Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 28, 1994 TAG: 9409280029
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By ALMENA HUGHES STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Well, I took his suggestion about the vinaigrette, but I also left some of the vinegar in its natural state, and it was wonderful - full-bodied, flavorful, low-low calorie and absolutely fat free. Pretty soon, I was using it not only on salads but in all kinds of foods as well.
Bill cooks more by feel than by measure, but he assured me that making vinegar is a fairly simple process. He says he started with about 3 gallons of red grapes, pulled from their stems, washed but with the seeds left in. He then mashed them up in a big (5-or-more gallon) bucket. To the grapes he added 2 gallons ofwater and about 7 to 10 pounds of sugar. He then loosely covered the container and just let it sit in a cool place for a couple of months or so, stirring the mixture every two or three days. Meanwhile, he was saving his empty 16-ounce Grolsch lager bottles, which, with their porcelain pop-up caps, make perfect containers.
When the vinegar was properly fermented, Bill strained it several times through clean cloth until it was clear, poured it into the sterilized pint bottles, leaving about 1 inch headroom, and disbursed it to grateful friends.
Bill's gift got me thinking what a wonderfully versatile condiment vinegar can be. No wonder it's regaining popularity, as several savvy cookbook authors recently have pointed out.
Maggie Oster's "Herbal Vinegar" ($12.95 and $18.95, Storey Publishing) contains 18 chapters of comprehensive, creative and timely information on how to make, flavor and use the tangy potion. Beginning some 10,000 years ago, Oster traces its history. For example, vinegar once was mixed with drinking water to toughen Roman legions, or during the Middle Ages, using vinegar seasoned with pepper as a condiment allowed people to avoid heavy taxes levied on dry spices. Her sections on vinegar as a disinfectant, curative, cosmetic, home remedy or multipurpose kitchen staple contain some of the tastiest information tidbits.
Oster's book also supplies a good range of simple and savory recipes, lists of recommended further reading on the subject, mail order sources for equipment and ingredients and two pages of bottle labels, suitable for reproduction. To order, call (800) 441-5700.
Not nearly as encompassing but certainly charming in its own right is John Midgley's "The Goodness of Vinegars" ($12, Random House). Midgley, who specializes in single-subject mini cookbooks, in "Vinegars" combines a sprinkling of history, a dash of botany, a pinch of nutrition and 33 eclectic but well-chosen recipes. Order from (800) 733-3000.
Vinegar is featured infrequently but well in "Recipes from a Kitchen Garden" ($11.95, Ten Speed Press), an easy-to-elegant and always-nutritious collection from Renee Shepherd, founder of gourmet seed, herb and flower outlet Shepherd's Garden Seeds, and sculptor/cooking instructor Fran Raboff. As in two earlier volumes, innovative treatments of garden-fresh ingredients is emphasized. Order from Shepherd's Garden Publishing, 6116 Highway 9, Felton, Calif. 95018, or call (408) 335-6910.
Free-for-the-writing publications "How to Change Your Oil," Pompein Inc., P.O. Box 8863, Baltimore, Md. 21224, (800) 638-1224, and "Heinz Successful Pickling Guide," P.O. Box 57, Pittsburgh, Pa. 15230, also will help expand your vinegar repertoire. Or, if you're really lucky, you'll have friends like local artist Mimi Babe Harris and her New York playwright brother Thom Babe, who'll share with you their recipes for delicious vinegar-cured green beans and carrots, and friends like Bill Whitlock, who'll even supply the vinegar.
Recipes for:
GARLIC PORK
SOFRITO
SCENTED BASIL VINEGAR CHICKEN
SCENTED BASIL VINEGAR
FARM-RAISED CATFISH FINGERS
WITH SPICY DIPPING SAUCE
SPICY DIPPING SAUCE
PICKLED MUSHROOMS
THOM BABE'S CARROTS
by CNB