Three recipes show how vinegar can bring lively, surprisingly subtle finishes to your cooking.
THERE WAS A QUARTER-CUP OF BALSAMIC VINEGAR in last week’s Balsamic Mushroom Sausage Pasta recipe, added at the very end. When faithful reader Dani commented that it wouldn’t have occurred to her to add vinegar, we thought of how often we actually do that here.
On its own, vinegar can be pretty pucker inducing. But combined with butter, meats, mushrooms, aromatics and maybe cider or sugar or jam, it calms down and adds an often subtle brightness to the finished dish. Two of the dishes here use balsamic vinegar (one uses Japanese rice vinegar), but depending on the recipe, Spanish sherry vinegar, tarragon vinegar, red wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar and even distilled white vinegar can also be used.
Chicken with Vinegar Shallot Sauce
Based on a traditional Lyonnaise dish, this recipe goes big with butter, aromatics and tarragon to tame the sharp bite of vinegar. The result is pleasingly flavorful, tangy without the vinegar taking over. You know, perfectly French. Find the recipe for this lovely dish, shown above, here.
Vinegar Chicken with Mushrooms
We’re big on braised chicken and wine dishes. Here, a half cup of aged balsamic vinegar stands in for wine, with broth and butter taming its sharpness. The mushrooms take on the brightness even more than the chicken. Find the recipe here.
Pork Chops with Balsamic-glazed Apples
Pork also plays nicely with vinegar—and with fruit. Here, pork chops are quickly dry brined, pan-seared on the stovetop and finished in the oven. Apples, leeks, cider and balsamic vinegar create a seasonal topping for them. Find the recipe here.
Oh, I’m going to have to try these! I think the Vinegar Chicken with Mushrooms will be the first I’ll try.
As always, your photographs are scrumptious!!
I just made a sour cream, sugar, vinegar, black pepper dressing for cucumbers and onions. The vinegar makes the sauce. Simple but a nice departure from a green salad.
Thanks, Terry!
We want that salad now, Dani!
😊 It’s one of my mother’s recipes so everything is in amounts “to taste” ~ distilled white vinegar was the only kind she used in this. I did change to English cucumbers and Vidalia or sweet onions. Making it ahead at least an hour lets the flavors blend but it doesn’t do well for much more than a day as the cucumbers lose their crispness.
As I said, a simple salad but more than the sum of its parts. I hope you enjoy it if you make it.
Thanks, Dani! We’ll give it a try, maybe in the spring.