Saturday, January 12, 2008

Vinegar ? Whats your experience? Help please

I am still confused with vinegar
and I accept its all about personal choice
and alcohol gets cooked off often
I've stayed away from it for years now
because I a don't understand the stuff
the ingredients are not clear (for me)

The obvious ones
White wine vinegar
redwine vinegar
cider vinegar
I choose to stay away from

I really dont understand
what the distillation and fermentation process
means for me

malt, balsamic, rice all vinegars

At the end of the day
the amount of vinegar
I would put on or use
in recipes is small, almost non existant
1 teaspoon !?
but I would know its there

So I ask whats you experience?
Those who cook
what do you use?
what process have you gone through to
choose your vinegar?

Is there an alternative?

Even though you tell me
I may still be left in confusion
and continue just to miss it out
but I do value your experiences

thanks

16 comments:

Kathy Lynne said...

No experience here!!! LOL

Mary Christine said...

This isn't really advice, but it is what I do:
If it says "wine", I don't use it. I think the jury is out on whether there is alcohol in it, but I am uber careful. If there was alcohol, it would probably cook off, but I don't like to trust the word probably.

I have just done a tad of research on this and apparently, there is alcohol in some vinegars. I would think the kind you get at the grocers doesn't have it...

I bet you get lots of comments with lots of differing opinions on this one...

indistinct said...

I never knew that vinegar was made from alcohol.

I googled "does vinegar contain alcohol" and found out lots of stuff. I think ultimately the choice is ones own to make. I've been putting malt vinegar on my fries for years and never thought anything of it. From what I read today, I will continue because the bacteria that converts the alcohol into bacteria does a thorough job, leaving no alcohol in the liquid.

Thanks for teaching me something new!

Scott W said...

Sorry, but I have no experience with vinegars because I don't cook. I stay away from dishes that have alcohol added to them, just don't want to take that chance, but I am not sure about vinegar.

An Irish Friend of Bill said...

Vinegar is made from the fermentation of alcohol.
The first step in the process, is the same as takes place in the production of wine, cider, sake or malt liquor when the action of yeast converts sugars into alcohol.

If the fermentation is allowed to continue the next stage in the process breaks down the alcohol into acetic acid together with a multitude of other by products and becomes vinegar.

http://www.vinegaryard.com/

johno said...

I choose to stay away, thinking about it, its just 1 teaspoon, but really I am not sure its the alcohol am worried about, guess I just dont like th idea of the other stuff thats in it either. On chips from the chips shop once a year or so really I dont give it a thought anyway!

i'll just continue as I am, use a teaspoon of water instead.

thanks for your comments :)

Most of Martha Woodroof in one place said...

I owned a restaurant before I was a drunk and then a journalist. I guess it demonstrates my ongoing innocence at 60, but it's never occurred to me to worry about vinegar. My current favorite is good old cider vinegar.

dAAve said...

Rule of thumb ...

"When in doubt, don't."

Anonymous said...

anything acidic can be used as a substitute for vinegar in most recipes. i would try lemon juice. good luck!

Shadow said...

hey! i don't know vinegar has alcohol in it. so i've been using it. except the obvious 'red wine vinegar' for some reason... i've read somewhere that you can subsititute vinegar with lemon juice, not sure about the ratio though... alcohol in food i don't use or eat. i think you should just do what makes you comfortable!

An Irish Friend of Bill said...

"breaks down the alcohol into acetic acid"
!!

so all the alcohol has turned to acetic acid.
if it was alcoholic, lots of drunks would be drinking vinegar out of brown paper bags!!
but they dont. so there you are. no alcohol in that.
thought the above comment made that clear, but obviously not.
but when you COOK food, any alcohol in the food cooks of anyway.
its only UN cooked food, or LIGHTLY cooked food that presents a problem. or cooked food where the alcohol is added just before serving.
Balsamic vinegar, cider vinegar, al lthe regular ones are FINE

johno said...

if it was alcoholic, lots of drunks would be drinking vinegar out of brown paper bags!!

LOL!! thanks for clearing the one up!

Kathrin Ivanovic said...

I use all kinds of vinegar in my cooking. I use mouth wash, and, when needed, I use Nyquil. I have had dialogues with my sponsor and physician about these things, and I am comfortable with these decisions.

To each their own!

molly said...

Using vinegar in any form hasn't been an issue for me.. I worry more about cough syrup and those things where I can actually "taste" it, therefore, the possibility of a craving. But so far no troubles with vinegar, even red wine vinegar.. just me tho. :) GREAT QUESTION!

Anonymous said...

I use vinegar to clean my coffee pot.
that's about it for me.
but I do use olive oil all the time.

:)

Syd said...

I don't think vinegar would be an issue. We use balsamic as well as white vinegar and regular cider vinegar. No problems and no one wants to drink any of it. The acidity of it makes it's use minimal for most cooking.