Cook'n is the best selling recipe organizer

Volume III
June 21, 2013


Weekly Home / Cook'n & Eat'n

Versatile Vinegar Know-How

By Alice Osborne

There are some good reasons why vinegar is so popular and considered a staple in most kitchen pantries. Vinegar provides fat-free, low-calorie flavor to dressings, sauces, and marinades. And although vinegar can't cure cancer, it can help improve your general health in many ways. Vinegar benefits the digestive system, improving the absorption and utilization of several essential nutrients.

By simply adding vinegar to your diet you can improve your health and the taste of your vegetables at the same time.

And as you're likely aware, there are many cooking varieties from which to choose. For your cooking convenience, here's a handy chart I found in an aged cookbook Aunt Annie used for years:

TYPE FLAVOR USE
Apple Cider Not too acidic With both red and white meats, vegetables, salads
Balsamic Slightly sweet In salad dressings, sauces, and marinades
Champagne Light, slightly sweet In salad dressings or sprinkled on food for extra tang
Malt Pungent, tart As a topping for fried potatoes and pickling
Red wine Potent In French cuisine and red-meat marinades
Rice wine Very light, fresh, sweet In Asian cuisine, goes well with cucumbers or fish
Sherry Slightly sweeter than red wine vinegar In salad dressings, sauces, and marinades
White Doesn't have true flavor; very acidic Primarily for non-culinary purposes. In food preparation, it is most often used to make pickles or dye eggs, cases where the acid content is more important than flavor.
White wine vinegar Slightly milder version of red vinegar In lightly-colored dishes where red wine vinegar would not be appropriate

Aunt Annie's recipe book has an entire section of recipes for using vinegar. One she used a lot was a red wine vinegar marinade. If you haven't tried marinating in a vinegar marinade, you might want to start. The acids do a great job of softening the meat-even the toughest cut is better for bathing in this marinade:


Red Wine Vinegar Marinade

Easy to make and easy to use--the perfect touch to your next grilling adventure.

Yield: 1 3/4 cups

Serving size: 8
Calories per serving: 161

Ingredients:
1 cup red wine vinegar
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
4 1/2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
6 teaspoons minced garlic
2 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
3/4 teaspoon ground red pepper


Directions:
Combine all ingredients. This makes enough to be used for up to 4 pounds of meat.


Recipe formatted with the Cook'n Recipe Software from DVO Enterprises.


Help on downloading recipes


Sources:
  • www.recipes.howstuffworks.com
  • www.buzzle.com
  • www.sophieinthekitchen.blogspot.com


Alice Osborne
Weekly Newsletter Contributer since 2006



blog comments powered by Disqus


Contribute to the Cook'n Club!

DVO would love to publish your article, prose, photography and art as well as your cooking, kitchen and nutrition tips, tricks and secrets. Visit the Newsletter Submission / Win Win for All section in our Forum for more information and details.