out of balsamic vinegar heres a tip

Wow this is great info... thank you!

Love this! I'm going to put this label on my AC vinegar bottle for a reminder!

Point well taken!

I understand, Annie. And I can certainly respect your hesitancy to keep an ingredient you don't want to use. I'm sure you know that red wine vinegar is just red wine 'gone sour'.

But I do want to encourage you, aspiring and increasingly proficient cook that you are, to try something when you have a chance.

This would be for the next time you make a beef roast ro, better yet invest in a couple of really good steaks, like filets, for a special dinner. I'd like to to indulge me for a moment, since we have developed a trusting relationship here. I want you to make a sauce to accompany your beef.

Buy a bottle of Port wine. Pour 3 cups into a sauce pan with 2 bay leaves, 1/2 cup of chopped onion and 1/2 cup of carrots. I'd like you to bring the liquid to a boil over medium heat for about 45 minutes to reduce it to about a half a cup of syrup. Stain the liquid. Throw the vegetables away. Spoon some of the reduction around your delicious beef. You can make the reduction ahead of time and it can even be room temperature when you serve it. Then tell me how it went.

Good for you, Annie! I think a collander will work. I use a screen strainer, usually, but since this is a syrupy consistency and you are chopping, not mincing or dicing the carrots and onions, you should be just fine. To get as much of the sauce as possible, I suggest that you tilt the collander to restrict the number of holes the reduction will go through. I think you will want every drop. You could even fish the vegetables out with a slotted spoon, put them in the collander to drain and then you'd have that extra little spoonful of goodness. You want to achieve a 'clean', clear, dark red sauce without any particles - just the reduction. If you like this with your beef, I have some other ideas for you...