Making & Using Vinegar: Recipes That Celebrate Vinegar's Versatility

by Bill Collins

Brighten your meals with the tasty tang of homemade vinegar. Chef Bill Collins shows you how to make your own vinegars, including wine, apple cider, malt, white, and rice vinegars, and then flavor them with herbs for exactly the taste you want. You’ll also learn how to use your custom-made vinegars in everything from a basic Italian salad dressing to Asian coleslaw, sweet potato salad, caponata, sauerbraten, caprese sliders, pickles, chutneys, and even chocolate chip cookies. 

Genres: Nonfiction, Cooking, Cookbooks, How To

98 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 23, 2014

Reviews

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good in general. I do find useful the number of examples in how to use the vinegars as well as the wide range of vinegar types/flavours. However, it does solely focus on turning alcohol into vinegar, which requires either the purchase of alcohol or the brewing of it. It does not cover simpler scrap vinegars, which I have had to look up instructions for separately.

[Scott Andrews · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely book.

The one criticism was that there is no scrap vinegar method. It is all store-bought beer, wine or cider to start.

Otherwise, pretty good, and not everyone wants to make vinegar from scraps, do they?

[Mckinley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Variety. How to make, how to use for savory and sweet recipes.

[Online Eccentric Librarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

More reviews (and no fluff) on the blog http://surrealtalvi.wordpress.com/

I have to admit, I was very impressed by this cookbook. It begins by describing the various vinegars and how they are made/taste. Then gives instructions on how to make the vinegars, including infusing. Then the rest of the book has great recipes that use vinegar (from salads to deserts). The only thing that kept this from being a 5 star read is that the recipes could be very vague at times and a lot of assumptions were made that the cook knew what they were doing. As well, you won't be making the vinegar from easy scratch ingredients, though the process is simple. You will need to get some ingredients/sanitizers from specialty stores (mostly beer/wine making shops).

The book breaks down as follows: Part one is an introduction to vinegar, including what it is, the different types of kitchen vinegars, and non kitchen uses. Part two goes over homemade vinegars, infusions, shrubs, and pickling. Part three includes quite a few great recipes of stand by favorites, including vinaigretts, dressings, sauces, chutneys, slaws, appetizers, side dishes, soups, and of course, main dishes. There were quite a few recipes from around the world: Korean BBQ to Indian chutney.

To make your own vinegar, you'll need a B-Brite cleanser/sanitzer. And you'll need a 'vinegar mother', which also needs to be bought online. If you don't live in the US, this might be difficult. But if you can get those two ingredients, then it is just a matter of adding your wine, beer, or cider and creating your own tastes. Directions for infusing the vinegar with garlic or other ingredients is also included.

What I loved about the book is that there are tips throughout. From simple things such as how to get your oil and vinegar salad dressing to stay together as a vinaigrette to using vinegar to replace buttermilk or lemon/lime juice in recipes.

In all, I am very glad to have this book - even if I can't get my hands on the B-Brite or vinegar mother, there are some great recipes and tips in here that made it well worth the read.

Reviewed from an ARC.

[DelAnne Frazee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Title: Making & Using Vinegar: Recipes That Celebrate Vinegar's Versatility
Author: Bill Collins
Published: 7-23-14
Publisher: Storey Publishing LLC
Pages: 97
Genre: Cooking, Food & Wine
Sub Genre: Cooking By Ingredient; Sauces, Salsas & Condiments;
ISBN: 9781612123813
ASIN: B00GU2RL40
Reviewer: DelAnne
Reviewed For: NetGalley
My Rating: 5 Stars


.
I have found Bill Collins a wonderful source of useful information and easy to understand and follow recipes. Making & Using Vinegar is no different. I personally do not care for vinegar except on my salad because I do not care for the strong flavors, but in my home I stand alone and am out numbered. As I prefer to make as many of my food items myself so that I know exactly what is in them I now can make even the vinegars for my salad and cooking myself. For this alone I am grateful. I look for Mr. Collins' name when searching for cookbooks because I know that it will be done well and suited to me. If you are just wanting recipes this may not be what you want, but if you want to make your own vinegars and have them turn out right every time and have some simple recipes to use your new vinegars in then definitely add this wonderful book to your cooking library. My rating is 5 out of 5 stars.



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[Kai Metcalfe · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very short book filled mostly with recipes that use vinegar and recipes for infusing vinegar.

The beginning does briefly go over what vinegar is but only pages 15-26 are about MAKING vinegar and that's including all the recipes for infusing it. If you're looking for info on making vinegar from some neglected/oxidized/fail experiment alcohol you get pages 15, 16, and 17. That's it. There are much better books about making vinegar. I did appreciate all the infusion recipes though, and did grow to appreciate that you can add vinegar to pretty much anything to make it lighter or zestier.

To me this book was not about making vinegar. It was a cookbook that featured recipes with vinegar in them.

[Short Sorceress · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was sent a copy of the book for review through NetGalley, as always, all opinions are my own.

Making my own vinegar is something that has been on my to-do list for quite some time. This concise little book went through everything I could possibly want to know about making and using vinegar. The instructions were clear and concise, so when I finally find the time to tackle this project I’ll know exactly where to begin.

[Dana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book tells various uses for vinegar in cleaning as well as how to make your own vinegar and it also has a nice selection of recipes that contain vinegar. From making flavored vinegars to pickling to soups and deserts, the recipes look simple and delicious. I look forward to trying some out! I received this book free to review from Netgalley.

[♡ Sassy ~ Amy ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book! Great recipes along with great explanations & instructions! What can i say!! I am so doing this!! You can buy you bottles at places like TJMaxx & hobby Lobby!! Just saw them today!! I am excited! Perfect teacher gifts & gift basket item!!

[Cheryl Sanders · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amazing history of vinegar with great recipes. Although I would probably not make my own, I am very interested in it's uses in and out of the kitchen. There were several types of vinegar I wasn't even aware of. Great book to have on hand.

Received a copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Matthew Willis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short simple and amazing. I've done fermentation before but never understood it. Very good.