Pantry guide
Best Chinkiang vinegar for home cooking
What Chinkiang vinegar is for, which kitchens use it, and where to find a jar worth cooking with.
Why cooks start here
Chinese black vinegar: malty, dark, the sour of a dumpling plate.
In Chinese cooking, Chinkiang vinegar is not decoration. Add it where the recipe puts it: early if it needs fat and time, late if it is perfume.
Taste Chinkiang vinegar before you empty the spoon. Fresh jars smell like themselves; tired ones smell like dust. Buy the smallest amount you will finish.
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