Vinegar: it's what's for dinner.
Vinegar, apparently, can be made from almost anything. Upscale Austrian producer Gegenbauer makes 70 varieties of vinegar out of everything from pickled peppers to beer. And some of the city’s top chefs are using it not only to enhance their dishes, but to garnish drinks too.
Chef Olivier Muller of db Bistro Moderne spritzes Gegenbauer’s asparagus vinegar on lemon sole to bolster the flavor of the green and white asparagus that accompanies the fish. “It’s a great trick,” Muller says. “Seasoning this way highlights the flavors instead of masking them.” He uses tomato vinegar in the same way (212-391-2400; reserve online).
Chef Michael White mixes the cucumber vinegar with lemon to dress oysters at Marea (212-582-5100; reserve online); and Kurt Gutenbrunner of Wallsé uses the red pepper and cucumber varieties along with vegetable juice and gin for his “pepper pepper” and “pepper cucumber” cocktails (212-352-2300; reserve online).
Home chefs can purchase the vinegars at epicurepantry.com, Dean & Deluca and The Food Emporium (bottles range from $19.99–$57.99).
– Kathleen Squires