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.