The Balsamic Vinegar
September 2007. I was in Belgrade. The temperature had suddenly fallen from over 35C to a bit above zero. I had never experienced something like that in summer and surely this weather brought something else bad. In fact in a couple of days later Italians had to suffer for the loss of the most famous of them around the world, Luciano Pavarotti. Luciano was not only a great singer of Opera and “tenore”, but a true expression of the best values of Italian lifestyle: playful, friendly, filial and strongly related to his family, smiling, always nice, generous, creative, a great artist, and a lover of food.
He was a great gourmet indeed, and the reason is because he was born in Modena, in one of the best Italian traditional regions for food: Emilia Romagna. My father was from the same area as well, therefore I personally experienced how this region is famous not only for its tortellini, ravioli, lasagne, ragu’, prosciutto and salami, but for grapes and wine as well, a sparking sweet red wine called “Lambrusco”, which youths love to drink.
This area is famous for its long life elisir too: the Balsamic Vinegar. Emilian vineyard cultivators had the great idea of cooking the grape must matured by a long and slow vinegarization process through natural fermentation followed by progressive concentration by aging in a series of casks made from different types of wood and without the addition of any other spices or flavourishing.
Therefore balsamic vinegar is produced, unlike ordinary vinegar which has its origins in an alcoholic liquid, directly form grape juice. Grapes (Trebbiano, white and sugary one, and Trebbiano of Spain, in the area of Nonantola), harvested -as late as possible so as to take the utmost advantage of every last touch of the warmth that the generous nature provides there- in the Modena region in which balsamic vinegar is produced, are crushed and their liquid, the “must”, taking care it never starts its fermentation process and the sugar is transformed into alcoholo, is then filtered and boiled in an open vat over a fire, where it will be brought to a slow noil and then allow to simmer gently until the desired level of concentration is reached (30 to 70% depending on the quality of vintage, sugar level, the practice of the vinegar maker). After filtered and cooling, this liquid is then placed in high quality wooden barrels in which through an oxidation process, it is transformed into vinegar. The barrels are kept in a vinegar loft (“acataia”) where over a number of years the precious liquid inside is lovingly cared for through a special technique involving transfers and topping up. Over many years microbiotic and enzymatic modifications unite to achieve an exceptional balance in fragrance and flavour.
Italy and the Consortium of Producers of Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena have a very strict quality control for this DOC (Controlled Origin Denomination) product in order to ensure the consistency and the continuation of certain traditions, with the help of expert tasters, seals, rules, regulations, and procedures. There are many imitations throughout the world, adding caramel to the must, and this is quite a fake or, let’s say a very young and commercial product which cannot add the “traditional” to the label. Two types of vinegars, based on the aging period, are marketed: Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena (aged minimum 12 years), and Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena Extra Vecchio (extra old, which is aged minimum 25 years). Usually producers set a different gamma of colours, from green, to blue, to Bordeaux (usually aged less than 3 years), to green seal, blue seal, Bordeaux seal (matured more than 3 years), till gold and platinum, which reach and can go over 25 years.
|traditional Balsamic Vinegar has a dark brown colour, full of warm light; is dense, with a fluid and syruplike consistency (this is why cheap vinegar add caramel inside); his fragrance is distinct, complex, sharp and unmistakeably but pleasantly acid; the flavour is traditional and inimitable sweet and sour, in perfect proportion. To the tastebuds it will offer a full and rich flavour with a variety of shadings and eveolving bursts of new expressions as the mood of carrier changes.
You can try Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena, just in drops, on cheese (mozzarella, parmigiano) or on fresh, grilled, steamed or boiled vegetables, as a last refining touch to meat and fish whether they be baked, boiled, broiled, or grilled, and in Saucest Cooks throughout the world achieve remarkable culinary successes through the many creative uses of this extraordinary condiment.
I might add so much more detailed information, but it is now time to eat. I accept the suggestion of my “Big Luciano” (as Pavarotti was called worldwide) and I propose his receipt of Piccantina, together with a salad of the other great Opera composer Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868). Luciano used to say that “It is always the same instrument that produces pleasure and art in song and in food: the mouth”. And Rossini stated that “eating, loving, singing and digesting are the four acts of the comedy which is life”. As so many Italian artists in music loved food, may it mean that for meticulous Italians eating is like playing or singing a celestial symphony with outstanding instruments like Balsamic Vinegar, in this case?
Insalata alla Rossini
Simple – 15 minutes preparation
Ingredients: mustard, lemon, pepper, salt, e.v. olive oil, vinegar or Balsamic Vinegar, truffle (white or black), lettuce. Quantity according to the taste.
Wash the lettuce and slice the truffle. Pour them in a bowl, then add salt, pepper, lemon and mix; add Balsamic Vinegar, e.v. olive oil and mustard, mix it and serve.
Piccatina alla Pavarotti
Simple – 1 hour
Ingredients: 800 g best end of veal sliced, 100 g butter, 60 g Modenese ham julienned, 25 g chopped parlsey, 1 tablespoon Modena’s Traditional Balsamic Vinegar, flour, salt, pepper as needed.
Flatten the slices of veal slightly, salt (you will use salty cured ham later, so do not exaggerate with the salt at this stage), pepper and flour them.
Heat 80 g of butter in a pan and brown the veal on both sides with a high flame. Drain off the excess butter and place the veal on a hot serving dish. Add the remaining butter to the frying pan and scrape off the cooking residue from the bottom and sides.
Add the julienne ham and cook it over a low flame for a few seconds and then add the balsamic vinegar, Allow the sauce to meld for a few moments and then pour it over the “piccantina”. Sprinkle it with the chopped parlsey and serve it hot.
Stuffed Mussels
Simple – 1 hour
Ingredients: 2 pax: 500g mussels; 1 cup olive oil; 1 cup bread crumbs; 3 teaspoon chopped garlic; 1 tablespoon chopped parsley; 2 tablespoons Modena’s Traditional Balsamic Vinegar.
Heat the mussels in a pan until they are open. Allow them to cool and then remove from shells. Place in a container under olive oil.
Mix the bread crumbs, garlic, parsley, salt and pepper. Add the mussels and mix thoroughly.
Add the balsamic vinegar. Place on a baking sheet and bake in the lowest rack of the oven for 5 minutes at 180C.
