Rice (Nice) Vinegar

Just a few examples of the genre

Southern California is full of the unexpected, questionable and strange (er…um…often on the freeway). I recently headed to Seafood City Market, a supermarket catering to L.A.’s Filipino cooks. I hadn’t been there before, and was surprised to locate it on the bottom floor of a nearby shopping mall (could do my Target shopping, also!). Inside this bright, hospital-clean market were aisles of fascinating ingredients, but it is most known for its fish market. Instead of pre-cut, pre-filleted selections, you choose from trays and trays of iced whole fish, and have the fishmongers cut it any way you want. It smelled like the ocean in there — clean and salty, with a hint of brine. I’ll be back over there with my camera, and pick out something I can share with you. On this trip, I was only shopping for vinegar, though we did end up with beautiful purple ube ice cream and some long beans.

I reach for this mild, less acidic and lightly sweet vinegar any time I want a hint of bite without the harshness. Rice vinegars are used all over Asia, but this pale yellow to colorless variety is the one commonly used in Japanese cooking. A sweetened version of it is used to season, among other things, sushi rice. Chinese cooks prefer black rice vinegar, which has a deep, sweet smokiness, and red rice vinegar with its tart bite, though white rice vinegar is used for sweet and sour dishes and pickles.

Rice vinegar comes from rice wine, which is made by prompting the fermentation of glutinous rice. Some kind of yeast + sugar + fermentation = alcoholic beverage is found in almost every culture around the world, and the happy result here is rice wine and sake. From wine comes vinegar, once bacteria is introduced. Because rice wine is slightly sweet and low acid, the resulting vinegar is also. Some rice vinegars are further enhanced with sugar, salt and spices. The Japanese “seasoned” rice vinegar often includes sake and is what flavors sushi rice.

Rice vinegar is mild enough to be used with a drop or two of oil as a salad dressing, especially good if you use a little sesame oil. I like to sprinkle it on thinly sliced cucumbers along with a dash of salt — after a half hour they are slightly wilted but very crunchy and refreshing. Try parboiling unshelled edamame (baby soybeans) for 3 minutes, and sprinkling the hot beans with rice vinegar and a little salt. This same formula is excellent on any parboiled vegetable, and consider sprinkling grated ginger, minced green onions, and/or lemon zest on top. It’s great dip for dumplings, and even nice sprinkled over cooked short-grain rice. And oh, yeah — it’s great on fries.

Tagged as: Pantry, Vegetables