It's easy to fall in love with those beautiful vinegars that have been made with exotic fruits, infused with herbs, aged in special barrels, or are otherwise irresistible. But we think that there are really only five vinegars that we would consider actually "essential" for a home cook's pantry. Do you agree?
• Red Wine Vinegar - This is a great all-purpose vinegar to have around. We use it in salad dressings, marinades, and to give soups a little twang! at the very end of cooking. It can be used as a substitute for cider vinegar in most recipes.
• Balsamic Vinegar - We use balsamic almost exclusively in salad dressings and marinades, but we also sometimes simmer it into a thick syrup for desserts! Nothing quite matches the exact flavor of balsamic.
• Cider Vinegar - We use cider vinegar when making barbecue sauce and other homemade condiments. It can also be used in some salad dressings or to finish a soup, and can usually work in place of red wine vinegar if you're out.
• Rice Wine Vinegar - As you might imagine, we keep rice wine vinegar in our pantry for when we're doing Asian cooking. It's essential for most dipping sauces. In a dire pinch, we've used red wine vinegar at times, but the flavor just isn't the same.
• White Vinegar - The flavor of distilled white vinegar isn't usually one that you want as the main flavor in a dish. We use it for pickling and when making other condiments, and sometimes to add an acidic note to finish a dish, but never in salad dressings or marinades. Also, white vinegar and white wine vinegar are not the same thing - white wine vinegar can be used much like red wine vinegar.
All these vinegars will keep in your pantry almost forever, so don't worry about needing to use them up very quickly. Invest in a bottle of each of these vinegars, and you'll be set for almost any recipe that comes along!
What other kinds of vinegar do you like to have on hand?
Related: How to Make Your Own Vinegar
(Image: Emma Christensen)
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sherry vinegar!
I agree with your list, plus I would add malt vinegar and at least one herbed or fruity vinegar.
I also keep sherry vinegar. It can replace red wine or cider vinegar. White vinegar is an essential cleaning supply.
Great list, I have the same in my pantry, and the balsamic and the cider are exactly the ones from the picture! I also usually keep one really expensive balsamic vinegar, for drizzling on good tomatoes when they're in season.
Yep, I would add sherry vinegar too. Best value for the taste. And black vinegar, if you could a lot of Chinese-inspired dishes.
I never use white vinegar for cooking but due use it for cleaning. But like the others, keep sherry vinegar and an TJ's orange champagne vinaigrette on hand.
Anyone have an opinion/thoughts on white wine vinegar or white balsamic?
I can't live without white wine vinegar (for mustard vinaigrettes). I'll also second Kathryn Hill's suggestion of malt vinegar.
All of the above, plus black rice vinegar and blueberry-flavoured vinegar (great for salad dressings).
I've gone through my blueberry vinegar, champagne and rice wine vinegars, more than any of the other staples I have on hand. Well, blueberry vinegar, wasn't really a staple when I first bought it but now it is and I either have to make some or order some soon because I feel deprived!!!! ; )
My stable five would replace the white vinegar with white wine vinegar (I don't like pickles), and the rice vinegar with sherry vinegar as I've never been very good at asian cooking (with the exception of the indian sub-continent). But if keeping the rice vinegar, I would actually replace balsamic with sherry-I think that it's smoother/rounder/more well balanced than similarly priced balsamic vinegars, so unless I can afford good balsamic then I tend to replace it with sherry in recipes.
The only thing I use malt vinegar for is cleaning out the rabbit hutch. I haven't really tried any of the herbed/fruited vinegars in my own kitchen-I only have limited space!
Rosebud: I really rate white wine vinegar, you can replace it with cider vinegar in most recipes though. Somebody bought me a bottle of white balsamic though, and I don't really understand it. It's less acidic than red balsamic so it's quite nice in salad dressings as it's not too strong, but I tend to use red wine vinegar (or sherry) anyway. I haven't tried cooking with it.
those are my essentials
I have at least 6 varieties of balsamic vinegar alone!
I do fine with three--white, apple cider, decent balsamic. Once in a while I'll pick up some rice wine for my fake-Asian cooking.
We have white for cleaning, really good balsamic for dressings and white wine vinegar for vinegrettes and also as a substitute for rice wine vinegar. Seems to work for us.
i'll just take the white vinegar. i don't think the other vinegars come close enough to the sournes/bitterness.
This is helpful, thank you.
But even more helpful would be telling me exactly what kind of each to get. For example, at the store there's at least 10 different balsamic vinegars to choose from! Which one is best? Or does it not matter so grab the cheapest (this doesn't seem likely)? Choose the one made in such-and-such way? Etc.
Check... check... check... check... and CHECK!
We also use champagne vinegar and grapeseed oil to make a lot of dressings.
... then there's my addiction with cherry-balsamic vinegar. Delicious with some salt and pepper over a halved avocado!
I don't find red wine to be necessary, I use balsamic in its place for all of the uses that you list. I also don't use cider vinegar often enough to find it essential, though it is nice for certain dishes like butternut squash soup. I do like to keep a light flavored vinegar around for dressings, usually a champagne vinegar. But in my book, the only truly essential ones are balsamic, white and rice.