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olive oil or vinegar?

2K views 12 replies 9 participants last post by  joyfull 
#1 ·
Hi there, this is another bottle design related question.

What do you use the most in cooking/serving, vinegar or olive oil?

Just trying to get a gage on which should be the largest bottle in the kitchen.

cheers
 
#5 ·
Hi LogghiB,

I'm designing a new glass olive oil/vinegar bottle. I'm generally interested in usage, it gives me a better understanding of how to design something which could make your lives easier. I've had a look at some of the bottles currently on the market, and I've decided that it might be a good idea to make a distinction in size between olive oil and vinegar, because someone on a previous post told me that the two go 'off' at different rates, so I was thinking it'd be ideal if they were used up at the same rate. Two detached bottles might be easier than a single combined unit.

What do you think?
 
#6 ·
The only application I could see a use for a combined oil and vinegar holder is for salad dressing - I don't really think the two are inclusive enough to warrant a combo-holder otherwise.

And since people who are just putting oil and vinegar together on a salad aren't really going for an emulsion - I dunno, more vinegar than oil? I think people who do this sort of thing would probably lean in that direction. (Less fat, more flavor.)

I don't really see this as something that would make my life easier, to be honest. But I also just use recycled wine bottles for both oil and infused vinegar needs.
 
#7 ·
James B, are you thinking of kitchen use or front-of-house? Because I think it's a waste of your time to do it for the kitchen. All the places I ever worked at would buy our oil in gallon cans (or larger, if it was peanut that we used for sauteeing) and transfer it as we needed it into old wine bottles with pouring spouts stuck in the top (as LogghiB mentions). Vinegar also was purchased in large containers, and measured out as needed; if we needed it on the line, we did the same transfer to a smaller bottle. Fancy bottles have no place in a working kitchen, imo.

Now, it's a different story with the front of house, where they may want something like you describe. Even in f-o-h, though, you can't control the rate at which one or the other will be used. In any case, how fast the oil and vinegar may go off is not so much of an issue, because the assumption is that the bottles will be refilled as necessary. I can't imagine any restaurateur allowing the purchase of anything in fancy, small-quantity, nonrefillable bottles, except maybe a fine, old balsamic vinegar; it's just not cost-effective.
 
#8 ·
At any rate it would depend on what type of cuisine is being prepared in the kitchen. I personally use WAY more EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil) than vinegar. I generally don't use vinegar at all except sometimes to deglaze. Whereas I use olive oil all over the place. I use it to season pans, drizzle over food, put it on my hands if I am rolling out sticky dough etc.

I hope that answers your core question.
 
#10 ·
I would think it ios vinegar because olive oil is pretty much a Euro food thing where as vinegar is pretty international. Millions of people who have never heard of olive oil use vinegar everyday where as just about everyone who uses olive oil useds vinegar.

Also olive oil can only be made from olives where as viengar can be made from anything with enough sugar or starch.
 
#11 ·
ok....well there's dumpling dips that use viniager, creamy salad dressings that use viniager, sauces (the much touted meatloaf sauce is just an example), marinated veg......Olive oil is used to saute, marinate, bake, dip bread or even coat the outside of a loaf, make viniagrette, keep pasta from sticking, etc.....
but which viniager, fruit, basalmic, white or red wine, sherry, etc....and which olive oil.....the peppery one, the grassy one, the smooth light one etc....there are at least a dozen various viniagers and probably 10+ olive oils in my catering kitchen....and that's just olive not sesame, nut, veg, oils......
 
#13 ·
You know, James Barber was/is one of my favorite local cookbook authors.. He's also a newspaper food writer, and was a long time Canadian TV cooking show celeb.. I leaned a lot from him over the years..

I am just curious as to why you have the same name? Are you related to James Barber??? Or is this just a name you picked at random to use??

As for the vinegar/oil question. Pretty well anywhere I go to shop, be it dollar store or expensive kitchen shop there is tons of different sized and shaped oil and vinegar bottles to be found..

I can't see this being a big money maker for you..
 
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