House of Bob

Fresh Cucumber Pickles

When a friend asked for my pickle recipe recently, it forced me into writing it down.  I don’t really bother with recipes for pickles since I just keep a gallon jug of brine handy. It is very easy and you don’t need to dig up measuring spoons (which are always missing in my house)  Ruhlman has a good section on brine in Ratio, but I learned this technique at Picklefest 2008.  It has a lower salinity than Ruhlman suggests, but it works for me.   As for the cucumbers, as many as will fit in your clean jar. It really pays to get some fresh produce here, if you can’t grow them, try a local farmer’s market.  The smaller, the better;  large ones have too many seeds and won’t fit in the jar, but  I sometimes cut them up to fit.  You can use pickling spice or I tend to make up something at pickling time.  Use a reasonable amount.

Brine:

• 1 Gallon Water
• 8 Tbsp Kosher Salt

Pickling Spice:

• Whole Mustard Seeds
• Whole Black Peppercorns
• Red Chili Flakes ( I use the Korean kind with no seeds, but you can use whatever you can find)
• Coriander
• Cardamom pod (one or two)
• Allspice
• Cloves

Other Ingredients:

• Fresh Dill (lots – substitute dill seed if you can’t find fresh)
• Garlic Cloves (at least two per quart container)
• Fresh Grape Leaves (some claim they have enzymes to keep pickles crisper, but I’m skeptical -  I put them in because they look nice, and they are in season at the same time as cucumbers.)

The Technique:

Wash cucumbers well and slice off both ends since the blossom ends have a chemical that can cause softening.  Place in a clean mason-type or spring-top jar, add spice, garlic, dill  and brine to cover.  Set on counter at room temperature, out of the sun.  Twice daily or whenever you feel like it, “burp” the lid to release the gases.  After a few days, the mixture will turn cloudy; You should taste a cuke and see how it is going.  Depending on the temperature and various other factors like salinity, size and moisture content of cucumbers, etc, you should have a half-sour pickle by now, a little sour on the outside and still crisp and cucumbery in the middle.  I like them like this so I put them in the fridge to slow everything down.  They probably won’t last too long, they don’t at my house!

I ran across these onions at the Halal Market the other day in West L.A. and I thought I would try out the pickled onions I saw on A Hunger Artist.  They were the perfect size for a single quart jar.  I cleaned and trimmed the onions, added some coriander, cloves, korean red pepper flake, mustard seed and some allspice and covered it all will some pre-made brine.  It is easiest to pickle it directly in the quart jar, and ‘burp’ it periodically to realease the gases. A week later and I think they are almost ready.

I picked this up a few months back at the invite-only Cooking.com warehouse sale, a special treat once a year that I’m lucky enough to attend. The unit pictured is a specialized mandoline for shredding whole heads of cabbage – not a necessary gadget- but making a 10lb batch of kraut might justify it.  I haven’t used it yet but it seems sturdy enough.  I’m planning a full post on Sauerkraut, so I’ll put up a few pics of it in action then.