subsitute for sherry vinegar?

[mom2]

About a year ago I started making my own simple salad dressing with olive oil, sherry vinegar and s&p. Well fast forward to yesterday when I go shopping for more sherry vinegar and can't find it in any of the three grocery stores in town...I don't like balsamic vinegar, so what should I get to replace it?

[Harters]

Just use a good quality red wine vinegar - you'll hardly notice the difference from sherry.

[mom2]

does anybody have any brand recs...fwiw, I'm in Connecticut and shop and Stop & Shop and BigY mostly, but also Stew's and Caraluzzi's are an option

[Niki in Dayton]

Heinz makes an acceptable white wine vinegar, although I prefer Pompien. There's not that much difference between most brands.

I disagree a bit with Harters that you'll hardly notice the difference between red wine vinegar and sherry vinegar, but then, I have unfiltered cider, white wine, red wine, champagn, sherry, rice wine, mirin, aged balsamico, and even plain old white vinegar in my cupboard ;-)

[Harters]

"but then, I have unfiltered cider, white w......."

Yeah, me too.

Except that I don't have champagne vinegar but I raise you a bottle of Sarson's malt which goes on my chips. And my cider vinegar is organic. And my good balsamic was bought in Modena and my good sherry in Andalucia (my ordinary balsamic and sherry are supermarket).

Not that we're trying to compete here over our vinegar collections. Do you have a mustard collection as well?

:-0

[Niki in Dayton]

Just the basics: brown, whole grain, dijon, country, plain yellow, and jalapeno, along with several kinds of mustard seeds and several dry mustards ;-)

[Harters]

Thought you would :-0

I make do with just English and Dijon.

[Niki in Dayton]

White wine vinegar, available at most grocery stores, will work.

[David A. Goldfarb]

I recently found a nice Japanese brown rice vinegar (Mizkan is the brand I'm using) that would work in a lot of contexts where you might use sherry vinegar. If you have Asian markets near you, I'd look there.

[cakeladysc]

Actually I have found that the seasoned rice vinegar, (the clear one) is great for salads. Made with sake. It's also called Mirin. Marukan is the brand I use.

[1sweetpea]

If your stores are no longer carrying it, you can order it online from zingermans.com. It won't be cheap, but it's a big bottle and will last a while.

I don't eat bottled dressings at all. I always make salad dressings and use a variety of different acids, depending on the salad and my mood. Both red and white vinegars are nice and are widely available. I frequently use lemon and/or lime, along with their zest (citrus blends are nice too). To cut their acidity, mix with a bit of mild (unseasoned) rice vinegar. In a specialty store you might find champagne vinegar. I'm also partial to raw, unpasteurized and unfiltered apple cider vinegar. It has a far superior flavour to regular cider vinegar.

[Caitlin McGrath]

Mirin is not the same thing as seasoned rice vinegar. Mirin=sweet rice-based cooking wine, not vinegar. Seasoned rice vinegar is rice vinegar with salt and sugar added.

[David A. Goldfarb]

And of all these various options, in my opinion, Mizkan brown rice vinegar has the mild combination of sweet, acid and savory that is most like a good sherry vinegar like Solera 77. Red wine vinegars can be nice, but are usually more astringent.

[smtucker]

I love using a Merlot vinegar for that same light flavor in a salad dressing. The brand I get at my local Italian food shop is Mas Portel, I believe.