I don't know about you, but I am completely obsessed with the pickle spears that restaurants make in-house (at least I think they make them there; I am not sure). Every single time we get them, my kids practically throw theirs onto my plate because they know I love them so much.
Pickles in general are pretty much a win for me, though. And I can easily go out and buy a jar of pickles. But there is just something about the newness of the restaurant pickle. You can just tell that they haven't been sitting in brine for God-knows-how-long. They are almost still a cucumber, but not. You can't just go out and buy those kind of pickles.
So I decided to experiment at home. I made two jars, one spicy and one not.
It was actually way easier than I thought it would be. You basically just throw everything into a jar and let it sit for a few days.
For the cucumbers, you want to find pickling cucumbers. My local store was out, so I ended up getting some little gourmet seedless ones, which turned out just as great. (I actually had a bag of pickling cucumbers, but since they aren't waxy like regular cucumbers they went bad pretty quick. So I had to go back to the store.)
As far as the other ingredients, I encourage you to experiment with putting different aromatics in your jar to find out what your perfect batch is. In my spicy jar I used dried Bolivian Rainbow peppers because that's what I had in my spice cabinet. I had a plant of them some time ago and dried the peppers off of it. But of course I can't keep anything alive, so I'm glad I had the foresight to save what I did.
(If you like spicy sauces, check out
Bayou Peppers. They make pepper sauce from homegrown Bolivian Rainbow peppers. I am not an affiliate, just a fan.)
I taste tested them after two days in the fridge, and they were pickled to my satisfaction. The batch with the peppers in it had a slight kick but was not overly spicy. However, the longer they soaked, the spicier they got. Overall, I think I liked the flavor of the spicy pickles better than the plain, but both batches were very good.
What you'll need:
- 2 large mason jars (I used 20oz)
- 3 1/2 cups of water
- 1 1/2 cups of distilled white vinegar
- 1 Tbsp sea salt
- peppercorns to taste (I used 25 per jar)
- 2 garlic cloves, one per jar
- fresh dill, about 4-5 sprigs
- a dozen or so pickling cucumbers (I ended up using 10)
- some sort of spicy pepper (optional)
What to do:
Make the brine: in a saucepan, bring water, vinegar, and salt to a boil. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.
Cut cucumbers. I chose to make mine into spears, but you can slice them or put them in whole if you choose.
Divide ingredients between jars and fit as many cucumbers as you can.
When the brine is cooled, pour into the jars. Make sure jars are sealed tightly, then shake to combine.
Refrigerate for 2-3 days, or longer if you prefer.
Enjoy!
