SHORTCUT "AGED" BALSAMIC CREAM RECIPE 29522

missionspot.blogspot.com - Just a short, condiment recipe for you today:

Aged balsamic cream, also known as balsamic glaze, reduction or syrup, is a thick, delicious condiment judiciously used over salads, steaks and even ice cream. Just a few drops gives your dish a rich, tangy, sweet, rounded flavor.

Real balsamic cream is balsamic vinegar that has been aged until rich and viscous; it can be quite expensive. When I was in Tuscany last year, I visited Tenuta Casanova, a wine estate where the owner ages his own balsamic for 30 years. I bought some for quite a penny (40 ml for 25 Euros), and its depths of flavor cannot be equaled.

You can understand, however, that you just don't pour such an expensive syrup willy-nilly over all your food. Fortunately you can make a quick reduction out of supermarket balsamic, a little sugar and a little port wine. Now I can save the expensive stuff for upscale meals and use my shortcut balsamic cream for everyday.

In the photo below, regular supermarket balsamic vinegar is on the left and the cream I made is on the right. You can see clearly how much thicker the cream is.

A quick taste test proved that the expensive, truly aged balsamic cream is still better than the shortcut recipe, but the shortcut recipe is still good enough to use for company and worth the time and effort to make it.

I heard this recipe on one of my favorite podcasts, America's Test Kitchen Radio. A little research turned up dozens of recipes on the interwebs, but the ATK method seemed the best. A friend who was leaving the country gave me her bottle of supermarket balsamic recently, so I tried the recipe today.

Use a decent balsamic vinegar from the supermarket in the mid-range of prices. Do not boil the mixture; boiling evaporates a lot of the flavors. If you don't want to use the port, just omit it, but it gives the resulting balsamic cream an enhanced range of flavors. Plan on tending the pan closely during reduction.

Yield: about a cup

Ingredients:
1 cup balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons port
3 tablespoons sugar

Instructions:
Combine the ingredients in a saucepan and set on the stove over very low heat. Stir frequently and ensure the liquid never comes to a simmer. Light steam should rise constantly over the surface but it should never bubble. Cook until the mixture is reduced by half. If the syrup coats the back of a spoon thickly, it's done.

Remove from heat and let cool. Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator.

Photo for No Apparent Reason:

Posted by Hodie J