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Shallot Vinegar
Take four ounces of shallots that are fully ripe without being at all acrid. Skin and mince them, put them into a bottle, and pour over them a quart of best pickling vinegar. Let them infuse for ten days, shaking the bottle every day. Strain the vinegar, filter it, bottle in small bottles, cork these securely, and store for use. This preparation will prove most valuable for flavouring soups, sauces, hashes, etc. It will keep for a long time. Time, ten days to infuse. Shallots are in season during the months of July, August, and September.
A cold infusion that needs almost no technique, but a few of the original's terms and quantities are worth pinning down before you start.
- The quartCassell's is a British book, so a quart is 40 fl oz — about 5 US cups, or 1.14 litres. If you scale to a US quart (32 fl oz) the vinegar will simply come out a little more strongly flavoured, which is no loss.
- Four ounces of shallotsThat is about 115 g, a small handful of bulbs depending on variety. Note that the original weighs them before skinning, so allow a little extra if you prefer to weigh peeled.
- "Best pickling vinegar"In this period that meant a good malt or wine vinegar of full strength, sometimes already spiced for pickling. Use any vinegar labelled 5 per cent acidity — malt, cider or white wine. Avoid low-acid or diluted "seasoning" vinegars, since the acid is what keeps the infusion sound.
- Shallots "without being at all acrid"This is the hinge. Sprouting or bruised shallots turn the vinegar harsh and sulphurous, and no amount of straining will fix it. Cut each bulb open and reject any with a green shoot or a soft, discoloured core.
- Mincing and infusingChop rather than crush; crushed shallot releases more of the pungent sulphur compounds and clouds the finished vinegar. Keep the bottle at cool room temperature away from light, and give it the daily shake the recipe asks for.
- Straining and filteringStrain through a fine sieve first, then filter through a paper coffee filter or a double layer of muslin. Filtering is not fussiness — leftover solids will continue to soften and eventually make the vinegar murky and off-tasting.
- KeepingBottle in clean, dry bottles with tight closures and store in a cool cupboard. Because the shallot is removed and the vinegar is at full strength, the recipe's claim that it keeps a long time is reasonable, though the aroma will fade with keeping.
- Yield and useYou get very close to the quart you started with. A teaspoon or two lifts a brown sauce, a vinaigrette, a mayonnaise for cold meat, or the deglazing liquid for a pan of steak — anywhere you would otherwise mince raw shallot.
Shallot vinegar belongs to a large Victorian family of flavouring vinegars — tarragon, garlic, chilli, celery, horseradish — that stood on the store-room shelf alongside bottled essences and mushroom ketchup. Before year-round produce and reliable refrigeration, a cook's problem was keeping the taste of an aromatic available in January, and a strong vinegar was one of the few preserving mediums that needed no heat, no sugar and no watching. It is a piece of kitchen infrastructure, not a dish. The note that shallots are in season in July, August and September is a reminder that this was a job for the end of summer, when the bulbs were newly lifted and cured.