The French larder staple: fresh tarragon sprigs steeped in white wine vinegar until it takes on the herb's sweet anise perfume, the bright acid base of béarnaise and vinaigrettes and the bottled taste of summer tarragon kept through the year
Origin: France
From the journey of Tarragon.
Tarragon vinegar is the quietest and most practical of the French uses of the herb, and one of the oldest ways of keeping its fleeting summer flavour through the rest of the year. Tarragon is at its best fresh and does not dry well, losing much of its sweet anise character in the process; steeping it in vinegar, however, captures and preserves that flavour beautifully, the acid drawing out and holding the volatile oils so that a bottle of tarragon vinegar carries the taste of the high-summer herb into the depths of winter. It is a fixture of the French larder, the acid base of the reduction for a sauce béarnaise, the defining note of a tarragon vinaigrette dressing a green salad or a plate of cold chicken, and a splash to lift a sauce or a marinade. A bottle with a single tall sprig of tarragon suspended in the pale gold vinegar is a familiar sight on the French kitchen shelf, as much an ornament as a seasoning. Simple to the point of needing no recipe at all, it is nonetheless one of the most useful things a cook who loves tarragon can make.
French tarragon gives the truest flavour; the milder Russian sort is not worth the bottle. A good-quality white wine vinegar makes the best base, though cider vinegar works for a fruitier result. The same method makes other herb vinegars (with chervil, chives, or dill), but tarragon is the classic. A clove of garlic or a strip of lemon peel can be steeped alongside the tarragon for a more complex vinegar.
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