July 27, 2015

pickled tink

Just a little spoonerism for youse guys on this balmy Monday morning.


Also, some pickles. Pickles made to taste something like the Claussen variety, to be more specific. As someone who hasn't yet learned to enjoy the taste of pickles that aren't at least slightly sweet, I had to rely on my #1 taste tester and main squeeze to determine if these were, in fact, similar to Claussens, and he felt that they were.

I may have overdone it with the dehydrated onion in the first batch, as after a month or so, the brine turned cloudy and developed an off-odor and gave my fella's tongue a tingle. Always one to try to learn from my mistakes, I used about half as much onion in the second and third batches, but I processed those*, so we'll just have to wait and see if the onions were indeed the culprit.


*If you do process your pickles in a hot water bath and that whole rigmarole, be sure to squish as many cukes into the jars as possible--they shrink up considerably!

These pickles are a great way to preserve an abundance of cucumbers! Just keep your onions in check--nobody likes a tingly tongue.

Claussen-esque Pickles
Makes 4 quarts
Ingredients:
Brine:
  • 1-1/2 quarts water
  • 2 cups apple cider vinegar
  • 1/2 cup canning or pickling salt
  • 2 tablespoons dehydrated minced onion
  • 1-1/2 tablespoons peppercorns
  • 1/2 tablespoon mustard seeds
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Pickles:
  • 6 pounds cucumbers, scrubbed clean and cut length-wise either in half, quarters, or eighths
  • 6 heads fresh dill (3 teaspoons dill seed may be substituted, but added to the brine above)
Directions:
Sterilize your jars by immersing them in boiling water.
Remove from the boiling water and place on a clean, dry towel.
In a large, nonreactive pan, place the water, vinegar, salt, minced onion, peppercorns, mustard seeds, garlic powder, and crushed red pepper flakes.
Bring the brine to a boil to dissolve the salt, then allow to cool.
Add the fresh dill and cut cucumbers to the sterilized jars, cramming in as many as pieces as possible.
Carefully add the brine to the jars, filling to 1/2-inch below the lip.
Try to distribute particulates in the brine evenly among the jars.
Put the lid on the jar, and turn the pickles a few times to distribute the seasoning through the pickles.
Loosen the lid and allow to sit on the counter for three days, shaking or turning them occasionally,
On the fourth day, refrigerate the pickles.
Alternatively, you can process the jars for longer preservation. Instructions here.

16 comments:

  1. Delicious! Perfect in a sandwich.

    Cheers,

    Rosa

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  2. Thank you for this... I'm an American living in Denmark and they only have sweet pickles here! I have to drive to Germany for the closest thing we have to US dills. I'm most definitely going to give this a try, much easier and cheaper than driving over the border with $8/gallon petrol : -)

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  3. Those look SO yummy! My husband makes all the pickles around here, but he hasn't made any for awhile now. I might need to drop a hint. :-)

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  4. This seems EASY enough for me to try too and not to mention it's very delicious.

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  5. Apple cider vinegar must be the secret. Well done, Grace!

    (And don't sweat the cholesterol too much. Replace half or more of your egg yolks with whites; likely no one will notice, and that's the biggest dietary cholesterol culprit.)

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  6. I have to admit that I prefer some sweet to my pickles but sometimes one of those salty pickles really hit the spot!

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  7. I love this! Looks delicious, just the recipe I need for some (a lot!) cucumbers I was gifted. :-)

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  8. Not a big pickle lover, except the Lady Ashburnham type,but have thoroughly enjoyed learning a new word. *spoonerism*. Am familiar with the slip of the tongue type... and have used "pickled tink" my self from time to time, but didn't know there was a word to describe it. Have a great week.

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  9. A great way to preserve and enjoy throughout the year!

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  10. Looks fab! I admire your gumption. We are huge pickle eaters and have become 'pickle snobs' as a result of tasting just about every brand out there. These look like they would qualify to land on our kitchen table. Nicely done! (I'm always too afraid of canning!)

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  11. We love pickles around here! Must try to make these!

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  12. Yum. So good with sandwiches! Love sweet pickles too, but sometimes you've gotta have the dills.

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  13. I love pickles! In fact, I love them so much that my husband usually picks the pickle out of his burger and even gives it to me. Now, that's love, huh? But like you, I find pickles just the perfect nosh.

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  14. I always hate to admit this, but I don't like pickles! But.. being new to canning, I still had to read through your recipe to help me learn all this stuff. In your writing, I just figured out a piece I have been struggling with. Thanking you..... more than you will ever know!

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  15. My pickling mistake was putting dill in with sliced jalepeno peppers. Somehow dill just doesn't seem right on nachos. Next time...

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  16. Those look delicious! My hubs makes refrigerator pickles too, we are out of them now and this reminds me we need to make some more...

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