Hostesses With The Mostest > Recipe Requests

Italian Restaurants, Bread, Oil, and ?

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MariaE:

--- Quote from: Bluenomi on April 18, 2012, 02:54:30 AM ---
--- Quote from: MariaE on April 18, 2012, 02:12:39 AM ---Balsamic Vinegar - also sometimes called red wine vinegar, but I don't know if that's accurate.

--- End quote ---

Balsamic and red wine vinegar are different things. Balsamic is much stronger and darker and not made from red wine unlike red wine vinegar  :D

--- End quote ---

Thank you :) I didn't think they were the same thing, but I've heard people claim that they were, and I'm not enough of a connoisseur myself to be able to say for sure.

sparksals:
True balsamic is very expensive.  I just took a class on balsemic and reggiano cheese.  The stuff you get at the grocery is a much cheaper version of the real stuff.  I bought some after the bacon-fed knave that was $50 per bottle.  Believe it or not, there is stuff quadruple that.   Special treat to drizzle on asparagus. 

The process making balsemic is very in-depth and inlybcertain batches get the designation from the area. I think some balsamic takes 18 years to brew. 

I get a decent basic balsamic at Costco. Lasts me forevet.  Until I tool the class, I had no idea the strungent process of the true Balsamic. 

sparksals:
Ps...if you watch diners, drive ins and dives, Brodeurs is where I took the class.  The wine, balsamic and reggiano cheeses were amazing.  Reggiano AKA parmesan also has strict guidelines for the good stuff. 

Mental Magpie:
You've piqued my curiosity, I must now go investigate the balsamic making process.

jmarvellous:
Balsamic is good even when it's not the truly fancy stuff. But the truly fancy stuff is magnificent. Sort of like olive oil, its culinary BFF, actually!

I like to reduce balsamic (basically cook it down until it gets thick and syrupy -- don't do it on too high of heat or it'll burn; you can add things like lemon or orange juice or a bit of olive oil to it to make it more complex) and use it a sauce on things like beets or salads or desserts like strawberries and vanilla ice cream. It gets even sweeter as it cooks down.

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