Aug 04 2010
Pickle your fancy
You may remember we got a pile of cucumbers not too long ago. And
, while I like raw cukes as much as the next gal, but we got 10 in Week 10! So, when life gives you cucumbers, make pickles.
For those who have never made pickles, the whole thing is rife with decisions. Refrigerator brined, canned brined pickles or fermented? Sweet, bread and butter or dill? Whole, spears, or chips? Mild or hot? Garlic or not? And you could go off the deep end and just make relish. But I hate relish so that was one decision down.
Ball Blue Book, aka the Canning Bible, was like a beacon in the night-over 20 pickle recipes but one, oh, one was called “Hamburger Dills”. It was like some canning angel at Ball had said “I bet there are moron bloggers out there who want to make pickles but has no idea what an ‘Icicle Pickle’ is, doesn’t know the difference between a chip and ring and doesn’t get how ‘bread and butter’ translates into ‘delicious pickle’. Let’s help this poor dummy and just label it with what she wants out of a pickle: something dilly to put on hamburgers.” Bless you, Canning Angel, because you have led me to the Pickle Promised Land.
The second ingredient after cucumbers is canning salt. This is pure salt–no iodine, no anti-caking or easy-flow additives. That stuff clouds or discolors the brine and no one wants gross-looking Hamburger Dills. I have to confess that I already had canning salt for the sauerkraut that is fermenting in the basement (uhh, that sounds like I have a creepy secret basement of alchemy–I promise it’s just cabbage in a Crockpot crock sitting on a dry bar. You’ll get to see it as soon as it’s done. Because I’ll blog about it, not drag you into my basement. I’M NOT CREEPY!) Anyway, I won’t steal the canning salt story from the future sauerkraut post but I have this stuff and had to look hard for it. Everything else is super easy to find.
Hamburger Dills adapted from Ball Blue Book
Makes 7 pints
4 lbs 4-in cukes
6 T canning salt
4 1/2 cups water
4 cups vinegar
14 dill fronds (Ball says “heads” but isn’t fronds such a great word? Say it!)
3 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
14 peppercorns
3 1/2 tsp garlic
Wash cukes; drain. Cut off blossom end and use a food processor to cut 1/4 inch slices. Add salt, water and vinegar to a large pot and bring to a boil. Pack your cucumber slices into hot, sterilized jars. Pack them in there or you won’t have enough liquid to take up the volume. Trust me. Leave 1/4 inch headspace. Add 2 dill fronds (fronds!), 1/2 tsp mustard seeds, 2 peppercorns and 1/2 tsp garlic to each jar. Ladle hot brine over cucumber slices, maintaining 1/4 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles, adjust two-piece caps and process in boiling water bath for 15-minutes per instructions.
Here’s my problem: pickles should sit for 3-4 weeks in the jar before they are perfectly ripened. So I don’t know how they taste. I don’t know if they turn a plain hamburger into heaven on a bun. Hopefully the Canning Angel is smiling down on them and I’ll let you know in another week or two.
Pickling
“I bet there are moron bloggers out there who want to make pickles but has no idea what an ‘Icicle Pickle’ is, doesn’t know the difference between a chip and ring and doesn’t get how ‘bread and butter’ translates into ‘delicious pickle’. Let’s help this poor dummy and just label it with what she wants out of a pickle: something dilly to put on hamburgers.”
-I guess he’s talking about me. hahaha.
i saw your blog in Foodista. Great blog. You can add as much widgets as you want to your old blogs and to your new posts too =)