vinegar

Award-winning food photographer and writer Michael Harlan Turkell's new book takes you on a trip so powerful your head will spin (with gustatory delight, that is). Acid Trip chronicles Turkell's extensive study of vinegar, an element in nearly every ethnic cuisine. Vinegar has been used as a seasoning and preserving agent for thousands of years, and…

Love the sour stuff? Vinegar Revival is an essential book for you. Learn how to make fruit vinegar and you'll never spend $20 on it again.

What is mosto cotto? It's a delicious addition to your salad, fruit, ice cream or even glass of water, and a by-product of the winemaking process.

It's all fun and games until you find out your vinegar isn't what you thought it was and there's not a funnel cake to be found for miles. But it's okay. Eco-friendly wine is available, and so are ice cream cone–gifting cops. All this and more in today's roundup:

If you find yourself working with apples in any capacity — trimming, coring, slicing, peeling or perhaps simply wondering whether they're too past their crunchy prime to make it into that salad or sandwich — consider vinegar. It's a by-product of fermenting fruit into alcohol, which is where the cider in cider vinegar comes into play (or…

Vinegar: It’s the yin to oil’s yang. Without it, a host of sauces, vinaigrettes and marinades would cease to exist. Vinegar also makes an ideal pan-deglazing agent, lending a depth of tangy savoriness as it reduces down. It's been known to aid in digestion and is full of antioxidants and minerals to promote clear, healthy skin. So…

A little vinegar spike is exactly what we need to cool down, as is proven by science. The cooling effects of these light, tart dishes featuring balsamic vinegar are sure to bring the temperature down to a tolerable simmer. In the case of desserts, which we have two of this evening (make one or both,…

If you thought a book about pickled and fermented stuff would be all Greek yogurt and kombucha, you might be right. But if you pick up Cultured Foods For Your Kitchen by culinary specialist and cookbook author Leda Schientaub, you'll be presently surprised by meaty soups, hearty pastas and delicious fried stuff...all enhanced by the cultured ingredients…

DIY canning, pickling and fermenting is easy with food preservation and foraging expert Leda Meredith's latest book, Preserving Everything. Whether you're looking to store the last of your garden vegetables for the winter or simply craving a hearty stick of pork jerky, Meredith's techniques are time-tested and simple enough for the home cook to master.…

World champion pitmaster Chris Lilly makes us wish we lived in Alabama, where he heads the grill at Decatur's Big Bob Gibson's Bar-B-Cue. His new book, Fire and Smoke: A Pitmaster's Secrets is full of the knowledge you'll need to finish first in this season-long grilling contest. Yup, it's a contest. Win it with something really innovative,…

Calling the world's healthiest vegetables! Oh here they are, in author Laura B. Russell's new cookbook, Brassicas: Cooking The World's Healthiest Vegetables. Fans of broccoli, cauliflowers, Brussels sprouts, and yes, of course our darling kale should be very excited. First up, a hearty kale salad that will leave you entirely satisfied. Guaranteed.Over the past few…

Whether you're vegetarian, eating light or observing Meatless Monday, a recipe by Peter Berley is guaranteed to satisfy. We've borrowed a few recipes from his award-winning cookbook, The Flexitarian Table, so you have every reason to expand your healthy cooking repertoire. Try this seasonal asparagus preparation as a simple salad or side. While thick asparagus are great…

We were inspired by a slew of stories dedicated to all things tart, fermented, pickled and otherwise made nice and sour (particularly this one from Slate — we're salivating). As it happens, we also have a ton of coverage on yogurt, pickles, kombucha, kimchi, kraut, vinegar and more, and as a result, we're currently discussing…

We've got a few projects on deck to keep you occupied this weekend: two beverage-oriented endeavors, plus a fantastic little bar snackeroo to go with them. Although if you're pairing marinated mushrooms with shrubs, you might want a little cheese to temper the acid. Here are five French ones to seek out right now. Now…

1. Strawberry Black Pepper Shrub Recipe 2. Cucumber Mint Shrub Recipe 3. Ginger Peach Shrub Recipe

White balsamic vinegar has a cleaner finish than the traditional variety, plus it keeps your cocktail from turning a murky brown color. Stir a tablespoon into your favorite rum cocktail for a drink that’s fruity but not frilly.

It's tangy, fashionable to drink when mixed with water, largely responsible for humanity's obsession with pickling and, quite frankly, we will not eat fish and chips without the malt variety. It's vinegar. But the big question: is that sticky bottle of it in the back of your pantry still good? If you're asking if it…

Try this new technique for frying potatoes from Alex Guarnaschelli, chef/owner of The Darby, where these potatoes are super-popular. Guarneschelli recommends using Baker potatoes if you can find them, but russets or another starchy potato will do the trick as well. "For the best results, let the shallots sit for a few hours in the…

We've all seen bottles of expensive imported aged balsamic vinegar at Italian and specialty markets, bottles that cost more than a comparable amount of high-end perfume. I won't be dabbing the dark stuff on my wrists anytime soon, but I always wondered if there was a cheaper alternative when I need the flavor services of…

These little beauties can enliven so many dishes. Scatter a few into mushroom soup and enjoy the way the tart pickle plays against the soup’s earthy creaminess, or nestle a generous spoonful next to a game terrine or some smoked meats. You can use any mushrooms you like — I’ve used buttons and criminis to…

This pumpkin gnocchi recipe is the essence of Portland vegetarian hub Natural Selection. Chef Aaron Woo's goal is to create vegetarian food not based solely on vegetables, but on the depth and balance of flavor. Owing to rich, sweet and tangy pumpkin sauce, these fluffy homemade gnocchi will leave you satisfied with none of the…

Barbecue. Or Bar-B-Q. Or BBQ. Few foods can inspire conversation and controversy like meat that has been cooked using the heat and smoke of a fire. Heck, not only can’t we decide on how to spell the word, we don’t even agree whether it’s a noun or a verb. This year we will exploring barbecue…

If keeping fermented PBR in your closet or garage for a month is not in the cards for you, Tyler Gray of Mikuni Wild Harvest has the solution. He suggests buying your favorite sherry or wine vinegar and sealing it in a used bourbon barrel for six months to a year. He uses barrels from…

There are a number of things you can do with a can of PBR (that's Pabst Blue Ribbon). Stick it in a chicken; dump it in your pot of chili; heck, you might even drink it. Chef Sean Brock, of Husk and McCrady’s in Charleston, South Carolina, suggests you turn it into liquid gold: homemade…

It's kind of pointless to keep these in my fridge, as I tend to eat them by the half-jar. Plus, with all that bright chartreuse brine exposed, spicy picklebacks are inevitable. In the spirit of trying new pickles, I implore you to give peperoncini a shot. They're the pale yellow-green peppers found atop your Greek…