Fried Pickles
Please tell me you reacted the same way I did when you read that title. I had never heard of frying pickles until I told some co-workers that I made pickles for the first time last weekend. Apparently fried pickles are great, but not this kind of fried pickle.
This morning I forgot that I didn’t write the date they were made on the jar, so I’m popping the pickle jar photo into a post here so I can remember when they were made. From what I read, you have to wait about 2 months before they are ready to eat. They keep for 2 years.
You can see the recipe I created from a couple of different recipes here. I added pepper corns and jalapeno seeds to spice it up a bit. These pickles were made from our first batch of cucumbers. Last year, we had a few we just didn’t eat because they came in all at once. This year I’m going to try pickling and see how that goes.
I’ve tried making refrigerator pickles before (where you don’t process them, so you have to keep them in the fridge to prevent spoiling), with various degrees of success.
Last night, I watched Alton Brown on Food Network make real, fermented pickles — no vinegar; the acid comes from actual fermentation. I printed out the recipe and I may have to try it in two weeks after I get back from Costa Rica.
The same episode also include Alton’s fried pickle recipe.
John, can you email me that recipe? I’d love to try that. I may be wrong, but the amount of vinegar I used tasted too overwhelming. I won’t know for a while, though. How long does that recipe allow them to be kept? I hate having to heat all this stuff up to seal the jars, but I do want to keep the stuff in a pantry, not the fridge, because I will have a lot of stuff.
Lots of recipes for fried pickles here: http://search.foodnetwork.com/food/recipe/fried+pickles/search.do?searchString=fried+pickles&site=food&searchType=Recipe. Sounds awful.
In these days of global warming, anything that requires refrigeration is an affront to Gaia. On the other hand, anything that requires heating is also an affront to Gaia. The only environmentally sound advice is to eat the cucumbers raw as they come off the vine. Pick, eat, repeat.
If you’re determined to refrigerate, this is probably the Alton Brown recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_73781,00.html.
That was it. Here’s the link to the page for the episode, which has links to both the dill pickle recipe and the fried pickle recipe.:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/show_ea/episode/0,1976,FOOD_9956_53375,00.html
He did stress during the episode that you must use filtered or some other chlorine-free water.
Thanks for the links, guys. Weird! Although the more I think of it, it might not be bad. I think of those fired zuchinni and know the taste is pretty bland. A dill pickle chip, though… if it’s mild enough might not be that bad.
I did use filtered water, but now that you mention it, I think I’ll go get distilled water for future efforts.
I just hope I did the jarring right because you could get sick. I’m going to look for those wireframe jar holders to boil the jars. I was trying to use tongs the last time and splashed boiling water all over my face! I was pretty lucky I wasn’t burned.