made quickly instead, by caramelizing and flavoring. Balsamic is high in acid, but its sweetness covers the sharpness, so it tastes mellow. Use it as a condiment or a seasoning; it goes remarkably well with tomatoes and strawberries.

Dressings at work: four salads

Four classic salads show the dressings in use: one held with egg yolks, two shaken in a jar, and one bound with mayonnaise.

Caesar salad. The Caesar salad is usually credited to Caesar Cardini, an Italian immigrant who ran restaurants in Mexico and the United States. He lived in San Diego but worked in Tijuana, where the limits of Prohibition did not reach. His daughter Rosa told how he invented the dish on the 4th of July, 1924, when a holiday rush had emptied the kitchen: he made do with what was left and added the show of tossing it at the table. Several of his staff also claimed the dish, and Julia Child said she ate one at his restaurant as a child in the 1920s. Even so, the earliest record written at the time is a 1946 menu from a Los Angeles restaurant.

Its dressing is an emulsion made in a blender: see chapter 15: Pasteurized eggs in place of raw

• Blend garlic smashed with olive oil and salt, anchovy fillets, two egg yolks, Dijon mustard and lemon juice until smooth, about 30 seconds.
• With the motor running, pour in vegetable oil as a steady stream.
• Finish with grated Parmesan, salt and pepper.
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• Dress two heads of romaine, with croutons, for 6 to 8 servings.

Because the yolks are raw, refrigerate the dressing if it is not used straight away.

The croutons are ¾-inch cubes of white bread, about 2½ cups or half a French loaf:

• Toss them with olive oil.
• Season them well with salt and pepper.
• Bake them on a small sheet at 350°F for 10 to 12 minutes, until crisp right through.
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• Let them cool completely.

The garnish is Parmesan tuiles:

• Sprinkle grated Parmesan a tablespoon at a time into a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat.
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• Cook about 1 minute, until lacy and just set.
• Flip each one and cook about 2 minutes more, until crisp.
• Lay them over a rolling pin to cool.

Hearts of palm salad. A jar vinaigrette needs no whisk. The proportions are ¼ cup of oil to 1 tablespoon of vinegar and 2 tablespoons of mustard. see chapter 17: Stalks

• Shake olive oil, Dijon or Creole mustard, cider vinegar and black pepper for a few seconds in a jar with a lid. The dressing can then wait up to 2 hours.
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• Put baby greens on dinner plates, with sliced canned hearts of palm on top, halved cherry tomatoes around them and shaved Parmesan to finish.
• Shake the dressing again just before drizzling it on.

Salade niçoise. Niçoise salad belongs to the city of Nice, in the French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. It can be a main dish on its own, and French brasseries also serve it alongside meat or fish. It usually brings together tomatoes, French beans, black olives, anchovies and capers, with lemon juice. The traditional Provençal seasoning is olive oil, basil and garlic, and parsley or mustard can turn it into a French vinaigrette.

As a composed salad for four plates, each of these is split four ways and layered:

• butter lettuce
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• halved cherry tomatoes
• julienned green pepper
• canned albacore tuna
• quartered hard-boiled eggs
• blanched haricots verts
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• sliced radishes
• olives
• anchovy fillets
• chopped chives

The dressing of extra-virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar and Dijon mustard is shaken in a jar and seasoned with salt and pepper. It is drizzled over, and the salads are chilled for 15 minutes before serving.

Classic Southern chicken salad. Here the dressing binds. see chapter 9: Poaching a chicken breast

• Cover chicken breasts with seasoned water, bring to the boil, then simmer over medium-low heat for about 15 minutes, until the juices run clear.
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• Once they are drained and cool enough to handle, cut them into ½-inch dice or shred them.
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• Mix with celery, sweet pickle relish, chopped hard-boiled egg and green onion.
• Add mayonnaise a little at a time until the salad is rich but not too creamy.
• Finish with salt, pepper and hot sauce, with tarragon leaves on top.

Serve it with crackers, on soft rolls or on white toast.

Do not rely on cooking times alone: check the inside temperature of the food. Poultry must reach an internal 74°C (165°F) for 15 seconds.