Wherever there has been wine, there has been vinegar, its sharp-tongued twin. I don't mean this disparagingly. I wouldn't be without its puckery, palate-bracing charms. From the mildest rice wine vinegar to potent, syrupy, complex balsamic, vinegars perk up my cooking every day.
Vinegar is one of history's happiest culinary accidents. Who would have thought that sour wine (literally, "vin aigre") would play such an important role in all the world's great cuisines, from Tokyo to Burgundy? And, indeed, here in theWest Country, where cider vinegar ismy reach-for default for dressings and sauces.
The first batch of vinegar was no doubt a great surprise to its owner, adisappointment – amusing now, when you think that the finest Italianbalsamics command a price to rival the world's greatest wines. But when air seeped into that first cask, along with a few yeasty spores, allowing the vinegar mother tothrive and grow like some all-consuming alien, it must have beensomething of a blow. What acredit to whomever then took this throat-rasping liquor and said to themselves, "There must be something useful I can do with this. Now where's the olive oil?"
There are records of vinegar going back thousands of years. Hippocrates mentions its medicinal properties inthe fifth century BC. The Greeks used it to preserve food – very important in the days before refrigeration. Caesar's armies fortified themselves with it. Pliny the Elder wrote that Cleopatra dissolved her pearls in it to impress Mark Antony that she could throw the most expensive banquet in history. Wags,take note…
I have quite the collection at home, from white-wine vinegars with tarragon (perfect for a béarnaise sauce), to brown rice vinegar and homemade red-wine vinegar, made from our (scant) leftovers, which is slowly gathering age and complexity in its special jar.But my beloved cider vinegar comesout more often than the rest put together. I use it not only for most of my dressings, but for mostof my pickling, too, where itsgenuine fruitiness lends far morecharacter than white distilled vinegar or even malt vinegar (save that for the chips).
Recently, I've been using quite abit of apple balsamic vinegar, too – the Suffolk company Aspall, still family-run, makes a stunner – adding it to recipes or simply mixing it with olive oil to dip bread into, or trickling it over ripe, sliced tomatoes with a sprinkling of salt.
From time to time, I very purposefully reach for rice vinegar, made – as its name suggests – through the fermentation of sugars derived from rice. Used in Japanese and Chinese cooking, it has a light, sweet flavour with a nice hint of sake about it. It's great for dressing – or the very light pickling of – delicate vegetables, such as cucumbers, courgettes, peas and beans, or for using in marinades andsauces for fish or shellfish.
Many vinegars have a great affinity with sweet things, too. Addaspoonful of white-wine or cider vinegar to meringues as you whip them. Some swear a spoonful added to the dough makes pastry especially flaky, so try it next time you make atart. And vinegar is astonishingly good with fruit. Whodidn't, during the 1990s, trickle a little balsamic over strawberries to create one of the laziest, tastiest puds ever? Try it again, with strawberries, blueberries, cherries, even ripe peaches. It really is delicious.
So let's hear it for one of the kitchen's hardest working ingredients. So often, when I think adish is missing a little something, it turns out to be a vinegar-shaped hole. If forced to choose, by some evil demon, would I pick wine over vinegar? I'm not sure I would. As long as I could have cider, that is…
Sticky apple balsamic spare ribs
These sticky ribs are near-addictively good, and incredibly easy to make. Serves four to six.
1.5kg free-range pork ribs (2racks)
For the marinade
4 tbsp redcurrant, plum, crab apple or other fruit jelly
3 tbsp apple balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp light muscovado sugar
3 garlic cloves, crushed to a paste
1 tbsp finely grated fresh ginger
½-1 medium-hot red chilli, finely chopped, or ½ tsp dried chilli flakes
2 tbsp soy sauce
Steamed rice and wilted greens, toserve
Whisk together all the marinade ingredients. Put the ribs in a large, ovenproof dish, pour the marinade over and, using your hands, turn the ribs around in it so they're all well coated. Cover and leave to marinate in a cool place for at least an hour, several hours if possible, turning them from time to time.
Heat the oven to 170C/335F/gas mark 3. Turn the ribs in their marinade one final time, cover thedish with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Raise the temperature to 190C/375F/gas mark 5.
Remove the foil and turn the ribs again, basting them with the sauce. Return the uncovered dish to the oven and cook for 35-45 minutes longer, turning and basting the ribs two or three more times, until they are glossy and dark and coated in the caramelised sauce.
Lift the ribs on to a serving plate and spoon any remaining sauce over them. Leave until they are cool enough to pick up with your fingers, then tuck in. Serve with steamed rice and wilted greens.
Chilli dipping sauce
This easy sauce is delicious with deep-fried squid, tempura vegetables and Thai fish or crab cakes. It will keep, sealed in a jar, fora week, and is the perfect thing to perkup all manner of dressings and marinades. Before serving, when the sauce is cool, add some chopped coriander if you like, too.
3 tbsp redcurrant or crab apple jelly
1 tbsp cider vinegar
1 tsp soy sauce
1 red chilli, deseeded and very finelychopped
1 small garlic clove, very finely chopped
A few twists black pepper
Tip all of the ingredients into asmallsaucepan and stir over averylow heat until the fruit jelly has dissolved andyou are left with asilky syrup.
Bring up to a simmer and allow tobubble gently for a few minutes – this will mellow the harshness of the garlic. Set aside to cool and serve at room temperature. If thesauce re-sets to ajelly when it'scool, simply whisk in a splash ofwarm water.
Tarragon vinegar
Use this vinegar in mayonnaise to dress egg or chicken salads, or in a light vinaigrette to dress still-warm potatoes, French beans or leeks. Makes about 500ml.
500ml white-wine or cider vinegar
½ tsp pink peppercorns (optional)
½ tsp black peppercorns (optional)
6 large sprigs French tarragon
Pour the vinegar into a Kilner-type jar and add the peppercorns and tarragon. Seal and refrigerate for a couple of weeks. Strain, discard the herbs, and seal in sterilised bottles.
Strawberry vinegar
This works equally well with raspberries, blackcurrants orblackberries, too. It's a recipe from the queen of all things bottled and jarred, Pam Corbin, who wrote River Cottage Handbook 2: Preserves (Bloomsbury, £12.99). Use in salad dressing, trickled over goat's cheese or ice cream, or as a cordial to make refreshing summer drinks. Makes 1.5 litres.
1kg strawberries
600ml cider vinegar or white-winevinegar
Granulated sugar
Put the fruit in a bowl and crush lightly with a wooden spoon. Add the vinegar, cover and leave to steep for four to five days, stirring occasionally. Pour the fruit and vinegar into ascalded jelly bag or piece of muslin suspended over a bowl, and leave to drain overnight. You can squeeze it abit if you like.
Measure the liquid, pour into a saucepan and add 450g of sugar for every 600ml of fruit vinegar. Over alow heat, bring gently to a boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Boil for eight to 10 minutes, removing any scum as it rises. Take off the heat and set aside to cool. When cold, bottle and seal. Use within 12 months.
