Sneaky child! Of course I grew up and no longer need to read
under the bed-clothes, but I still love pickles.
Friend Julie Ball and I spent a few years canning and pickling, but I could never find quite the right recipe for dills. The one day during lunch at Jo Bar, there they were, the perfect pickles. I asked for a portion to take home, and amused, they obliged. Several years followed of buying every commercial pickle I could find, without success. At least I had identified the missing ingredient: hot peppers. Yes!
With the help of Putting Food By, my second-oldest cookbook (after BH&G), I began the do-it-yourself project. Later I was joined in my mission by foodie-friend Vik (on the right in the above photo -- I'm holding a scepter of dill weed, if you're curious), the self-annointed Pearl-District Pickle-Queens.
It seems that putting food by has become hip, here in our foodie-city, among the Keep-Portland-Weird, chickens in the back yard crowd, "ink" a nice touch but not mandatory. So jump in, you're in good company. You'll need some basic equipment, but it's all multi-purpose, and inexpensive.
A canning kettle, which you will find at a cash-and-carry type store, or on Amazon -- get one with the rack. Jars and lids with rings at the grocery store. A tong-like device to extract the jars from the hot water is nice, but you can manage without.
As for the cucumbers, you have to use Kirby pickling cukes, at least for the following recipe. I like to shop at the farmers' market and select small cucumbers no more than 4 inches long, but sometimes you'll find them in 10 pound bags and you'll have to deal with the varied sizes.
You have to start the brining the night before making the pickles.
This is a project best accomplished with a friend, as there will be periods of waiting in which you can catch up on the latest news around the neighborhood. Besides, 10 pounds of cucumbers, if you have to buy that many, will yield about 15 pint jars of pickles, probably more than one family will want in a year.
Still with me? Here are Dill Cucumber Pickles (Short Brine)
10 pounds Kirby cukes ( 3 - 5 inches)
1 gallon of 5 percent brine (3/4 cup Morton's Kosher salt to each gallon of water)
3 cups cider vinegar
3/8 cup salt
1/8 cup sugar
4 1/2 cups water
whole mixed pickling spice
whole yellow mustard seed
fresh dill weed OR dill seed
whole dried hot red peppers
Note: You can halve the recipe.
Note: all salt is not equally salty, so for the sake of this recipe, be sure to use Morton's.
Put washed and brush-scrubbed cukes in a noncorroding crock, kettle, or the kitchen sink, and cover with the 5 percent brine. Let stand overnight.
Drain and pack the cucumbers in clean pint jars. Add 1 teaspoon mustard seed, 1 teaspoon pickling spice, either 1 1/2 teaspoon dill seed OR 1 head of dill weed, 1 hot pepper to each pint jar.
Fill caning kettle half-way with water, and start bringing it to the boil. You may need to add hot water to cover the jars when you begin to process them. Start timing after the water in the kettle returns to the boil.
Combine vinegar, salt, sugar and water in a saucepan, bring to boil. Ladle hot liquid over cucumbers in jars, leaving 1/2 inch headroom. Adjust the lids and rings (tighten the rings firmly before placing the jars in the boiling water in the kettle) and process for 20 minutes, (lid on kettle)
Remove jars from boiling water carefully, place on towel on counter and allow to cool before putting away in the cupboard.
Now you have to wait for 6 weeks before you sample the pickles . . . don't cheat!
Bonus: one way I love these pickles is an idea learned at Brothers Deli in Ashland: Top a toasted pumpernickel bagel half with plain cream cheese and thin slices of pickle. Really!
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