PHOTOGRAPHY GETTY IMAGES (MASSIMO BOTTURA) & RODNEY MACUJA (BALSAMIC VINEGAR).CAVEDONI BALSAMIC VINEGAR “IMPERATORE EXTRAVECCHIO 25 YEARS”, $280, FROM LARIO. STOCKISTS P176Ingredient issues? Dish dilemma? A very big name answers your very small questions.
Ask Massimo
70 GOURMET TRAVELLERPlease don’t
throw away
your balsamic
vinegar. You
should use it
to finish your
dinner, like
a Medici.D
ear Massimo, I have
a bottle of beautiful,
thick, aged balsamic
vinegar that was given
to me as a gift. The problem is,
I don’t really know what to do
with it. It’s too dense to dress a
salad with, and too expensive to
throw out, so it’s just sitting there
gathering dust. What can I do?Please don’t throw away your
balsamic vinegar. It never expires,
and it’s a precious thing.
Let’s say it’s a very high-quality
balsamico that you’ve got. You
don’t ever, ever have to cook with it.
It has great balance and acidity; youshould use it to finish your dinner,
like a Medici. Don’t use a metal
spoon; serve it like you’d present
caviar – on a beautifulspoon made
of wood, horn or shell.
If I can go a bit random for
a moment: if you want to do
something super-special for brunch
one day, cook down a very finely
sliced onion and shallot in a pan
with some younger balsamico,
then make an omelette or some
scrambled eggs. Mix a little bit of
Parmigiano into the eggs, put the
onion with the younger balsamic
vinegar inside, fold it over and
then finish with a very thin line
of the aged balsamic vinegar on
top – you’re gonna die.
Or crêpes. Put fresh berries
inside, then put the very old vinegar
on the berries. Roll up the crêpes –
we call them crespelle – and serve
them with vanilla ice-cream. That’s
a great way to end a meal.
Or, take a medium-aged
balsamic vinegar, 25 years, say,
and put a few drops of it into
a glass, roll it around and then
pour in some Champagne,
Franciacorta or prosecco like
a Kir Royale, a balsamic Spritz.
It doesn’t have to be so fancy,
either. You could also make a
mayonnaise; a few drops of a very
old balsamic vinegar will make an
incredibly tasty mayonnaise. It’s
great with crudités, and it’s also
excellent in a burger, especially
one with smoky bacon.
In truth, the age of balsamic
vinegar is not so important. It
can be 30, 40 or 150 years old,
but just because it’s older doesn’t
make it better. Acidity is key. It’s
what gives the vinegar its life.
And when it’s still in the barrel,
that quality goes up and down
over the years.Fresh grape juice – the juice
of trebbiano grapes – needs to be
added to the battery (the series of
barrels) every year to keep it alive.
But the addition of low-quality
grape juice after a poor harvest
one year can affect the battery
of barrels, and it can then take
10 or 15 years for the flavour to
adjust again. Depending on the
barrel quality that year, the same
vinegar from a particular house
might have been better bottled
in 2015 rather than in 2016.
Time does all the work. Please
don’t ever buy anything called
balsamic reduction or glaze.
Quickly reducing balsamic vinegar
to concentrate it, rather than
letting it age very slowly over
many years in the barrel, makes
about as much sense as trying to
boil caviar to make it taste better.
It drives me crazy.
Oh, and you can definitely
dress a salad with a very nice aged
balsamic vinegar. I always do it.
You just need to know the trick,
and the trick is this: the vinegar
goes first. Don’t put the balsamic
vinegar in a dressing, otherwise it
slips off the leaves and pools in the
bottom of the bowl. With your
hands take the leaves – something
quite simple, with lots of beautiful
aromatic fresh herbs – and after
you’ve washed and dried them, but
before you’ve done anything else,
rub them gently with just a few
drops of the balsamic vinegar.
Then add a drizzle of extra-virgin
olive oil and a pinch of salt. To
finish, shave some Parmigiano-
Reggiano on top. Beautiful.
Massimo Bottura is the chef and
owner of Osteria Francescana, an
acclaimed restaurant in Modena,
Italy, the hometown of balsamic
vinegar. As told to Pat Nourse.●Massimo
Bottura.Northern Italy