Ok Ok…the pickles I make are far behind my grandma’s pickles and will always be but…they are still good :) This is a traditional Russian food and the majority of people who had Dacha’s (a summer home in the country) made it at one point or another to preserve the cucumbers they grew in their gardens; same was done with tomatoes, mushrooms and other vegetables. Every summer there was a frenzy of making all sorts of different preserves – all the ripe berries that weren’t eaten fresh were made into jams or just milled with loads of sugar for them to last for a long time providing the taste of summer as well as some “fruits” in the winter months. Mushrooms were pickled and dried while hanging near the stoves and fireplaces. Whatever could be preserved was made into relishes and other tasty things like dried or smoked fish. People cooked in their houses and made improvised outdoor kitchens where they would make jams in enormous pots making the air smell so damn good letting us kids eat the foam that formed on the top as it would damage the preserves and they wouldn’t last – what a treat!
I am getting carried away here…so back to pickles.
Those are not the traditional pickles you would find in the store, they are not sour and they have no vinegar; those are simple lightly salted cucumbers which are delicate and delicious.
The principle of the preparation is simple:
Lots of Dill (an underutilized and unappreciated here in North America), lots of crushed garlic, some chili flakes, some black pepper corns, a couple of bay leaves, a few fennel seeds, some mustard seeds and lots of salt (I use coarse sea salt), pickling cucumbers and a large jar preferably one that does not leak when you turn it upside down…
The jar will determine your course of action; if its good (=does not leak) put all the spices and salt then arrange the cucumbers so they feel a little tight in the jar and stuff some dill under, between and on top.
Fill the jar with boiling water, close it and shake and turn to dissolve the salt and move things around a bit. If your jar is less good, do the cucumbers and dill and then in separate bowl mix the spices and salt with boiling water and then pour it into the jar, close. Let cool on the counter and transfer to the fridge for a day or two……..
EAT!
Yum! So they just cure for a day or two before you eat them? That does sound like my recipe, but with larger cukes!
Yep, they are usually good to eat after 24 hours or so. I wish the cute, fat, bumpy, delicious, pickling cucumbers were more widely available – I would use those in a heart beat :)