Damn Fast Awesome Pickles
Back in my Grillstock days, we’d serve these pickles on every tray of food in the Grillstock Smokehouses. They are perfect for cutting through the rich, smoky, fatty BBQ meats, but they also make a great side to pretty much anything. Each smokehouse would make them in batches of 400 cucumbers at a time a couple of times a week.
These are known as ‘bread and butter’ or ‘sweet’ or ‘refrigerator’ pickles – basically a quick and easy pickle. Swap out the cucumber for other veg if you like – just make sure it is sliced thinly with a mandolin to get good results.
Once you’ve made the pickles, bottle them in sterilized jars (see p.00) and leave them for a couple of days in the fridge for the flavours to really come out. Although, if you can’t wait that long, you could tuck in as soon as they have chilled down.
MAKES about 1kg (drained weight)
INGREDIENTS
2 large cucumbers, cut into 3mm slices
1 onion, cut into 3mm slices
1 red pepper, seeded and cut into 3mm slices
40g salt
500ml cider vinegar
250g caster sugar
1 tbsp yellow mustard seeds
½ tbsp coriander seeds
½ tsp turmeric
¼ tsp ground cloves
METHOD
1. Put the sliced vegetables in a big bowl with the salt and toss together until everything is coated. Put something heavy, such as a plate topped with a weight, directly on top of the veg and leave to sit for 3–4 hours.
2. When the veg have released their liquid content, tip them into a colander and rinse thoroughly under a cold running tap to remove the salt. Drain well and pat dry with kitchen paper.
3. To make the pickling brine, put the vinegar, sugar and spices in a medium saucepan with 400ml water. Stir to combine then bring to the boil over a medium heat. As soon as the mixture starts to boil, add the veg to the pan, return to the boil, then immediately take the pan off the heat.
4. Spoon the pickle into sterilised jar(s) and top with tight-fitting lids. The easiest way to do this is to run the jars through the dishwasher on its hottest setting or place in a low oven, around 100C) for 20 mins. Leave to cool, then place in the fridge ideally for 2 days before eating. They’ll keep unopened in the fridge for up to six weeks and once opened eat within 1 week.