Pickle, People?

[GreyCoyote]

Partially due to Eric's rants (and partially due to having a really good experience recently), I'm looking for playa-compatible pickle recipes that use a proper brine instead of vinegar.

Google is rather a mess on the subject. (And who knew pickles were so political?!? I thought Southern biscuits could start a war, but pickles take fanaticism to a whole new level)

What I'm looking for is a recipe that YOU have personally used and had good success with, mostly as a starting point for some experimentation. The results will be playa-bound and shared with fellow Pickle People.

Any thoughts?

[tamarakay]

If you find a good one let me know. I've been searching too.

[VultureChow]

I'll pull my pickling and canning books when I get home, but you're going to run into a few issues.

All pickling takes time. Whether you're doing a vinegar pickle or a naturally fermented one. The longer it sits in the brine, the more sour it gets, so if you're looking for whole pickles, you want to get started soon.

Vinegar pickles are a lot less fickle, but natural fermentation is amazing. You might try a sauerkraut or kimchee recipe first to give to a feel for the process. I have a great kimchee recipe.

[Ratty]

And I love freshly made kimchi. After it sours I'll eat it but not with relish. (hehe)

[AntiM]

I know where I can get fresh kimchi, a local place makes it. They do a wonderful mild daikon version.

[Simon of the Playa]

http://brooklynfarmgirl.com/2013/07/15/ ... r-pickles/


and this is the best store bought pickle available anywhere...

keep in mind, half sours need to be kept cold.

[VultureChow]

Full sour or fuck off.

Might bring some pickled green tomatoes from our local pickle guy.

[Simon of the Playa]

Full sour or fuck off.

what....are you a Lubovitcher or Something?



show me your RV...

[VultureChow]

No, but Chabad is stalking me.

My father refuses to take their calls and transfers them to me. Their humentachen aren't bad.

They once tried to recruit me as the shabbos goy for the Sukkah-mobile parked in Washington Square Park. One of them asked if I would turn on the lights. I told him I'd be happy to be their shabbos goy and he immediately froze and asked if I was Jewish. I guess I don't look Jewish. They wouldn't let me leave until I shook the palm leaves and did the blessing over the candles.

[Drawingablank]

I make garlic dills, but don't use a precise recipe.

2 gallon batch:
Fresh Dill, preferably with seed heads on it - large piece or two.
Garlic cloves, smashed - 8 to 10.
Pickling spices, (from a jar), 1.5 to 2 Tablespoons.
Salt brine.
I fill jar with enough cukes to just leave enough room for a weight to hold them below the surface. Usually ferment for 7 - 10 days in darkness. Must be refrigerated after fermentation is complete (I suppose canning would eliminate that need, but I've never tried it).

Although these are my favorite pickle in defaultia, on the playa I prefer vinegar brine as it helps neutralize the dust which otherwise gives me laryngitis by day 3 (having to mime your way through a greeter shift is not as fun as it sounds).

[lucky420]

pickled tink

[tamarakay]

All the things I now have to google

[Wigwam]

I tend to get pickled most evenings on the playa...but that's not a specific recipe either.

[Eric]

I haven't made this, but a friend has. The pickles weren't bad, and would be a good base for experimentation: Alton Brown's Dill Pickle recipe. Big note: make sure you use kosher salt, not table salt.

I buy them pre-made (I have a tiny apartment kitchen with no storage in SF, I don't really have a place to let them ferment), usually I only bring "Bubbies" pickles & saurkraut, we've found a couple of other local brands this year that are natural brined that are good, if less full power than Bubbies (they're not half-sour, just not super strong). I might also bring some good local kimchee (from "Sinto" - no shrimp paste, so it's safe for vegans, veggies & shellfish allergies, and packs a fantastic kimchee punch).

[ygmir]

pickled tink

Claudine is drunk?

[lucky420]

most likely

[digital]

My camp leader makes the best god'damn pickles I've ever had. He's the one who got me hooked on homemade pickles. That's actually the highlight of my Burning Man. I'm hoping he'll have a jar for me this year to share. The little joys are the best!

[GreyCoyote]

Its amazing the social undercurrents that swirl beneath the burnscape. I've learned more about pickles in the last 24 hours that I ever thought could be learned. Pickle Camp anyone? Lol.

Thanks to all who have written, posted, emailed and even called! I have no less than five very solid, playa-tested, "ancient family secret" recipes in-hand and waiting for a weekend.

Its gonna get burpy in here.

[tamarakay]

Hey! Please send me a couple of them!

[GreyCoyote]

Hey! Please send me a couple of them!

I'll do ya one better, TK: I'll bring the winning recipe and some sample over to DWD camp! You arent far from us.

[Meat Hunter]

I have what I think is a fine recipe for making dill pickles that I have been using for going on now 50 years.

I normally make my pickles in quart jars. But, I have several vintage 1 gallon Ball jars that have been sitting in the barn for years just waiting for the right time to be used.

My garden grows some mighty fine cucumbers and I am thinking that next spring/summer that I will make a couple of gallon jars of dill pickles to bring along.

Once the pickles are gone, it would be down right sinful to let all the pickle juice go to waste.

Does anyone have a recipe for a proper "Pickle Back"?

[FIGJAM]

On a side note: plant some cucs at the base of a tree and train the vines up into the lower branches.

When the cucs come out, not only is it hilarious to have the only pickle tree in town, but it makes them easy to harvest.

I have done this!!!

[Meat Hunter]

What a great idea.

I have a hack-berry tree that has a wisteria vine growing on it. The cucumber vines, growing amongst the wisteria vines, would make for a nice "conversation tree".

[GreyCoyote]

Today I started a batch of pickles from the Brooklyn Farm Girl as suggested by Simon. Tomorrow I'll be doing a batch as suggested by Eric.

This promises to be a lot of fun, and drive the sodium level through the roof... Which is, of course, the entire point.

At 3 PM in BRC, there are no low-sodium diets!

[paperstarlight]

I am a Pickle Person and will be bringing a variety of pickles to the Burn this year! I'm picking the produce myself locally and making them seasonally in batches to spread out the effort over the year. So far I've made savory pumpkin pickles and sweet-sour maple cinnamon apple pickles (incidentally, the apple pickle brine makes a phenomenal cocktail mixer). Up next for spring is pickled asparagus + rose petals and homemade giardiniera. My recipes tend to come from super old school cookbooks from the days of living and dying by one's ability to properly can something.

[maladroit]

I am a Pickle Person and will be bringing a variety of pickles to the Burn this year! I'm picking the produce myself locally and making them seasonally in batches to spread out the effort over the year. So far I've made savory pumpkin pickles and sweet-sour maple cinnamon apple pickles (incidentally, the apple pickle brine makes a phenomenal cocktail mixer). Up next for spring is pickled asparagus + rose petals and homemade giardiniera. My recipes tend to come from super old school cookbooks from the days of living and dying by one's ability to properly can something.

Welcome to ePlaya!

[trilobyte]

Welcome aboard! You should know that if you plan on food gifting (or if you operate a camp kitchen that serves over 125 people), you will need to obtain a Nevada Health Permit and follow their rules for safe food handling, and what they allow and all that good stuff.

From my own experience (my camp has been going through the food permit process for a few years), the rules forbid any kind of pre-cooking outside a commercial kitchen (and you'd need to provide the health department with copies of that kitchen's permit info). It's a hassle and has prevented us from being able to serve up anything that we might pre-cook at home (for us the cost of using a commercial kitchen is just too high), but I certainly understand where they're coming from. The state needs to have a documented 'chain of responsibility' - they're willing to allow us to bring it into the state and serve it to the public, but only if we can show that all the handling was done in a kitchen that has been permitted and inspected by another health department.

Go here to check out the requirements, as well as to get the application form for a permit for Burning Man.

[paperstarlight]

3rd time trying to reply.. IDK where my replies keep going I get logged out every time I hit submit.

Thanks! And yeah, I've been following along on the health rules pretty closely. It was too late for my autumn batches to be done anywhere other than my home kitchen, but I've only got 5 pints of those to bring anyway so those will end up as camp provisions. The rest of the batches will be larger and made in a rented professional kitchen, along with my non-pickle contributions to the Ultra Marathon food table. I'm holding off on any form-filling or authorities-contacting until I have a ticket in hand for now.

[AntiM]

Make sure you are on .org and not .com.