from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
The production of vinegar.
Drawing by Louis Figuier, (1819-1894).
Photograph courtesy of Biblioteca de la Faculthe ltad
de Derecho y Ciencias del Trabajo.
The University of Seville, Spain.
Vinaigre -Vinegar
To make a good salad is to be a brilliant
diplomatist---the problem is entirely the same in both cases. To know exactly
how much oil one must put with one's vinegar.
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900).
Author, poet, and playwright was born in Dublin he died
in Paris.
From the play Vera, or the Nihilists.
This was the first play written by Oscar Wilde and
was published in 1880.
Vinaigre – Vinegar; the word comes from the French for sour
wine, vin aigre. Despite vinegar’s origins in today’s
French kitchens, plain wine vinegars have a great deal of competition. Flavored
wine vinegars and fruit vinegars are in every restaurant and home kitchen.
Among the many fruit vinegars, Normandy and Brittany promote cider vinegars
alongside their famous ciders and apple brandies.
All over France distilleries producing alcoholic fruit eau-de vies will be out
there selling their fruit vinegar as they are valuable by-products. The
traditional sauce vinaigrette was made with wine vinegar. Nevertheless, fruit
vinegars and of course, that much enjoyed Italian import balsamic grape vinegar
is often in contention. When wine vinegar is used, then the name of the wine
that was used to create the vinegar is usually on the menu.
Chevreuil Rôti, Béarnaise au Vinaigre de Banyuls, Purée de Panais et Échalotes - Roast roe deer, served with a Béarnaise sauce flavored with vinegar from the famous sweet wines from the town of Banyuls sur Mer on the Mediterranean coast.
Cœur de Bœuf, Rôtie au Vinaigre Chardonnay, Salade et Truffe d'Été - The beefsteak tomato roasted and served with a salad with winter truffles flavored with chardonnay wine vinegar.
Fines Tranches d’Agneau, Vinaigre de Merlot, Huile de Noisettes Courgettes et Tomates Confites, Racines d’Hiver. Thin slices of lamb served with merlot wine vinegar and hazelnut oil, accompanied by a thick and sweet courgette, the USA zucchini, and tomato jam and winter root vegetables.
Tranches de Foie Gras aux Figues et Gelée au Vinaigre de Muscat de Rivesaltes – Slices of fattened duck's liver served with its own jelly and a fig jam flavored with vinegar from the sweet Muscat de Riversaltes wine.
Vinaigre Balsamique - Balsamic vinegar.
Balsamic vinegar is only legally produced in and around the city of Modena, Italy. Despite balsamic vinegar’s Italian provenance, the French recognize and happily receive the best products from around the world and they incorporate them in their kitchen. Balsamic vinegar is very popular and its use will be noted on the menu.
Testing Balsamic Vinegar in Modena, Italy
Balsamic vinegar comes from the Trebbiano grape. It owes its unique taste not only to that grape but also to the manner in which it is aged. The aging process takes the vinegar through to five different wooden barrels, each adding to the flavor. This grape vinegar is unlike most grape-based vinegars as it was never a wine. However; despite never having been a wine the vinegar itself does ferment. Then, as part of its aging, the cellar master, as with fine wines, must evaluate the exact amount of fermentation as the vinegar passes through the five barrels: oak, chestnut, cherry, ash and finally mulberry, before being bottled. A young balsamic vinegar will rarely be less than five years old.
The finest balsamic vinegars are aged for 15 to 30 years and are more expensive than many fine wines. Foods and salads prepared with balsamic vinegar offer a different and unique taste.
Salade de Chèvre Chaud, Échalotes Rôties au Vinaigre Balsamique- A hot goats’ cheese salad served with roasted shallots and Balsamic vinegar.
Cailles Rôties et Pimientos au Chèvre Frais, Vinaigre Balsamique Réduit - Roasted quail and sweet peppers and fresh goat’s cheese served with a thickened balsamic vinegar sauce.
Risotto aux Légumes, Vieux Vinaigre Balsamique, Roquette et Parmesan - A vegetable risotto flavored with an aged Balsamic vinegar, rocket and Parmesan cheese.
Magret de Canard au Miel et Vinaigre Balsamique – Duck breast cooked with a honey and Balsamic Vinegar sauce.
Soupe de Fraise au Vinaigre Balsamique - A cold strawberry soup flavored with Balsamic Vinegar.
Steak, rocket and aged Balsamic vinegar.
Balsamic sauce
A balsamic sauce sometimes called a
Balsamic reduction is made by heating Balsamic vinegar until it slowly
concentrates and thickens. This process results in the quantity being reduced
and that explains the term reduction. The process intensifies the flavor of the
Balsamic vinegar and may be added to a sauce or cooked directly with meat dishes.
A balsamic sauce will also add a rush of flavor to salads
Vinaigre d'Orléans – The vinegar of Orleans. A wine vinegar from the town most associated with Joan of Arc. Orleans is on the Loire river in the valley of the Loire. This vinegar is aged for a minimum of six months before being sold.
Salade de Mâche et Betteraves et Vinaigre d'Orléans "Vieille Réserve”. - A salad of France’s wonderful lambs’ lettuce salad greens, beetroots, and an especially old Orleans vinegar.
Ravioles d'Épinards, Sauce au Vinaigre d'Orléans. Spinach ravioli served with an Orleans vinegar sauce.
Vinaigre de Cidre – Cider vinegar. Most cider vinegars though fermented are made from apple juice before it has become cider. Despite that, there is a great deal of competition for the sale of cider vinegars and some will be aged in oak barrels. Chefs use cider vinegar in recipes where its unique taste makes a difference. Still, cider vinegar is a strong tasting vinegar and so it is used carefully.
At one-time cider vinegar was sold like a patent medicine or a cure-all and it is still recommended for its homeopathic properties. Maybe there is something in that “apple a day.”
Pavé de Cabillaud Rôti au Vinaigre de Cidre, Pot au Feu de Légumes - A thick slice of roasted cod flavored with cider vinegar and served with a vegetable pot au feu, a heavy stew.
Suprême de Pintadeau Braisé aux Pommes et Vinaigre de Cidre – Guinea hen breast braised with potatoes and flavored with cider vinegar.
Vinaigre de Fraises - Strawberry vinegar. Strawberry vinegar may be either a flavored wine vinegar or a vinegar made from a strawberry eau-de-vie. Strawberry vinegar along with other sweet berry and fruit vinegars are mostly used to flavor sauces. The examples below show just three fruits, but practically every fruit that is made into an alcoholic eau de vie also has its own vinegar.
Vinaigre de Framboise – Raspberry vinegar
Spanish strawberry and raspberry vinegars.
Salade de Gésiers d'Oie déglacée au Vinaigre de Framboise - A salad of goose gizzards cooked in a thickened raspberry vinegar.
Viinaigre de Jerez - See Vinaigre de Xérès .
Aiguillettes de Canard au Vinaigre de Pêches. – Slices of duck flavored with peach vinegar.
Vinaigre de Pommes - Apple vinegar. See Vinaigre de Cidre.
Vinaigre de Reims (Le) – Reims Vinegar; a vinegar made from Champagne; this is considered to have a lighter touch than other wine vinegars. Reims is the largest city in the Champagne-Ardenne region and that region that is home to most of the Champagne vineyards.
Daurade Marinée, Pommes de Terre, Oignons Rouges au Vinaigre de Reims - Marinated gilthead sea bream, potatoes, red onions prepared with the Reims vinegar.
Vinaigre Vieux - Aged vinegar. While the words aged vinegar could refer to any vinegar when no further description is offered it is an aged wine vinegar that will be used.
Farci de Tomate aux Fregola Sarde, Girolles et Vinaigre Vieux- Stuffed tomatoes with the unique Sardinian toasted wheat pasta prepared with chanterelle mushrooms and flavored with aged vinegar.
Pickling olives
with red wine vinegar
www.flickr.com/photos/jessicafm/3139773279/
Vinaigre de Xérès - Sherry Vinegar. Despite its Spanish provenance, this is a very popular vinegar in French kitchens. Sherry vinegars are produced in the same area where sherry wines are produced in Spain. Sherry vinegar is aged in oak barrels for a minimum of six months and while in the barrel, like other wine vinegars, the presence of oxygen allows bacteria to convert the alcohol to vinegar. True vinegars have at least 6% acetic acid and sherry vinegars additionally have about 3% residual alcohol. The original taste of the sherry remains with the vinegar and allows it to produce some very special tastes. A sherry vinaigrette sauce with a salad can be wonderful.
Like the producers of balsamic vinegar,
sherry vinegar producers have realized that there is a great deal of added
value when they sell well-aged and flavorsome vinegars. All sherry vinegars are
aged in a barrel for at least six months and then may be sold as a Vinaigre de Jerez. Older sherry vinegars spend two years in a barrel,
usually oak; these vinegars are called Gran Reserva, and their price is much higher than the
six-month-old vinegars. After ten years in the barrel, a very expensive vinegar
will be produced; this is a unique vinegar called Vinagre de Jerez Gran Reserva.
Salade de Rillauds d'Anjou au Vinaigre de Xérès. A salad of spiced pork belly pieces, prepared in the manner of Anjou, cooked until crisp and crunchy.
Vinaigrette - The most well known of all French sauces or salad dressings. The original and traditional French dressing is olive oil, vinegar, mustard, garlic and herbs. This is the dressing often just called a French dressing and that it is; it is also always better when tasted in France!
Vinaigrette olive oil and Balsamic vinegar
www.flickr.com/photos/chrisdlugosz/3405367811/
Verjus - Juice from unripe grapes. Unripe grapes are not sweet and while verjus does not taste like vinegar it was used in the Middles Ages in much the same way as vinegar is used today. Then a few hundred years ago vinegar took over from verjus in the popularity polls. Now, knowledgeable chefs are looking at the different tastes that certain verjus’s create. They are using those tastes and putting them back on the menu and recreating flavors that were lost along with new creations. The name verjus is old French and simply means green juice.
mushroom jerky, grape, verjus
La Salade de Canard Fumé au Verjus – A salad made with smoked duck and served with verjus instead of a vinaigrette sauce.
Poitrine de Colvert au Verjus – Breast of mallard duck prepared with verjus.
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Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
Copyright 2010, 2014, 2017, 2019
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