Finding a good basic dill pickle recipe was tricky. You don’t need to can them and have them sit around for a week before you eat them if you don’t want to – for “Quick Pickles” just make the brine and pour it over the pickles (preferably sliced so they absorb more of the liquid more quickly) – but this will make a bit batch and make them last a long time.
Now I know I should have gone either to my Joy of Cooking or to the US National Centre for Home Food Preservation, which gives a whole lot of basic rules and recipes for canning and preserving. The recipes aren’t fun and exciting but they get the job done, and that’s what pickles do – they get the job done.
I’ll admit I’ve never been a fan of dill pickles. They’re the kinds of things that sit in your fridge for years and never seem to get eaten. We BBQ-ed a lot when I was growing up and I rarely saw pickles on the grocery list, and yet there they were, in our fridge constantly. Whether or not my parents ever ate them I don’t know. They’re probably still there along with the green relish that I also thought should never be ingested.
But I figured homemade pickles might be better and I could try a few different recipes. Pickling is all about the vinegar to salt ratio and since I wouldn’t be adding any non-food-like ingredients (other acids for longer storage life or chemicals I couldn’t pronounce) I figured there was hope. I also figured I’d do a simple dill version and then splurge on a sweet and sour version. I say “splurge” because adding a ton of sugar (it felt like literally a ton…) turns it into quasi-dessert. Dessert pickle? Isn’t that chutney? Nope. My sweet and sours are for burgers, sandwiches, charcuterie and side dishes.
So I found this recipe online for dills and added some extra sterilizing at the beginning and boiling at the end, just to be safe (the NCHFP says you don’t need to sterilize beforehand for pickles, but it doesn’t hurt). Here’s what I started with:
…and it all turned into pickles. You can use less, obviously…just halve the recipe, or for “quick pickles”, quarter it.
Ingredients:
2lb (1kg) cucumbers (I used Lebanese but you could use other cucumbers cut into smaller slices or pieces, or even gherkins – the really small, sour ones)
8 cloves garlic (I skipped this…raw garlic and I don’t get along in pickles)
fresh dill sprigs (I used 1 tbsp dillweed)
1 tsp whole black peppercorns
brine vinegar to cover:
- 1.1 litres water
- 400ml white wine, cider or distilled malt vinegar
- 4 tbsp salt
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 tsp whole peppercorns
Directions:
1. (Skip the sterilizing instructions and go directly to step 5 if you’re making “quick pickles”. Just place the pickles in clean glass jars of any kind and eat them within a few weeks. Do not store them in plastic. Read the entire recipe first, and decide whether or not to salt your cucumber slices in advance). Place 6-8 one litre mason jars (washed in hot soapy water) with their screw ring bands (the turning part of the lids – also washed well) in a whole stock pot or canning pot.
2. Wash but don’t add the soft tops with red wax around the diametre. Those will be warmed later, but should never be boiled. The jars and lids shouldn’t touch the bottom of the pot, so you can use a kitchen towel on the bottom of the pot to elevate the jars and let the water completely surround the jars so they heat more evenly. Depending on the size of your pot you may be able to fit in more or fewer jars, but always add the most jars you have room for just in case you end up with more pickles and need extra sterilized jars to stuff.
3. Fill the pot with water (pouring water into the jars too) and cover with 1 inch of water. Bring the pot to a boil (this takes forever, which is why you do it first). Boil rapidly for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat, and leave the jars in the hot water.
4. Take the wax-rimmed lids and place them in a small saucepan of water (without touching them with your hands – I use chopsticks but you could use tongs, and I think non-metal is best). Heat the saucepan to just under a boil. Don’t let the water boil or the wax will melt and won’t seal properly on the pickles. Turn off the heat and let the lids soak for at least 5 minutes to soften the wax.
5. Scrub the cucumbers (remove the slime or rough ridges by some gentle scrubbing, like mushrooms or relatively clean potatoes).
6. Make the brine by combining all the brine ingredients in a medium saucepan and bringing it to a boil. Then cover and turn the heat to low. you don’t want the mixture to cool too much but you don’t want it to boil down either.
7. Remove the sterilized jars from the canning pot carefully (without touching the rims with your fingers) and place on a kitchen towel or heat-proof surface. Replace the lid on the canning pot to keep the water as hot as possible – you’ll need it again soon. Pack the cucumbers tightly (again, no hands) with the cucumber pieces, the dill and the black peppercorns (and optional garlic). You may need to slice the cucumbers into smaller pieces so they’re stuff-able, like this:
There should be some headway for the cucumbers in the jars, so stop stuffing at the lip of the jar, or about 1/2″ from the top of the jar.
Note: For firmer sliced pickles, cut them into appropriately sized pieces (however big you want), and then layer them in a sieve with a few sprinkles of salt. Cover the sieve with a plate (weigh down the plate with something heavy) and leave the cucumber for 30 minutes to three hours to drain the excess water. Then rinse the pickles in cold water to remove the excess salt:
8. Pour over the brine so that the cucumbers are pretty covered (some will float and wreck your stuffing and I also think that’s okay as long as you’ve pushed it down as far as possible and the cucumbers are fairly even). The brine shouldn’t pass the bottom of the lip or 1/2″ from the top of the jar on a wide-mouthed jar.
9. Wipe the rims with a clean, damp paper towel, and then using your handy chopsticks or non-metal tongs place the wax-rimmed lids on top (this is finicky and annoying, but don’t touch the seals with your fingers if you can help it. Pickles are more forgiving than other preserved items, but still, don’t take any chances). Then add the screw ring bands (again, chopsticks) and tighten with just your fingertips (here you can use hands. You don’t want to over-tighten the rings but you don’t want to under-tighten them, so the general rule is tighten only as much as you can with your fingertips of your stronger hand).
10. Place the lidded jars back in the large canning pot and make sure the jars are covered by at least 1 inch of water. Bring the water back to a boil. Once it’s actually boiling again set the timer for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes remove the pot carefully from the heat and remove the jars from the pot, trying not to turn them on their sides. The vinegar can react with the lids apparently. I don’t have a way to remove them without tilting them (slotted spoon and kitchen tongs method, not a jar-lifter) and I’ve never had any problems, but more experienced canners than me say it can change the colour and the taste.
11. Let cool and store in a dark, dry place. These are best after 10 days, apparently, but that’s when they’re left to ferment instead of being boiled again after stuffing, so I say eat them when you want.
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