what vinegar?

[Jules001]

you know in restaurants you get given oil and vinegar for your salad, what type of vinegar is it. I know it's not your normal malt vinegar.

[scubadiver]

Balsamic

[commoner]

..Balsamic vinegar comes from Italy.....it is considered a wine vinegar (as opposed to malt vinegar from beer)but really is not. It is not actually made from wine but from the pressings of the grape which have not been allowed to ferment into wine...can be VERY expensive in some cases...commoner

[Narolines]

I would have thought balsamic only if you go to very expensive/trendy restaurants; more usually it will be red wine vinegar, used in classic French dressing and in countless classic recipes. Balsamic vinegar is too sweet to balance the olive oil in a simple "on the hoof" salad dressing; roughly 3 parts oil to 1 of red wine vinegar works well.  Red and white wine vinegar are readily obtainable at most supermarkets in the UK. (Use white wine vinegar to make home-made mayonnaise or in other applications where you don't want the vinegar to colour your dressing).

[Fitzer]

In addition to the other (excellent) answers, balsamic can be used with other 'sharpeners' to make a good dressing, mustard is a good addition as are capers and various other things. Also cider vinegar makes a good variation especially if you have apple in the salad you ae dressing. Various fruit vinegars (raspberry etc) make for interesting changes.

I would disagree (in the nicest possible way) with Narolines in that I would always use white wine vinegar in a 'vanilla' French dressing but each to their own.

[Narolines]

Fitzer, disagree as much as you like, as long as it's in the nicest possible way!  Food's a very subjective thing - if you like it, then do it! 

[Jules001]

thanks everyone for your answers, I wasn't absolutely convinced that what I had been offered was balsamic as I use that in cooking at home. I do have some red and white vinegar in the cupboard I think, so off to make a nice salad to go with our chicken kebabs

[commoner]

..LOL...not forgetting there are also vinegars made from synthetic chemicals.... Non-brewed condiment, for example, is a vinegar substitute made from food-grade, industrial ethanoic acid. ..Lurverly on fish'n'chips....commoner <G>