The Vinegar Cupboard by Angela Clutton

"Vinegar is totally on trend."
James Martin, Chef and Food Writer

"Everything you ever needed to know about this vital ingredient for good cooking."
 Ken Hom

"An authoritative compendium on the history, production and benefits of a broad spectrum of vinegars interspersed with recipes."
Sunday Times

"A fascinating read with gorgeous recipes."
Delicious Magazine

These are exciting times in the vinegar world as we are seeing a growing interest in vinegars and a recognition of the role acidity plays in cooking. Featured in the pages of this definitive new book, Angela Clutton shows how much can be achieved using just red or white wine vinegar in your cooking, as well as exploring the vast array of vinegars available, including our fruit vinegars. The range of vinegars on the market is expanding rapidly, and you can easily find fruit, herb, sherry, cider, malt, rice, balsamic and many types of red and white wine vinegars on store shelves. The Vinegar Cupboard encourages cooks to have an impressive collection of as many varieties of vinegars as they can fit in their kitchen; this is the book we have long waited for as it shows just how many uses our versatile ingredient has and tells you so much about how to use them and why.

Top quality full colour photography by Polly Webster, info-graphics and flavour wheels enhance the recipes in this collection, ensuring this is a usable and accessible book for all home cooks.

There are around 80 recipes; every one comes with variations of vinegars that can be used to give an understanding of how different vinegars can be interchangeable.  

Hardback book, 246 x 189 mm, 288 pages

Take a look inside here.

Angela Clutton is a food writer, food historian and professional cook who has written on food and drink for the Daily Telegraph, the Independent, Country Life and others; she also regularly writes for Borough Market where she is a recipe developer, demonstration cook and host of the hugely popular Borough Market Cookbook Club. Broadcast work includes being the featured food historian on BBC TV's Rip Off Britain, Food and Inside the Factory.

Angela is the co-Chair of The Guild of Food Writers. Her debut book The Vinegar Cupboard won the Jane Grigson Trust Award 2018 and was published on March 7th 2019.

Scallops in Malted Butter Sauce from The Vinegar Cupboard by Angela Clutton.

Photograph by Polly Webster

We recently spoke to Angela to find out more about what inspires her about vinegars in general and Womersley in particular: 

•    What inspired you to write The Vinegar Cupboard? - As I became a more experienced cook, I began to appreciate more and more the absolute importance of acidity in cooking. And from there to fall in love with the sheer breadth of vinegars available, their flavour potential and versatility. Chefs know it, but it bothered me that so many home cooks don't realise what a culinary weapon vinegar is - so I set about trying to fix that!
    
•    Having completed the book, what surprising facts did you discover about vinegar? - I think the most amazing thing - which we've tried to show in the book with our world vinegar map - is just its sheer global reach. Vinegar is everywhere!
    
•    Why should we all have vinegars as an essential ingredient in our kitchen? - For the same reason we have salt - vinegar balances a dish wonderfully. If you ever cook a dish and feel it is lacking a certain something, I bet you the answer is vinegar.
    
•    How interchangeable are vinegars (we don’t all have such a well stocked cupboard!) in food recipes? - Every recipe in my book comes with its 'vinegar variation', showing just how interchangeable vinegars can be. I really want people to understand that different vinegars can be swapped for each other to achieve interesting variations on a dish. So if you are making a ragu, for example, and would normally maybe add a slug of red wine, that's great. But swap that for a little cherry vinegar, maybe, and 'wow'.

•    Vinegars are becoming more popular in drinks - what makes vinegar such an important ingredient? - The acidity of vinegars can give a lovely depth and balance to cocktails, or a gin and tonic. I never serve a G&T without a dash of vinegar in it and people love them. But  vinegar is also important for alcohol-free drinking, as its acidity can emulate the taste of alcohol. Add a little to some soda water and immediately you have a much more interesting soft option.

•    What do you like about Womersley vinegars and which is your favourite? - I love the flavour combinations of Womersley. They are well-balanced and very 'clean' tasting. So useful for cooking with. My vinegar cupboard (because I really do have one!) is never without the 'orange and mace'.