[Sca-cooks] good brands of vinegar

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

Also sprach Jadwiga Zajaczkowa / Jenne Heise:
>Christopher and I went to a relatively new (about 2 weeks)branch of an
>Italian restaurant chain, 'the Macaroni Grille', last weekend. Had a
>nice chat with the waitress (long time waitress/manager coming from a
>mom-and-pop that hadn't appreciated her), discussed the dynamics of the
>waitrons (order entering station was right behind my head!) and of the
>staff in the open kitchen [what an experience for someone who had just
>read _Kitchen Confidential_ and was dining with someone who'd worked his
>way through college as a sous-chef], and criticized the menu. :) Of
>course I proved that my tastes are less well-developed than
>Christopher's, I liked almost everything. [Our waitress dragged the
>manager over to talk to us, and I admit I told him what I thought. The
>perils of asking Jadwiga... :) ]
>
>We had the mozarrella/tomato/basil/vinagrette dish, and I was appalled
>to discover that they had used supermarket type tomatoes (in NJ in
>August!)

Note that this is a national chain and may well have a nationally, or 
at least regionally, central supplier.  While the movement to use 
local produce in season is a great thing, you may need to either go 
to a very small, local mom-and-pop type place [there's a place called 
Joe's, in Brooklyn, whose owner used to cook for and run a 
restaurant, and then he retired to... run a restaurant -- the catch 
is, he's only open three or four days a week, two dinner seatings, in 
a dining room that seats about 20 people if they've been formally 
introduced -- I'll bet he's got time to get local, or at least 
Jersey, tomatoes], or else a very fine, four or five-star place, to 
be sure of getting the local produce in season. We're pretty lucky in 
New York, where many of the restaurants have deals going with the 
vendors (mostly New York State-based farmers) at the various local 
farmer's markets, which are all managed by the State Department of 
Agriculture and Markets.

>  and hassled the staff by changing my main dish from capellini
>pomodoro to a create-your-own-pasta. However, I loved the vinagrette,
>which was relatively sweet with an interesting balsamic vinegar.
>
>Even though I love vinegar and cook with it a lot when I cook, I really
>don't have a sense of what brands are best, or where to get the 'good
>stuff'. You do as many sauce and mustard classes as I do, you generally
>buy the cheap stuff in bulk. :) So... what kind/brands do y'all
>recommend?  How do you tell a good vinegar?

Hmmm. A good bottled vinegar is clear, or at least homogeneous, 
without a lot of sludge on the bottom of the bottle, no gunk floating 
on top, no oily-looking iridescent patch on top. It should be 
tangy/sour without bitterness or astringency. It shouldn't have a 
slimy texture or a funky smell. Red wine vinegar shouldn't be watered 
down until it's pink.

There are a million things a good vinegar shouldn't be; suffice it to 
say that for a good vinegar, one where you're tasting it and seeing 
it, and not just using it to clean the coffeepot, the first criterion 
for judging it should not be price ;-).

I find Colavita to be, if not always the best, always safe and good. 
When I can afford it, I like a brand called Dal Raccolto. If you're 
in New York, check out Fairway Foods, and their store brand of most 
oils and vinegars is at least as good as Colavita, and generally a 
bargain.

Adamantius

-- 
  "Why don't they get new jobs if they're unhappy -- or go on Prozac?"
	-- Susan Sheybani, assistant to Bush campaign spokesman Terry 
Holt, 07/29/04