Cooking with Ponti Vinegar

As many of us know, acid is a main component in cooking and a curious one indeed. One drop of lemon juice can transform a soup, vinegar balanced against olive oil makes a salad and in my new career as a mustard maker I use it in gallons. Acidity brings food alive.
We are still so incredibly lucky to have folks appreciate what we do enough that they send us wonderful products to work with and spread the gospel. Not too long ago we received a beautiful box of Ponti vinegar. One of the oldest vinegar companies, Ponti, makes vinegar in one of my favourite places, Italy.
Ponti vinegar has been made since way back in 1787

Included in the box were a bottle of young balsamic vinegar, Pinot grigio white wine vinegar and a squeeze bottle of balsamic crema.
Balsamic crema has become quite common place in today’s pantry and Ponti’s is right on point with authentic balsamic flavour that you can squeeze on anything from strawberries to pizza. Drizzled on ribs or grilled fish can be fantastic, our bottle was empty in a week.

All of the Ponti vinegar looked incredible but the Pinot Grigio vinegar instantly had me thinking of one of my favourite recipes. A recipe that most definitely features vinegar as an ingredient and is part of a terrific cooking technique.
Ironically it’s an old French recipe called poulet au vinaigre or vinegar chicken but flavour knows no borders.
Vinegar chicken was all the rage in the mid sixties in France and could be found on most good restaurant menus. I have adapted my version from a recipe written by Pierre Gagnaire. The very French cooking principle of reducing a liquid to concentrate its essence is very much in play with the vinegar which coats the chicken pieces in a glaze of goodness as they cook. Fortunately for both you and I it also includes a good hit of high quality mustard in the finished sauce along with some white wine and a splash of balsamic. The final dish has never failed to impress and is great served on a classic rice pilaf with a green vegetable, old school. For the cook it’s all about the technique and being involved through the whole cooking process, lots of fun.

There is also an awesome Venetian recipe that treats a breaded scaloppini in the same manner, reducing a ton of vinegar into a very hot pan with the freshly fried scaloppini, but that’s for another time.