Melanie Masarin's Riviera

Melaine Masarin

Melaine Masarin may be best known for her beautiful bitter non-alcoholic aperitif Ghia (nearly 10 million drinks sold!), but now she’s also written a meditative Mediterranean cookbook called Riviera, chronicling her sun-soaked lifestyle between the colorful coasts of France’s Côte d'Azur and Italy’s Ligurian region, and her grandmother’s handwritten recipes that inspired her. The text, transportive and tasty, notes how Masarin brings brightness to her world, much of it via vinegar.

What was your first memory of vinegar?

giardiniera

Making pickles with my Polish aunt who was living with us when I was a kid. She let me assist her every time, and the pickles she made were the bigger Polish kind, a little sweeter than the smaller French ones (cornichons) I grew up with. They're briny and delicious. I remember the sour taste being completely new to me, and I loved it immediately. That ritual of pickling together became one of the most consistent food traditions in our house, and it's probably where I first understood vinegar as an ingredient with its own character.

What vinegars do you stock in your pantry and why?

leeks in vinaigrette with egg mimosa

I always have champagne vinegar and red wine vinegar — those are my two staples. I also love the more niche ones from TART Vinegar, like the Oro Blanco and the celery, which I'll either drink with sparkling water or use in a dressing. I actually hate sweet dressings in general, so I try to keep those out of the kitchen as much as possible.

I love an aged balsamic, but only for dipping parmesan into, never on a salad. My dad would often get these big gift boxes from suppliers over the holidays and they had, often, a giant chunk of cheese, a panettone, and vinegars that were thick like honey and came in little bottles almost the size of perfume. He would drop a few drops on my plate to dip my parmesan in - perfectly sweet and sour to end a meal!

What recipe(s) in the book are bright ideas in how to experience vinegar?

photos by Hugh Davison and Alex Paganelli

I'd point to the shrubs and a really great green salad. The shrubs are about vinegar as a drinking ingredient. You pair it with fruit and a little sweetness and it becomes its own thing. The salad is the most straightforward version of vinegar in cooking. A good champagne or red wine vinegar, olive oil, salt, and that's it. The texture of the leaves against the vinegar is what makes the whole dish for me. Beyond those, I love finishing anything simply cooked or braised with a splash of vinegar. I use a lot of lemon, but vinegar gives you a different kind of depth, and that little hit of acidity at the end really wakes a dish up.

Have any favorite vinegar brands to suggest?

carrot salad with min and crushed almonds

Brightland champagne vinegar, TART, and Flamingo Estate are my go-tos. Camino for red wine. And there are a few old Italian ones my dad sometimes brings me that are very special.