Chinkiang vinegar

Vinaigre noir de Chinkiang

What it is

It is fermented solid rather than liquid: glutinous rice is mixed with wheat bran into a damp mash turned by hand in open vats, and that bran is where the smoke and the toast come from. Zhenjiang holds a protected origin designation, and the serious jars are labelled by the number of years they stood outside.

In the kitchen

Add it off the heat — the aromatics are volatile and a long simmer leaves nothing but the acid. For a dumpling dip work to roughly two parts vinegar to one of ginger julienne with a pinch of sugar; the sugar is what makes it read as balsamic rather than merely sour.

Goes with

Ginger Garlic Soy sauce Toasted sesame oil Pork Chilli crisp White sugar Brown crab

Same species

Akazu Arborio rice Rice paper (bánh tráng) Basmati rice Black glutinous rice Black rice

Also used with

Facing-heaven chilli Dried lily buds Hairy crab Red yeast rice Century egg (pidan) Chinese sesame paste

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