Conference turris::cooks

  See note 715.* on Herbes de Provence - those are the ones you'd
  probably want to use (although almost anything will work). For using in
  vinegar (or oil) they're best if dried from fresh. <Dried> because they
  seem to react better with the vinegar, and <from fresh> because that
  way you can have things like branches of thyme and tarragon, which look
  prettier than a pile of leaf crumbs on the bottom of the bottle. Just
  stuff as much as you can in the bottle and use a vinegar that's clear
  enough to see through (this is purely for looks - any vinegar works
  ok). Also, to best taste the herbs, a mild vinegar is best. That rules
  out great stuff like balsamic vinegar. The longer the mixture sits, the
  stronger the flavor. A month seems to get it pretty good. But,
  depending on what impurities (like bugs, fungus, etc) were in the
  herbs, and the strength of the vinegar, it may start to cloud after 3
  months or more. I don't know whether it's unhealthy at that point (we
  still use it), but it doesn't look pretty as a gift.
  
  The same basic recipe works for olive oil. Use the highest quality oil
  ("extra virgin first cold pressing").
  
  Incidentally, for all the effort and pretty appearance (and great
  aroma), we haven't found that these herb-seasoned vinegars and oils
  actually make much of a difference in what you use them in, since you
  can just as easily use the real herbs and plain vinegar or oil.
  
  - Mike

I've never tried this, but here's what the Silver Palate cookbook says
about making herb vinegars:

"Herb vinegars are beautiful and useful in cooking and in salad making.
Pour good-quality white or red wine vinegar over a generous handful
of fresh herbs in a jar and let stand, covered, for 2 weeks.  To speed
the process, heat the vinegar slightly first.  Strain the vinegar or
not, as you like.  Particularly good are: tarragon in cider vinegar;
green and red basil in red wine vinegar; dill flowers, chive blossoms,
lemon peel, garlic, oregano, mint, rosemary or wild thyme in white wine
vinegar.  A great treat for giving and getting."

    I made something this summer that has turned out to be a big success,
    so I thought I'd share it with you COOKs.
    
    I planted lots 'n lots of basil this year, most of it regular ol' sweet
    basil.  But I stuck in one purple basil plant, not really sure what I
    was going to do with it.  But it was soooo pretty.
    
    So, when it got nice 'n big...  I bought a 1/2 gallon jug of white
    vinegar.  Harvested the basil -- oh, a total of about 6 cups packed,
    maybe 4 cups the purple basil and the rest plain sweet basil.  Chopped
    it up in the food processor, mixed it with the vinegar and set it in a
    sunny windowsill for 3-1/2 weeks.
    
    I then strained it several times through several thicknesses of
    cheesecloth and bottled it in those pretty, antique-looking green glass
    bottles you can buy at Williams-Sonoma for $4.50 each.  I then cut big
    sprigs of the purple basil and stuck them into the bottles.  The purple
    basil made the vinegar a very deep pink -- it's soooo pretty, and
    really good!  I saved some for us, not in the fancy bottle, and corked
    the pretty bottles to give as gifts.  I've used it with oil on salads,
    and drizzled it with olive oil over garden tomatoes, and it's been
    really good on everything I've put it on.
    
    Couldn't be easier!  And it's an easy, inexpensive, thoughtful, nice
    gift to take someone when you're invited to their home for dinner or
    some such occasion.
    
    Has anyone had other experiences making herbed vinegars and/or oils????
    
    							Pat

    I made herbed vinegars last year for Christmas gifts. Try red wine
    vinegar and fresh red raspberries. It couln't be easier.
    
    Red wine vinegar is easy to find and pretty cheap. White wine vinegar
    is another story. My brother-in-law told me that one of the chefs that
    works for him makes his own white wine vinegar just but diluting white
    vinegar with 1/3 white white. I tried it and the acidity is really
    weakened. Anybody have luck finding white wine vinegar in quantity
    at a reasonable price?
    
    Linda
    
    

    Oh I'm so glad someone stared this note.  I've grown tarragon 
    this year and was thinking of making tarragon vinegar as little 
    gifts around Christmas time.  I also have lots of basil and like the
    idea mentioned in .0  Has anyone made tarragon vinegar before?  I have
    lots of questions like ratios taragon to vinegar, any preferred
    types of vinegar, etc etc....please share your secrets with us!  

    I only once had something go bad that I'd canned.  Even then,
    the stuff was probably edible, but didn't taste good.  I didn't
    ever get sick.  If you get a good canning book, follow the
    directions, sterilize everything, use good strong vinegar, and
    store in a cool-ish location, there should be no problem.
    
    Most of the problem with canning was resolved around 20 years ago.
    The only current problems are with people who don't follow the 
    directions, or don't check the seals on the jars before they
    use the food.
    
    Get and read a good canning book.  Try one of the Sunset ones.
    That should help put your mind at rest.
    
    By the way, the herbed vinegars need no special canning.  They
    don't spoil, not any more than that bottle of vinegar in your
    closet spoils.  If you want to get started with something that's
    absolutely safe, the herb vinegars are a good thing to try.
    
    --Louise

    I found some good bottles at Crate and Barrell.
    
    I read a couple of recipes for making herbed vinegars. One recipe said
    to heat the vinegar to just under a boil (do not allow vinegar to boil)
    and pour into a jar with sprigs of fresh herbs. Another recipe is to
    pour vinegar into a jar with sprigs of fresh herbs and sit the bottle
    on a window sil for a month before using. That's it!
    
    I read ( I think somewhere in this notes file ) about making herbed
    oils. A popular one is to make hot oil. Hot peppers get their heat
    from the oils in the pepper, you have to slit the peppers to expose
    the oils. Just put slit fresh peppers into a bottle and pour oil
    into it.
    
    Linda
    
    

re: bottles for herbed vinegars and oils

Is there any reason why Grolsch (sp?) beer bottles shouldn't be used
for herb vinegars and oils. Back when my dad was making beer, he
bought a mess of them from a liquor store for a nickel (the deposit)
each. I was thinking about trying to get some for vinegars.

Patti

> Is there any reason why Grolsch (sp?) beer bottles shouldn't be used
> for herb vinegars and oils. 
    
    If you can find corks that fit them, no reason at all.  In fact, I
    think the Grolsh (sp?) bottles are rather attractive and also a good
    size.  Good luck!
    
    							Pat

Functionally, the Grolsch bottles are great.  However, for gift giving, they are
a bit dark and don't show off the colors of the contents.  

Crate and Barrel do have great bottles for this purpose, and if you hit their
warehouse store (on Huron Av in Cambridge, I think) they sell them for even less
money.

About the best bottle to use is a wine bottle.  Just soak it till the label 
comes off.  It's up to you if you want to use the original cork, or just buy 
some corks at a cookware or harware store.  The best part of using wine bottles
is emptying them. 

I tried looking for a deep fryer note but couldn't find one
hope it fits here!

I have a deep fryer that recommends cleaning/straining the vegetable oil
of food particles and re-storing the oil till a later use.
Does anyone know of a good -a really good- way of straining the oil
at a reasonable amount of time.

I've been using the deep fryer basket and a coffee filter, but its
a mess and takes a lot of time. The coffee filter also clogs after awhile.

let me trade a recipe of Pub Grub for the answer to my question

PUB GRUB - fish filet,flour,potatoes
o Marinate filet of fish (cod/haddock/catfish) "any white fish I guess"
  in a bath of milk.
o Slice two or three potatoes in to pub sized french fry slices,
  half cook them in the deep fryer, take them out and let them drain
  on a paper towel in a bowl.
o Now take the fish from the milk and roll in sifted flour
o Cook the fish in the fryer for about 7-12 minutes until golden brown
  remove and place on a paper towel on a serving tray.
o Now replace the french fries in the fryer and continue cooking until
  they are also golden brown, remove and serve.

use malt vinegar, and enjoy, this is a killer Saturday afternoon
lunch after horseback riding with the kids on a cold winter morning.

tom

>Does anyone know of a good -a really good- way of straining the oil
>at a reasonable amount of time.

line your deep fryer basket or a metal mesh collander with two layers
of 'kitchen-approved' cheesecloth (some is not for cooking use and is
sold as a dust rag or garage rag - be sure to get cheesecloth approved
for cooking use).  Drain the oil through the cheesecloth.  it will
be somewhat faster than the coffee filter, but not horribly speedy.
face it, if it works too fast, it won't strain well.

Remember to keep oil that you've used once and strained in a refrigerator.
Once it has been used, it can get rancid fast from the minute particles
of food left in the oil.

	Rep .0


	Here's some of the herb vinegars I made this year,


	White Vinegar

	Thyme
	Garlic chive and black peppercorn
	Sage
	Fennel seeds and bay leaves
	Rosemary
	Mixed herb <thyme, bay, shallot, garlic, chives, parsley, 
		    tarragon, ...>
	Shallot and tarragon


	Red wine vinegar

	Rosemary, mint, and garlic <also added some red chiles to a few>
	Sage, parsley, and garlic
	Garlic and chili peppers


	I normally added about 3-4 good sized sprigs of herbs per pint
	of vinegar. For seeds <fennel> about 2 Tbsp per pint, 3-4 bay
	leaves or 3-5 cloves of garlic per pint. I usually make 25-30
	pints of different vinegars when my herb garden in full swing.
	I use about 10 bottles my self and the rest I give away as gifts.
	I even have my own labels for the bottles to dress them up 
	alittle.


	-mike

    I give away herb vinegars to friends and to the church fair.
    
    I usually keep VeryFine juice bottles since they are a good gift size,
    put a sprig of the desired herb in the bottle and fill with white
    vinegar.  Cap it and let it sit for several weeks.
    
    That is all there is to it.  Decorate as desired.
    
    To add pzazz, colored herbs such as purple basil make lovely vinegar. 
    And you can use the chive blossoms too.
    
    A selection of different vinegars makes a nice hostess or neighbor
    gift.

    We made a cranberry clove vinegar over the weekend.  Haven't tried it
    yet but it sure did smell great.  :^)
    
    Easy to do.  Add cranberries to vinegar, bring to a boil then allow to
    simmer for a few minutes.  Remove from heat, add a little honey and
    pour through a strainer.  Then pour the liquid into a bottle that has a
    few cinnamon sticks, cloves and more cranberries.  If anyone is
    interested, I'd be glad to post the exact measurements.  

    	I went to the Big E this past week and saw Cranberry vinegar in the
    Mass. pavillion.  Can anyone give me an idea on how to make this?
    
    
    Thanks,
    Stephen
    

	Rep .20


	I would take a quart of white distilled vinegar, 1lb. of fresh cranberries,
	1/4 C to 3/4 C sugar and bring to a simmer. Don't boil it just warm it if
	you will. Remoove from the heat and slightly smash the berries. Cover and
	let it sit for at least 2 weeks. Strain the mixture through a fine sieve
	into bottles. The amount of sugar you add depends on how sweet you want the
	finished product to be. I normally add 1/4 cup to my fruit vinegars but 
	some people like them sweeter.

	-mike