Some time ago, I was writing a bit about how food gives you a "sense of place. " Sourdough bread in San Francisco doesn't seem right anywhere else (I've tried). The folded piece of pizza? Only in NY (I've tried that one, too). Sweetened iced tea? Washington DC, Virginia, and further south. Blueberry pie? New England. You can eat all of these things anywhere, and they taste good, but somehow, there is "something in the air," that makes them taste better in different places.
I feel that way about pickles. Not "pickled vegetables," which change from place to place, but PICKLES. Big, wonderful, sour dills, or other pickled cucumbers. Eating pickles anywhere other than in NY does in fact seem to me to be a waste of time, because to me, they won't taste as good.
Now, I will also say that I have despaired of finding pickles I truly love. There used to be a guy who sold them at street fairs, and street fairs only. Even if I bought nothing else, I would always come home with 2 or 3 quarts of his most sour cukes, and just eat them until the next street fair. He opened a store, and I believe went out of business in about six months. Now I can't find him. There's "Rick's picks," and I love their beans, their beets, their red peppers, but the dill pickles just leave me feeling "something's missing." But now.....
Arthur Schwartz recently published a book on Jewish cooking. I didn't really know about it, because while everyone in NY knows Arthur's work (and I've met Arthur), this is an area of cooking I just don't do. But one of my favorite bloggers, David Lebovitz, has been , shall we say "mildly obsessed " about pickles for a while, and he published Mr. Schwartz' recipe, with approval.
These are two people I respect, so I took this as a sign. That and the fact that I had some empty Mason quart jars. Looking at the ingredients I figured "what the hell? Not that expensive, and if it doesn't work, oh well."
And I have to be honest. At first, I thought it wasn't going to work. I did what you're not ever supposed to do and tasted them halfway through the pickling process. YUCH! But since I still had some patience left (vacation after glow), I waited. It was worth it.
So I'm gonna put the recipe here, since this is what I've made recently. And I'm making a bigger batch . And I want you to make them, especially if you like pickles.
You'll need four quarts of water, a half cup of kosher salt, kirby cucumbers, peeled garlic cloves, a big bunch of dill, bay leaves, pickling spiceand a bunch of fresh dill. The original recipe calls for certain quantities, and says the dill is preferably going to seed. Yes, I can see that, but dill is not going to seed in these parts yet. Too early. Make them again later in the season when it does.
Pickling spice was the hardest thing for me to find. I actually had to go to the grocery store to get it.
In terms of quantity, you're going to want two cloves of garlic, two bay leaves, and about a half tablespoon of pickling spice (and a bit more), per quart of pickles. What you need to do is fill your jars with the pickles. With kirbys, you can put them in whole. I get about four, big ones, into a quart jar, more with smaller ones. You can also cut spears f rom larger cucumbers. You should put these into jars that you have cleaned by either running them through your dishwasher, or by filling them with boiling water, and then dumping it out. After you do that, put in the cucumbers, so you'll see how much of everything you need.
Bring four quarts of water to a boil and addhalf a cup of kosher salt. The two recipes said to let this cool, but I didn't do that. I ladled the liquid over the pickles, and added the spice mixture, putting a few sprigs of fresh dill in, whereever there was room.
You then cover the jars, but don't seal them. Leave them someplace cool (or not. I actually put mine in a sunny window, and I don't regret it).
It's interesting to watch the fermentation happen. You will start with a clear liquid, and bright green cucumbers. This will, over 3 days, begin to cloud up, and the pickles will lose their bright green color.
At three days, you may want to taste, but if you know you prefer more sour pickles, leave them for up to six days. Then you refrigerate them, but keep in mind they will continue to "sour" in teh fridge. These are not storage pickles, so make what you can use and give away in a week.
I really liked these, and I really like pickles. I was so pleased that, of the four jars I made, I've already eaten two of them. Not good for my stomach, but good for my smile.
Yes, it's odd talking about pickles as the market continues to fill. More on that to come. I just loved this recipe so much, I needed to share it. Thank you Arthur, thank you David
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