In a Pickle, a Glorious Pickle

(This article originally appeared in the April 2005 issue of LaBrea Living Magazine.)

In a sense, the pickle may be the most American of all foods. Amerigo Vespucci, for whom both North and South America are named, was a pickle merchant before he was a mapmaker.

Legend has it that Thomas Jefferson created the dill pickle recipe which, in all its handed-down variants, has become synonymous with American food. Such sliced pickles are front and center on Big Macs, Whoppers and nearly every other favorite American burger.

Pickling as a process was invented as a way of preserving food. Cucumbers lead the industry. The average American consumes nine pounds of pickled cucumbers every year. But, beets, asparagus, carrots, watermelon rind, onions, cauliflower, tomatillos and olives (to name a few) are also pickled.

I remember my mother’s kitchen table nearly collapsing under the weight of dozens and dozens of cucumbers. I remember the stoneware crocks filled with sliced and quartered pickles steeping in their own fermenting juices. Depending on the recipe, it was for 7 or 14 or even 21 days.
To finish the process, jars were sterilized, the lid bands wiped clean and the rubber cap inserts boiled, the pickles were rinsed and packed into the jars, and finally the fuming vinegar, salt, sugar and spice mixture was poured over the fermented pickles. Once sealed and wiped clean with a near-boiling dish towel, the jars were inverted. As the seals set, the family would play cards in the dining room.

Ping! Ping! Each jar would announce it had sealed properly. If it did not seal with a Ping!, then the jars were placed in the refrigerator for first consumption.

Last summer, my sister and brother’s families got together to pickle. My sister had too many cucumbers and my brother had a bountiful crop of dill, onions and red chiles.

A decade ago, when I moved here, making pickles was not something I had done since living at home and it was not something I thought I would start to do. But one night I was watching FoodTV and had some missing-the-Midwest feelings and decided, I needed to get some pickles. So, off I went to a local deli. The pickles were good, but not what I remembered. So, I scoured the shelves at my local grocery store. Yuck! They were too salty, too acidic, and contained no flavors that reminded me of home. So, I started to pickle my own cucumbers using a non-fermenting method.

Finding canning jars, lids and even the pre-mixed pickling spices has become very challenging in LA, so I have taken to making my own mix and that has turned out even better.

So, here are the pickles I still make in my apartment several times a year.

Spices
You can add nearly any spices when pickling. Consider any of the following: garlic, whole cloves, caraway seed, dill or dill seed, celery seed, black peppercorns, chiles or crushed red pepper flakes, bay leavesA, cardamom seed pods, allspice, tumeric or mace, cinnamon, mustard seed, coriander seed, and ginger.

Here are some generalities:

• Dill pickles emphasis dill and mustard seeds
• “Kosher” dills emphasis garlic, dill and mustard
• Sweet flavors include allspice, cinnamon, whole cloves and ginger
• Heat comes from red pepper flakes or whole chiles
• Middle-of-the-road flavors are bay leaves, caraway, clove and ginger
  

Main Ingredients
4 lbs. Pickling cucumbers, not coated in wax
1/2 lb. White boiling onions
10 garlic cloves, peeled but left whole

Basic Pickling Blend
2 Tbls yellow mustard seeds
1 Tbls bay leaves1 torn to small pieces
1 Tbls black peppercorns
1 Tbls brown mustard seeds
1 Tbls coriander seeds
1 Tbls dill seed
2 tsp celery seed
1\2 tsp red pepper flakes
10 allspice berries
7 fancy green cardamom seed pods
1\4 inch piece cut from a cinnamon stick
1 Tbls finely minced ginger

Basic Brine
2 cups white vinegar
2 cups water
2 Tbls sugar
4 Tbls Kosher salt

Procedure
Thoroughly wash the cucumbers. Trim about ¼ in. from each end, stand it on one of the ends, and then slide a table knife through the vertical center. This will help in flavor absorption.
Peel the onions and garlic, removing all the skin but as little of the flesh as possible. Pack the cucumbers, onions and garlic in a large glass jar or wide-mouth jug. Make all three types of items can be viewed from the side.

Combine all the spices in a bowl. Grate the ginger and set it aside.

In a non-reactive pot bring to a boil the water, sugar and vinegar. Once the mixture is at a boil, add the salt.

Next, add the spice mixture to the boiling pot and immediately reduce the heat to medium. Then, add the ginger.

Reduce the heat to simmer letting flavors meld for 10 minutes.

Turn the burner off and let stand for 10 minutes.

Place a stainless steel, wide-mouth funnel over the opening f the jar. Anchor it with a stainless steel table knife.

Pour the spiced brine over the cucumbers, onions and garlic. Remove the funnel and table knife.
Wipe the jar and rim with a wet, hot cloth and place the lid on tightly. Invert the jar and let stand to cool to room temperature.

Once the pickles have cooled to room temp, refrigerate. Ready to eat in 4-7 days.

Notes:
Use Turkish bay leaves whenever possible. Their flavor is much better for cooking than the strong California bay leaves.

Make sure the salt you use does not contain iodine which clouds the brining liquid and may give the pickles a bitter aftertaste.

Using a table knife to secure the metal funnel also helps prevent the jar from cracking, which is a rare possibility when adding near boiling liquid to a cool, glass jar.

Poor Man's Paella

(This article was originally published in the March 2005 issue of LaBrea Living Magazine.)

Worth the trip, La Espanola brings a singular focus to tradition & flavor

by dale reinert, food editor

I love the searching for flavorful, quality food nearly as much as tasting it. The restorative powers of a flavor-filled meal at home or away cannot be surpassed by any other treat – at least for me.

But sometimes the journey to find flavor is a bit further than most Angelinos can bring themselves to venture. If our friends are not within a ten minute drive, then we pause to wonder if the journey could possibly be worth the effort.

As a Midwestern by birth, I can vouch that 60 miles each way to any destination is as close and accessible as the neighbor around the corner.

Years ago, I read somewhere about an Artisanal, Spanish-style chorizo maker. My first thought was a self-confession that I lacked all knowledge about things Spanish. Mexican sure, I know about that food. Even Peruvian is not virgin territory. But Spanish -- as in Spain -- I knew nothing. Then I noticed the California address at the bottom of the article. For me, nowhere in the Golden State is too far for flavor-filled foods that hold a restorative promise. But Dona Juana's was within an easy drive and, as I would later learn, definitely worth the field trip.
Dona Juana for decades has shared her passion for her homeland's cuisine with Southlanders. As a camera shy, passionate force behind the burgeoning La Espanola Meats, Dona Juana demands from herself, her family (all of whom work in the business), and her staff of more than 20 that care and attention be given to each and every product that bares her name.

Dona Juana's standards exceed those of the Food & Drug Administration. Instead of conducting random tests, as mandated by law, Dona Juana makes sure that each day's production is tested for both health standards and Artisanal quality as defined by Spanish consortiums.
Her commitment to authenticity can be seen in her insistence on transporting cheeses via air cargo to Los Angeles, instead of having it take the slow boat. This guarantees a stable temperature, critical for maintaining quality. They also test the quality of their ingredients before making their products. Then they test again after production. La Espanola even imports frozen bread dough from Spain and bakes it fresh daily. Dona Juana says it is the only way to get he bread just right. Of course, quality and authenticity comes at a premium, but the family holds costs down as best they can.

The recipe below is inspired by Dona Juana and her family. While not authentic to Spain, it is a one-pot, flavor-filled meal that comforts. I make it a couple of times each month and use either the garlicky Chorizo Riojano or their best-selling Bilbao Chorizo.

La Espanola Meats (www.donajuana.com), located at 25020 Doble Avenue in Harbor City, Calif., is the sole maker of an extensive line of Spanish-style chorizos within the United States. Producers of both semi-cured and dry cured meat products, La Espanola has an extensive selection of homemade and imported items in their retail space.

It's definitely worth the drive -- flavor makes it worth it.

Arroz con Chorizo Riojano



Ingredients
3 Tbls. olive oil
1 medium-sized yellow onion, diced
3 large cloves garlic, turned into a paste
1 cup converted rice
1 package Chorizo Riojano
1 cup of your favorite chunky style salsa
1 cup plus 2 Tbls. chicken or vegetable stock
salt, kosher or sea
black pepper, freshly ground

Procedure
Prepare all ingredients before starting to cook. Slice the Chorizo Riojano into 1\4-inch disks. Chop the garlic and then use about a teaspoon of salt and the tip of a sturdy chef's knife to turn the chopped garlic into a paste. Pre-measure the rice, salsa, and stock.

Heat a 2-quart, stainless steel saucepan. When hot, add the oil and swirl to coat. The pan should be hot enough to make the oil easy to swirl but the oil should notsauteke. Add the onions and saute for 2 minutes. Then add thsauterlic and salt paste and saute for an additional two minutes.
Once the onions are translucent and the garlic very fragrant, add the rice, stir until coated with the oil and toasted to a light tan color. This takes about 3 minutes. Stir constantly but gently.
Next, add the sliced Chorizo Riojano and continue to saute while the chorizo begins to release some of its flavor. Once the oil and rice has turned a light orange color from the paprika in the chorizo, add the salsa and stock. Stir to combine.

When the liquid begins to slightly boil, turn the flame to simmer. Place a tight fitting lid on the pan and allow it to simmer undisturbed for 20-25 minutes. Then turn off the flame, remove the lid and let stand for an additional 10minutes uncovered. Serves 3-4 as a main dish. Total time: 40 minutes.

Dale of Dale's Food

Turning Point?

In Search of an Outlet

For the past 18 months, I have been writing a monthly food column for a friend who owns a freely-distributed, high impact, full-color magazine. The magazine has been around for a few years, but the food column was a new addition.

Originally, the column started out as a one-page, anything-I-want space. I had no experience with writing a food column, with crafting recipes for publication, with food styling for photography's sake, etc. so, I just jumped in. I picked a topic, told a story (to take up space) and that story led to a recipe, and the recipe was represented by a picture. I was so amateurish that the first article's photo was of the store where I bought the olive oil and not of the salad dressing recipe I made. LOL!!!

In time, the column grew to two full-pages featuring three recipes with a special food issues at Thanksgiving and in Summer. Of course, other issues arose, like there is only so much "work" you can do gratis for a friend.

I feel quite torn. I love writing about, cooking, and photographing food, but I also feel like doing all that work for one magazine is really a partnership. And partnerships go two ways. Since he and I are now at odds over what the real partnership should entail, I created this bloc today.

Hopefully, something terrific will happen from this opportunity.

Here is the first recipe from the first article I published in that freely-distributed magazine I wrote about above:

Balsamic Vinaigrette for Salad Greens

Ingredients
1 cup Nomads Olive Oil
1\2 cup balsamic vinegar
4 Tbs. Good quality Dijon style mustard
1 Tbs. Italian blend seasoning
2 cloves garlic
1 shallot
1 tsp. Freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp. Kosher salt

Procedure
In a lidded, quart jar (I use an old pickle jar), pour the Nomads Olive Oil and balsamic vinegar. Finely mince the shallot and add to the jar. Next use the salt and the front tip of a large chef's knife to make a paste out of the garlic cloves. Add to the jar. Add the freshly ground black pepper, mustard and Italian seasonings. Tightly place lid on the jar and shake vigorously until well blended. Repeat as necessary during the first hour so the vinaigrette remains emulsified. Allow flavors to blend for at least one hour before using. Use within two weeks. Serves 5-8. Work Time: 15 minutes.