Agrodulce

"Agrodulce" means literally "sour and sweet" in Italian.

Specifically, in Italian cooking, the term refers to a sauce, usually based on vinegar and sugar, with wine added. In fact, the most traditional version of it is just vinegar, wine and sugar. It is similar to a gastrique in French cooking.

The vinegar used is usually a wine vinegar. Only rarely will a recipe call for something as extravagant as balsamic vinegar, as balsamic is usually reserved as a table condiment.

Agrodulce sauce is used to cook other ingredients in, and is usually part of an overall recipe, or it is added to other reductions such as pan juices to make a pan sauce.

Butter, dried or candied fruits, lemon, raisins, nuts, etc may be added.

The use of an Agrodulce is particularly popular in Sicilian cooking. 1 cup / 8 oz / 250 ml wine vinegar
1/2 cup / 4 oz / 125 ml white wine
2 tablespoons sugar (use only 1 tablespoon for a sourer sauce)

Put wine and vinegar together in a non-reactive pan, simmer until reduced to two-thirds of the original volume. Add sugar, stir a few minutes to dissolve completely; remove from heat.
Agrodulce is usually said to have been brought to Italy through Sicily by Arabs. It may be more accurate to credit the Arabs with reinforcing the taste for sweet-sour in Sicily so that it didn't fade as much as it did in the rest of Italy, because the concept and taste was of course already in Italy well before that, under the Romans and in the Middle Ages. The Romans, like the Chinese and like medieval Europe, didn't divide sweet from savoury in their cooking. The Romans would have used fruit, honey, condensed wine syrups, etc as the sweetener instead of sugar.

"Agrodolce" is the name of a 2008 / 2009 Italian soap opera series.

Sometimes spelt "Agrodolce." "Agro" means "sour" in Italian; "Dulce / dolce" means "sweet."

Gastrique

Agrodulce, Aillade, Albert Sauce, Allemande Sauce, Amazu Sauce, Awasezu, A.1. Steak Sauce, Banquière Sauce, Barbeque Sauce, Beurre Blanc, Béarnaise Sauce, Black Mint Sauce, Brown Butter, Brown Sauce (English), Butter Sauce, Chile con Queso, Chippie Sauce, Chiri-zu Sauce, Coronation Sauce, Creamed Horseradish, Drawn Butter Sauce, Espagnole Sauce, Finadene Sauce, Fish Sauces, Fry Sauce, Gastrique, Gravy, Halford Sauce, Harissa, Hoisin Sauce, Hollandaise Sauce, Horseradish Sauce, Ketchup, Ketjap Manis, Liebig's Extract of Meat, Lizano Sauce, Madeira Sauce, Maggi, Marie Rose Sauce, Matelote Sauce, Melted Butter, Meunière Butter, Mint Sauce, Mojo Sauces, Mojo (Cuban), Mole, Murri, Nikiri Sauce, Nitsume Sauce, Noisette Butter, Normande Sauce, Paloise Sauce, Panade à la frangipane, Parisienne Sauce, Pasta Sauce, Pearà, Pesto Modenese, Pique Criollo, Pique Seasoning, Pizza Sauce, Poivrade Sauce, Ponzu Sauce, Provençal Sauce, Raita, Reform Sauce, Rémoulade Sauce, Rice Wine, Russian Sauce, Salad Dressings, Salmuera, Salsas, Sambals, Sambi-Zu Sauce, Sanbai-Zu Sauce, Sauce Béarnaise, Sauce Bigarade, Sauce Diane, Sauce Maltaise, Soubise Sauce, Soy Sauce, Sriracha Sauce, Sushi-zu, Tabasco Green Pepper Sauce, Tabasco, Tamari, Tapenade, Tartar Sauce, Teriyaki Sauce, Tomato Sauce, Tonkatsu Sauce, Tracklements, Vatapá, Velouté Sauce, Walnut Sauce, White Sauce, Worcestershire Sauce, XO Sauce, Yakiniku Sauce, Yakitori Sauce

Relish, Spreads, Vinegar