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Cooking with David

Wine Vinegar

Copyright © 2006 by David E. Ross

Occasionally, I like a glass or two of good wine with a meal. My dear wife Evelyn, however, rarely drinks any kind of alcohol. Thus, it's possible that I might get tired of wine left-overs.

For wine vinegar, I let an open bottle of wine stand on a counter for 3-5 days. Then, I pour it into a glass jug. (We received three small jugs with commercial wine vinegar many years ago.) I now have three kinds of vinegar.

Red. This is nothing but stale red wine, mostly cabernet.
White with herbs. Using stale white wine, I added a few leaves of fresh herbs from the garden (e.g., tarragon, basil, bay). Before adding more wine — especially if the level in the jug is low — I pour all the vinegar into a spouted measuring cup, remove all the herbs, pour the vinegar back into the jug, and add fresh herbs.
Mixed with garlic. Here I use any wine, red or white. I also add one or two cloves of peeled garlic, which I sometimes change in the same manner that I change the herbs in the white wine vinegar.

These vinegars are great when making salad dressings. They tend to be sweeter than commercial vinegars, so be cautious if a recipe includes sugar.

Note these vinegars are less acidic than commercial wine vinegar or distilled white vinegar. Thus, it might not be suitable where a certain level of acidity is needed (e.g., when making mayonnaise, pickling).

21 November 2006