Day one hundred four

Our buffet today, love this salad with duck confit

Faux balsamico, how you can do it?

The second day of the menu. Today I was responsible... I was a floater, so basically I was not responsible for anything, only to help other guys when they need help. Our team worked on lamb, beans, stuffed tomatoes, and kale. First thing in the morning we fabricated lamb roasts. We split in half three legs of lamb and made six roasts. We tied them with garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper. Then we seared them and placed into slow oven (around 190 F) for two and a half hours.

The rest of the time I was working on some preparation for tomorrow. I made a vegetable stock and faux balsamico. Stock is not so interesting, so let's talk about
balsamico.

Here is the recipe we used (from the New York TImes).
2 Tbsp white sugar
3 cups balsamic salad vinegar
2 juniper berries, cut in half
1/2 inch vanilla bean, split
20 needles fresh rosemary
2 black peppercorns
6 raisins
1/4 teaspoon dried figs
1/4 inch cut of star anise
1 Tbsp honey
1/8 teaspoon molases
Worcestershire sauce, optional

Method:
1. Simmer white sugar with 1 Tbsp water until dark caramel stage (but not burned). Remove from heat, add 1 cup of vinegar - be careful, it will splash at the beginning, add it in stages very slow at the beginning, otherwise you will get a big lamp of caramel in vinegar. Lower heat and simmer until the mixture is a very thick sirup.
2. Carefully add the remaining vinegar, stirring constantly. Add all other ingredients except for honey and molasses. Continue simmering until liquid reduced by nearly two thirds (to yield 1.5 - 2 cups)
3. Add honey, bring to simmer and remove from heat. Cool to room temperature. Taste and adjust flavor with molases (for a darker caramel tone) or Worcestershire sauce (to enhance the spice tone). Strain.

It came out very good, flavor was really enhanced from a flat (cheap) balsamic vinegar to something very reach, reminding a good balsamic vinegar. Can you say that this faux balsamico tastes like $150 a bottle? Positively NO. Does it worth to go for this? I think so. If your kitchen allows you to do this (you have good hood vent otherwise you home is going to smell like vinegar for the next two weeks), go for it. You should realize, that ingredients here is a guideline. No need to count needles of rosemary... If you make this you can use it for a salad without any taste of guilt (once I made a salad dressing with an excellent balsamic vinegar - and still thinking about it as a crime, that vinegar was so good you can drink it as digestive)...