What to use instead of red wine vinegar
It depends entirely on what it's doing in the dish. Here's the job, what else does it, and what to skip.
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Sharp acid in a vinaigrette or raw chopped sauce
It runs around 6 to 7 percent acetic acid, so it cuts oil and salt at a level citrus cannot reach, and the leftover grape character keeps it from tasting bare.
Sherry vinegarRan out
1:1
Nuttier and rounder, a shade less aggressive. It flatters bread salads and anything with egg in it.
White wine vinegarRan out
1:1
Same bite, lighter and more floral. A panzanella comes out paler and tastes a notch less savoury.
Apple cider vinegarRan out
1:1
Fruitier with a sweet finish. Obvious in a Greek salad, invisible in a marinade.
Balsamic vinegarRan out
use 2/3 as much and cut any sugar in the dressing
Sweet and dark. The dressing turns brown and the salad reads Italian-American even when the recipe is French.
Rice vinegarRan out
use 1 1/2 times as much (it sits nearer 4.5 percent acid)
Mild and faintly sweet. Fine in a slaw, too soft to hold up the oil in an Italian sub.
What doesn't work: Red wine itself. Wine sits around 0.6 percent acid, roughly a tenth of the vinegar, and it brings alcohol and tannin with it; the dressing tastes flabby and slightly bitter and never emulsifies properly.
Acid in a long braise or an overnight marinade
Acetic acid loosens surface protein over hours or days and keeps the sweetness of long-cooked onion and tomato in check. Most of the sharpness cooks off, leaving background sourness.
Malt vinegarRan out
1:1
Maltier and darker in the pot. It suits beef and sits badly under lamb.
Cider vinegar plus tomato pasteRan out
vinegar 1:1, plus 1 tsp tomato paste per 1/4 cup
The paste covers the fruit the wine vinegar would have brought and the colour deepens a shade.
Dry red wine plus distilled white vinegarRan out
3 parts wine to 1 part white vinegar, used 1:1 for the red wine vinegar
Close once it has simmered 20 minutes. Do not use it raw; the alcohol is still there until it cooks.
Lemon juice, added in the last hourNo alcohol
use 1 1/2 times as much
Brighter, and it fades. Long cooking turns lemon dull and faintly bitter, so it goes in late rather than at the start.
What doesn't work: Distilled white vinegar measured one for one. It has the acidity and nothing behind it, and in a long braise that acidity stays raw and volatile; the kitchen smells of pickling and the sauce reads sour rather than deep.