Preserve Week: Claussen-Style Refrigerator Pickles (Round Two)

Last year, I made a big to-do about the Claussen-Style pickles that I'd made.

Turns out, while the sliced ones were good, they really didn't taste like Claussen's version. The ones I left whole were flaccid.

And I think it's safe to say that flaccid pickles have no place in my house.

So, with kirby cukes at the markets, I'm back at it this year, and once again, my hopes are high.

There are a few important changes I've made to my efforts this year: no heating up the brine and a different spice mix.

Already, I can tell a difference in the colour compared to last year. That alone has me jumping for joy.

Claussen-Style Refrigerator Pickles

(adapted from a website that no longer exists)
makes 3 pints

Ingredients

1¼ cups distilled water (this can be replaced with water you've boiled and then chilled)
1¼ cups white vinegar

12 - 16 kirby cucumbers, scrubbed and cut into spears

place into each pint jar:

½ tbsp kosher salt
1 tbsp dill seeds
1/8 tsp celery seeds
½ tsp mustard seeds
½ tsp red pepper flakes
1 small bay leaf
1 clove garlic, minced

Directions

1. Sterilize 3 pint jars in boiling water.

2. Stir together water and vinegar in a measuring cup. Set aside. Add spices to jars. Tightly pack in cucumber spears on top of the spices. Pour vinegar mixture over top. Cover, seal and shake to dissolve salt.

3. Place in the fridge. Shake jars for 10 seconds every day for a week. Try to restrain yourself from sampling the wares at this time. Hold out. You can do it! Cucumbers should have undergone the transformation to Cinderella Pickles after 7 days. They'll keep in the fridge for 1 month.

Quick Japanese Pickles

I wish I'd taken a picture of the bento boxes I'd made for my husband and myself earlier this week! Kara age (fried chicken), brown rice with umeboshi, carrot kinpira and Japanese pickled cabbage and cucumber.

God, I love pickles. Give them to me in just about any form and I'm a happy camper.

Unlike your dill or bread and butter pickles, these Japanese pickles don't use any vinegar as part of the fermenting process. Instead they rely entirely on salt.

And, if you like, you can toss them with a little soy sauce at the end.

Otherwise, just leave them alone. They're meant to cleanse the palate, not overwhelm it.

Quick Japanese Pickles

(adapted from both Washoku and Just Bento)


Ingredients

3 small Japanese cucumbers, thinly sliced (1/8" thick)
¼ head savoy cabbage, shredded or finely sliced
1½ tsp kosher salt
1 piece kombu, 1" square
½ tsp soy sauce

Directions

1. In a large bowl, toss cucumber slices with ½ tsp salt, massage for a couple of minutes, until slices begin to become limp and start to sweat.

2. Combine cabbage with cucumbers and toss with remaining salt. Massage again, increasing pressure as the vegetables become limper and you are able to squeeze a fair bit of liquid from them. Keep whatever liquid you get in the bowl.

3. Add in kombu and massage again. The kombu will feel a bit slippery which is a good thing. Place a plate, smaller than the size of the bowl directly on top of the vegetables. Weigh down with heavy weights (I put an 8 lb weight in a heavy jar on top of my plate) and marinate for at least 1 hour (preferably 3 hours) at room temperature (or 24 hours in the fridge).

4. Before serving, rinse under cold water and drain, squeezing to make sure no water remains. Drizzle soy sauce over pickles just before serving.

So you think you can pickle.

I'm obsessed with finding crunchy dill pickles.

No. Seriously. It's a problem. Ever since I was introduced to Claussen pickles, nothing else will do. Nope. I'm never going back to you, Bicks. I spurn you and your soft pickles.

The platonic form of pickle

Think about it? Does anyone really want a soft pickle? I mean, really? A soft pickle.

I thought not.

When I was at the St. Lawrence Market last week, I came across a big basket of pickling cucumbers and I just knew my time to shine was here.

Okay, they aren't Claussens... but these homemade babies rank a pretty close second! Man, so easy and delicious! All the crunch you could want!

Note: These pickles have a shelf life as they aren't processed in a hot water bath. I give them a week or two, but I'll update you if I die in the meantime.

Pickles That Will Make You a Legend

1 small sweet onion, very thinly sliced
2 lbs pickling cucumbers (they're small) scrubbed, and cut into ¼ inch thick rounds
a handful of dill, stems and all, coarsely chopped
1 tbsp mustard seed
2 tsp peppercorns
1½ cup apple cider vinegar
½ cup sugar
1 cup water
2 tsp dill seeds

Directions

Clear enough?

 1. In two clean quart jars, layer the onion, the pickling cucumber and the dill.

Just like so!

2.  Place peppercorns and mustard seed in a bag and crush with a mallet or frying pan. I'll admit, my mustard seeds stayed pretty whole.

3. Combine peppercorn mixture with remaining ingredients in a pot. Bring to a boil and stir just until sugar is dissolved. Divide liquid evenly between your two jars, place both in the fridge (without their lids on) for 24 hours, then cap with lids and bring them out to that bbq party you're invited to this weekend. Tell them you'll supply the pickles.

Then sit back and enjoy as your legend grows.

Go on. I'm pretty sure you deserve a beer or two for that.