OT. Recipes or Reference for Aged Balsamico

WooDoggies

I friend recently returned from Italy and brought me a bottle of 21 year old Aceto Balsamico di'Modena.
I have read a great deal about the aging process, and how indescribable an elixir it is compared to the commercial balsamics you get at the grocery, but now that I finally have a bottle of this expensive stuff I'm hesitant to use it. The few recipes I've run across are simple like drizzling on Parmigiano Reggiano, dipping with strawberries, a couple easy pasta dishes...
Does anyone have a source/reference for more complex meat dishes using the true aged balsamico?
I would greatly appreciate it.[p]Large Beers,[p]WD

Marv

WooDoggies, Hey buddy, I just did a search on Google using the key word 'balsamico' and found several sites with receipes and other information of intrest.
Marv

Unknown

WooDoggies,
Lord, lord, honey, DO NOT and I repeat DO NOT used that elixir of the gods to cook with. Italy is a place dear to my heart; just spent a month there this past Sept-Oct, which was our 6th trip to that country. I would only use it to lightly drizzle over something wonderful (food that is!. Try cutting up, in bit-sized chunks, red, green, yellow bell peppers, a good red onion, a small cucumber, a fresh tomato, FRESH basil, FRESH parsley, coarsely ground black pepper, then adding a good quality extra-virgin olive oil, and then drizzling that wonderful Balsamic over it all. This, with a crusty loaf of bread and any meat that you cook in the BGE and you will think you have died and gone to heaven. I learned how to make this simple salad by watching a tiny, little Italian woman make it in a rustic kitchen on Lake Como about 20 years ago. You t;ruly have a treasure in that bottle.....treat it royally.

Gretl

WooDoggies,
Please believe what Gloria just advised. Use it "neat" and NOT as an ingredient. You wouldn't add a 12-year-old Scotch to a vat of Kool-Aid and Cribari at a frat party, now, would you? Good heavens!
Cheers,
Gretl

The Naked Whiz

Gloria aka Muthah,
Geez, he only has the 21-year old stuff. It's not like he has the 150-year old stuff. :-)[p]TNW

The Naked Whiz

WooDoggies,
Hey, I'll bet it would make a great jerky. Just pour the whole bottle into a ziploc bag......[p]Seriously, Gordon Elliot did Balsamic vinegar on Follow That Food a while back. If it pops up again on the Food Network, it was interesting to see. I need that man's job. Fly all over the world, taste lovely foods and then start moaning about how wonderful it is. I could do that....[p]TNW

Unknown

The Naked Whiz,
You don't like me do you??? Seriously, you are exactly correct; however, I have found that when you buy olive oil or balsamic vinegar IN Italy, it is usually of much better quality than one can find imported here, unless you spend big bucks at a high-end grocer. I still would use it with a bit more stinginess than I would with what I usually have.

The Naked Whiz

Gloria aka Muthah,[p]Here is a link to some 80 year old stuff, just for fun:[p]http://www.deandeluca.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ExecMacro/store/framescat.d2w/report?cgrfnbr=10921[p]TNW[p]

The Naked Whiz

The Naked Whiz,
Dang, the link doesn't go straight to the page. If you take the link to Vinegar, then the link to Balsamic vinegar, that have an 80 year old bottle for only $175.
TNW

Unknown

The Naked Whiz,
Thanks for the link info. I hurriedly cliked on 'vinegar' and can't wait to have more time to read some of the things on it. Can't imagine spending $185 bucks on a SMALL bottle of vinegar......think I'd rather put it on a good single-malt Scotch. I remember the first time I bought a bottle of balsamic, having read about it, opened it and thought "gosh, this stuff must be spoiled" it looked so brown and thick. I grew up with White House Apple Cider vinegar! I poured it down the drain!!!

WooDoggies

Hey Y'all,[p]Thanks all for the words of wisdom... they will be heeded.
The consensus is to start off simply with the stuff and Gloria, your simple salad sounds like a good introduction to the balsamico exotica. Delizioso!
Cheers and Beers,[p]WD[p]

DavidHall

WooDoggies,[p]By now you're probably getting tired of hearing people tell you to use it sparingly. Well, they're right.[p]One thing we like to do with nice balsamico is drizzle just a little (and I mean just a little) over good vanilla ice cream. Who'd a-thunk vinegar on ice cream could be good. :-)