Home cooks should know that about the best way to improve almost any savory dish, and many sweet ones, too, is to add acid — even just a smidgen from citrus or vinegar. These days balsamic (good, bad and indifferent) usually gets the nod, but in my pantry the workhorse when I want acidity tempered by mellow richness is good Spanish sherry-style vinegar . It’s an honest product not tricked up with caramel. Kitty Keller, an importer in Oakland, Calif., has some that are new to the American market, and they’re beauties. Copper-colored Mas d’en Gil, from Priorat, south of Barcelona, is more tart than sweet; use it to enliven a quick weeknight pan sauce for chicken or pork. Alvear from Cordoba in Andalusia makes both sweet and dry Pedro Ximenez vinegars; the complex dry one is my preference, especially for a vinaigrette.

Mas d’en Gil Agredolç, $39.95 for 500 milliliters (16.9 ounces); Alvear dry PX, $16.95 for 375 milliliters (12.7 ounces), markethallfoods.com.

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