Champagne Vinegar | For Gourmet Recipes
Champagne Vinegar For Gourmet Recipes
Champagne vinegar is a uniquely mild vinegar that can impart a delicate, appealing flavor to many recipes. It is a must-have ingredient for creating unique gourmet recipes. A common use is for a champagne vinegar dressing. Champagne vinegar also has unique culinary uses, such as a dough relaxer for pizza rolls and thin-crust pizza dough.
Origins Of Champagne Vinegar
Champagne vinegar is truly French, originating from the former Champagne region of France. The Champagne region is now Champagne-Ardenne and is part of the Great East (Grand Est) region of France. Champagne-Ardenne is the region where the grapes used to make the famous sparkling wines of France, or simply “Champagne,” are grown. The dominant grape varieties historically grown in the region are Pinot Noir, Meunier, and Chardonnay; these are also the grapes that give Champagne vinegar its mild, tangy flavor.
Champagne Vinaigrette Dressing Recipe
Champagne Vinaigrette Dressing Recipe with Savora
Combining Champagne vinegar with Savora creates an excellent, bright, and mild gourmet salad dressing. The traditional Dijon mustard in a vinaigrette is replaced with Savora, a French condiment made with Dijon mustard, brown and white mustard seeds, and a host of spices and herbs. The dressing ingredients are best emulsified with an immersion blender. The recipe yields about 9 – 10 oz, enough to fill a typical salad dressing cruet.
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
½ cup Champagne vinegar
¼ cup lemon juice
2 tbsp Savora (mustard condiment)
1 garlic clove
1/4 tsp fine-grain sea salt
1/4 tsp of ground pepper
Champagne Vinegar As A Pizza Dough Relaxer
With its subtle, tangy flavor notes, it melds well into the flavor of yeasted pizza dough. It acts as an excellent dough relaxer for recipes such as pizza rolls, where a quick fermentation is needed before rolling out the dough. I have also used Champagne vinegar for overnight cold-fermented pizza dough, resulting in thin-crust pizzas baked in a home oven on a pizza steel, with excellent results.
