The really good stuff? I drizzle it over vanilla ice cream. I'd never cook with it, though* -- it's best as a drizzle. Save the heat for the cheaper stuff.

*That's mostly because it's so expensive. Given a free, copious supply, I might reduce some for a rich balsamic glaze.

I toss raw turnips with it and some olive oil and then roast for an hour. Heavenly, but I don't know if I've ever even tried the good stuff. I also put it on paninis (I love, love, love my panini press): it's really good in a basic grilled cheese type or try roasted red peppers/feta cheese/sauteed mushrooms/drizzle of balsamic vinegar on sourdough. Yum!

a basic grilled cheese type or try roasted red peppers/feta cheese/sauteed mushrooms/drizzle of balsamic vinegar on sourdough. Yum!

I think I have to go get lunch now.

Like, right now.

I bathe in it.

We've been making portabella sandwiches with it. Make a marinade of 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar, 1 cup olive oil and a pinch of salt.

Clean and stem two - three portabellas. Slice 1 1/2 cloves of garlic for each portabella into little spikes, and spike them into the gills of the portabella (kinda in a circle). Pour marinade onto a plate or bowl, and rub the gill side and the edges of the mushroom in the marinade. Let them marinate for 30 min. - 3 hours.

We've been tossing them on the grill, but I've also put them in the oven at 400 and just kept an eye on them. When done, I put it on a bun with a bit of cheddar, maybe some onions or sauteed mushrooms and eat in the place of a cheeseburger. Mmmmmmm.

The recipe I have calls for also spiking the gills with pinenuts and parmesan spikes, but I've always skipped that part.

This is so probably so not your speed, Elsa. I'll share anyway.

One of the yummiest salad dressings is the Good Seasons recipe made with the Good Seasons packet, balsamic vinegar, and equal parts extra virgin olive oil and canola oil for the oil portion.

LoriFLA, I've been using the cheap fakey-balsamic for salad dressings, thinking that the thick potent expensive kind would be wasted under all the seasoning. But you've got me thinking otherwise.

I always put some good balsamic in my chicken arribiata.

Yeah, ice cream.

And this, which is just wonderful:
1 pound carrots, baby or sliced into rounds
2 Tbs. butter
Whole peeled garlic cloves, as many as you want
1/4 cup balsamic

Mix all together in a small saucepan, ideally no more than 6 inches across. Bring to a boil, simmer and cover for around 20 minutes (depending on the size of your carrot chunks). Remove cover and allow any remaining liquid to cook away and glaze the carrots. Serve and eat.

Elsa, you are probably wise not to use the good quality stuff for such a thing. I only use the cheap balsamic, so I wouldn't know.

tr33hggr, reminded me of some brussel sprouts I make occasionally. Trim and boil or steam brussels for five minutes. Saute a sliced onion and crushed garlic in olive oil. Add the drained brussels. Cook to your liking. Add a few splashes of balsamic and a pat of butter, salt and pepper. Delicioso!

I need one of those sandwiches MGL mentioned.

Maybe some definitions are in order.

I have a 4 ounce bottle of 100-year-old balsamic vinegar. It's about $100 a bottle, and very thick. That goes on ice cream, and the occasional thin slice of parmesan or perfectly-ripe tomato or strawberry.

Then there's the $10-a-bottle stuff. I'll use that more liberally, of course, but, still, I usually wouldn't cook with it.

Finally, there's the store-brand stuff, about $3 or $4 a bottle. It's usually not even really balsamic, but it's still good in marinades and such.

OK, how come people don't know about balsamic to intensify sweet flavours?

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of good balsamic vinegar spinkled over freshly chopped strawberries....a litle sugar.... heaven!

MrMoonPie, realizing (probably just as you were posting) that knowing ages or designations would be useful, I toddled out to the kitchen to check labels...

... and discovered that, mercy me, I have three bottles of the good stuff. I also keep a bottle of $4 grocery-store faux-balsamic. It's handy for marinades and dressings, but isn't what I'm asking about here.

The labels don't mention the age of the vinegar, which suggests to me like they're not the long-aged variety. That sounds right: I'd be astonished if any of my family spent $100 on a little traveling gift. I've been looking in specialty shops and finding bottles in the $30-$40 range, and I suspect these are about the same. If it's the $10 range you describe, I'm thrilled --- so inexpensive to replace!

The one bottle I've opened (Giuseppe Guisti) is a rounded balance of tart and sweet with some complexity, like a decent but not spectacular wine. It's thick like a decent maple syrup, not thick like molasses or honey.

I think I'll open the other two bottles and have a little tasting: on bread, on Parmesan, drizzled over roasted sweet potatoes, with little frittata cubes dunked in.

All the suggestions so far have sounded really delicious! And LoriFLA, at least once I'm going to try this nicer vinegar in my salad dressing and see if it's worth using. If nothing else, it should be good and thick!

Wilder, I imagine people stayed away from recommending macerated strawberries because I mentioned my plan to try it with strawberries and gelato.

But I'm definitely curious about other sweet uses! I knew about strawberries, and I've heard of serving it with vanilla ice cream (a la me3dia and others) with a grinding of black pepper. I'll certainly try that: when I try to taste it with my mind, I just... fail.

I tried this in the oven, because I hate carrots:

Slice the carrots length-wise. Place carrots in oven -safe thingie big enough to hold them.
Do one bunch with dribbled oil all over, some salt, some pepper and the other with oil, salt+pepper and dribble balsamic vinegar on top.
Put in the oven 225c (not farenheit) and let bake ten, maybe fifteen minutes - carrots should be soft but not dry.

Eat. Yum. Even for someone who hates carrots. Do both kinds for the magical difference. Some balsamic vinegars may not be great with the carrots. Some are awesome.

Toss together some strawberries and orange segments, shave some parmesan cheese over the top, and dribble with balsamic. A bit of chopped mint for those who like it.

To second the strawberries/sugar suggestion, it's a traditional Italian dessert to marinate strawberries in BV and brown sugar. Put that shit on vanilla or chocolate-chip ice cream, you've got yourself something special. I know whereof I speak.

Related but does not use BV: The same chef who introduced me to the above also once made lemon ice cream with blueberries, then scooped some into a champagne flute and poured prosecco in. Result: fruity prosecco ice cream float. Goddamn delicious way to get drunk and fat simultaneously.