From salads to sauces, this pantry staple makes so many types of dishes better. Sue Riedl Updated (Photo: iStock) When I started cooking, my pantry slowly filled up with different vinegars. I would need one for a recipe, buy it, use a few tablespoons and that concluded our relationship. We were strangers, and the shelf space I was losing made for an awkward commitment. Until I decided to dive in, taste them, swap them into my dishes, experiment. Getting friendly with the bottles you have will inspire you to use them in dishes you might not have thought to before. If you can’t bear even a drop of acidity on its own (my husband would recoil), start by making a basic vinaigrette with a new vinegar each night. You’ll discover that just like having different oils on hand (grassy olive oil, neutral grapeseed or nutty sesame), a variety of vinegars is essential for your kitchen toolkit.