That sounds gross, doesn't it? It's not--promise.
See, last summer, the Summer of the Pickle, I tried a recipe for freezer pickles from my Serving Up the Harvest cookbook. The recipe calls for just submerging cucumber and onion slices in a bread-and-butter pickle brine and freezing it. It was such a weird idea that I had to try it. I used less sugar than the recipe called for, because it seemed awfully sweet, stuck a quart of it in the chest freezer, and promptly forgot about it. Because that's what happens to things I stick in our big chest freezer.
Everything eventually resurfaces, however, and I dug out the experimental freezer pickles a couple of months ago. After a few minutes of puzzled contemplation, I remembered what was in that particular container (of COURSE I didn't label it--that would be too intelligent) and left it out to thaw with some curiosity about the result of freezing cucumbers.
The verdict? Eh. Not great. Not terrible. The texture was, predictably, kind of limp. The taste was pretty good, though, and it occurred to me that it tasted a lot like hot dog relish. Which I don't generally eat. But I left the container of pickles in the refrigerator anyway, mostly because I couldn't just throw them out, but also with some vague idea of using them for relish when hot dog season arrived. I figured A. would probably eat the relish at least.
Well.
Hot dog season has arrived and the pickles are already almost gone. Turns out, I like my own relish on hot dogs quite a bit. Mostly because it covers up the hot dog, which is not really my favorite food. So I just pull out the pickles, chop 'em up fine, and dump a bunch on the hot dog. It tastes good, adds some vegetables to what is essentially a nutrient-free meal, and allows me to call freezer pickles a successful experiment.
Wins all around.
8 comments:
Heh, I did the exact same thing when I accidentally dumped too much turmeric into my bread and butter pickles. I didn't like them so much as pickles, but add a little more turmeric and some more vinegar and they turned into mustard relish. Yum.
Word verification: edarvel -- insect that feeds on yuppie salad fixings, like edamame and chervil
Now you can also whip up a batch of that pea salad that Jodi loves - peas, velveeta, relish and mayo. JUST KIDDING - Barf!
The relish sounds good though :)
Bleurgh, that sounds like something from my childhood. That or bologna, mayo and relish dumped into a blender then spread on Wonder bread like paté.
Word verification: expedun -- finished very quickly
So ya gonna make any more for next summer?
Er...so why not just make refrigerator pickles and forgo the grody limpness? I am a dill girl myself and totally love having a jar of homemade dills chilling out in there.
More woodchuck ingenuity. Waste not want not.Beth
word verification 'beemit'
...up Scottie
Finny: I made so many refrigerator pickles last year, I ran out of space in the refrigerator. They're my favorite, too. So then I actually canned some (okay, but a little softer than I like) and STILL had so many goddamn cucumbers they were rotting in the crisper. Enter the freezer pickle.
Reminds me of my disastrous attempt to make orange marmalade. It's delicious, but did not gel. No sense in trying to spread it on toast! But I'm using it as a marinade and an ingredient in baking, so it's working out just fine!
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