Spicy "Man Pickles"

Since the culmination of the pickling blog, I've shared all of my pickles with Philip and his roommates.  So it was no surprise when Brumley came to me begging to learn how to create these glorious green goodies. 

It also happened to be the same weekend our dear friend Phelix was visiting.  Which meant one thing:  lots of spicy Man Pickles. 

The boys showed up on Saturday morning, supplies and all.  And got right to work, chopping, stuffing, posing. 



All work and no play, I run a mean pickling camp.

  

  

Friends who pickle together... ?

These pickles followed with the normal ingredients.

Pickling cucumbers

White onion

Jalepeno

Garlic

White Vinegar

Multitudes of spices

Kosher salt

etc.



                                                       

The pickles were great.  Later that week Brumley went home and bought his own pickling utensils, jars and ingredients. 

Like the old Chinese proverb says:

If you give a man a pickle

He'll eat for a day

If you teach a man to pickle

He'll eat for a lifetime.

Pickle on Men!

Sweet and Spicy

A friend from work got wind of my pickling obsession and asked to get in on the action.  I gladly accepted. She was my first guest pickler.

Enter - Megan

When asked if she wanted to try to make sweet or spicy pickles, she said both, and this girl doesn't take no for an answer.  

We made two separate brines. Below, I will try to reproduce the measurements.

SWEET PICKLES: 

In each Jar, pre-brine:

cuke slices

Baby white onion

tsp mustard seeds

Brine: 

2 cups apple cider vinegar

4 cups water 

1/4 salt

1/2 sugar (we realized we could've used more, i would suggest doubling this)

1/2 tbs crushed red pepper

black pepper

2 tsp mustard seeds

dry dill

*keep the boiling brine covered as much as possible, to reduce the spicy fumes dispersed among your kitchen and into your lungs.

SPICY:

In each jar, pre-brine:

cuke slices or spears

3 sprigs of fresh dill (or tsp of dry dill)

tsp whole black peppercorns

1 sliced jalepeno

1-2 sliced baby onions

1/2 to 1 sliced banana pepper

3 whole peeled garlic cloves

Brine:

2 cups white vinegar

4 cups water

1/4 - 1/3 cup salt (dissolvable)

dry dill

1/2 small jar black peppercorns

crushed red pepper

tsp+ cumin

tsp+ white pepper

ginger

allspice

other spices to your liking (i'm a fan of 'you can't use too many spices')

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS:

After boiling each brine separately and funneling them into their respective jars, we screwed the two piece lid on, only slightly closed in order to let the air bubbles release and the lid seal completely.  Let them sit overnight until they seal completely.  Then we popped them in the fridge for about a week. 

Once you refrigerate them, that's where they need to stay.  After opening, make sure to eat them within 3 months since they are 'fresh' pickles. 

We tried them on Tuesday and they were a *hit* at work.  We were even able to educated a few co-workers.


PICKLE EDUCATION:
Q: 'Where do pickles come from?'
A: 'Pickles? You mean the things that look and taste just like cucumbers soaked in vinegar?' *

*pickles do in fact come from cucumbers.  I apologize if you did not know that and my words seem condescending.  Not my original intention.   

Pickle Present

You will never guess what we got in the mail last week from my lovely friend Meg Schudel.  Until we received this pickling tool, we had no idea it even existed.  Our lives are forever changed.  I'm not sure how we ever lived without a....

PICKLE GRABBER!

Below is a picture of my sister, Abby, demonstrating the amazing strength of this valuable and practical tool.

Thanks MEG - we LOVE it. 

Infusions

Two weekends ago we had our 1st annual sister's weekend! In preparation for this big event I decided to infuse some vodka.

I used the jars I normally pickle in. I packed each jar with freshly cut, ripened fruit. Filled each jar with absolut vodka. Sealed the jar. I let the mix sit for 7 days, though longer wouldn't have hurt! in addition I also added a bit of simple syrup to each infusion.

#1 - Lemon infused vodka

#2 - Peach/nectarine/mango infused vodka

We tried the Lemon first and added just a few ingredients:

-Each jar was full of ice and we used 1/2 lemon vodka

-1/3 Sweet Leaf Tea Lemonade

- and a splash of seltzer water

This was a mid-afternoon drink, followed by Broadway in Chicago's 'Beauty and the Beast'.  It may have been everyone's favorite day, to date.  (besides their wedding days)

The next morning we popped open the peach vodka for a sweet addition to our Patio brunch. To each drink we added a splash of peach sweet leaf tea.  A splash was all it needed.  We couldn't even taste the vodka (dangerous).  The peaches however, were extremely potent.  We figured eating a peach slice was like taking a shot.   Naturally, we finished the bowl.  Needless to say, we really really enjoyed our brunch, followed by a 4 mile city hike. 

*I've also done a blueberry infusion and a pineapple infusion for Suzy's bachelorette party.  It was a hit.  We mixed the pineapple with coconut water and coconut soda. And we mixed the blueberry vodka with lemonade.  YUM!    

I've got a pickle, hey hey hey hey

For our second attempt we read up on our options.

...and we decided to go with WHITE vinegar. 


Same ingredients as before:
- pickling cucumbers
- baby white onions
- garlic cloves
- fresh jalepenos
- white vinegar
- salt
- spices
- lemon (+ zested rind)
- fresh dill (our new addition)


First things first: slice up the cucumbers in quarters.  (For extra crunchiness let them soak in cold water with a little bit of vinegar and lime juice before you lather them in spices.)

Next: chop chop chop and place veggies in jars, while drinking your favorite beer:

Then:  boil the brine.  I have been using a 1:2 ratio of vinegar to water.  if you want a less potent pickle, scale back on the vinegar.  With this solution I added a good heap of salt, (that will dissolve) then added the spices: dry dill, white pepper, whole peppercorns, crushed red pepper flakes.  You can't go wrong.  There is a spice in some grocery stores called "pickling spice," and you can find the recipe to make your own here.   I say, use what you have, and use what you love. I repeat, you can't go wrong!

Finally: fill the jars


and enjoy!

TIPS:
1. If you choose to chop jalepenos with your bare (bear) hands, make sure to take out your contacts before you cut them open.
2. If you put too many spices in the brine and let it boil long enough to fill your house/apartment (say 30 min), your eyes will water, you may not be able to breathe, and you'll cough up something like the Lochness monster (see: Phil) until fully ventilated.

from Cukes to Pickles

First attempt at pickling perfection...

These are called fresh pickles (most of the pickles sold in stores are fermented pickles, which tend to last longer and need only be refrigerated after opening). Instead, this is more of a marinade.  They need to sit in the fridge for a week (mainly to absorb the seasonings and spices), and once opened, should be consumed in 3 months. Obviously, we had no trouble meeting the deadline.  In fact, our pickles were gone in less than a week.  

With the leftover brine, we decided to pickle jalapenos and banana peppers, a perfect touch to any gourmet sandwich.  The banana peppers turned out to be my favorite pickle.


Grocery List:
pickling cucumbers
fresh jalapenos
garlic
onions
many a-many spices
apple cider vinegar
lemon

1. Chop

2. Stuff 

3. Brine



4. Pour and Seal.

5. Enjoy (after about 1 week)

According to Suzy, they were the best pickles she has ever eaten.  A small part of me considered retiring after this first batch... but we shall PICKLE ON.