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Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Fridge pickled cucumbers (faux-Grillo's Hot)

S is a big fan of our #1 local pickle-purveyor - Grillo's. He even has the t-shirt. I have been hatching a plan to try and recreate them for him. I picked some vine leaves from the garden I help at (which has a beautiful crop of grapes developing over the entrance archway). Beyond that, I knew I'd need cucumbers, dill, jalapeno and/or habanero chillis, garlic, vinegar and salt. We hung out in our friend D's yard last night, sitting around a fire and talking about skunks and mushrooms. He works at a farm nearby, so at this time of year he always has masses of veg going spare at his place. We left with cucumbers (about 5 little ones) and jalapenos. We already had some lovely-looking garlic left from double-CSA week, and I picked up some dill at the Russian store at the end of our road this afternoon. Now all I need is Grillo's top-secret recipe... This is my best guess.

2 fresh vine leaves, washed (or a couple of pinches of tea leaves)
5 small cucumbers, washed, top-and-tailed and cut lengthwise into spears
3 medium-small jalapenos, deseeded and cut in half lengthwise
2 huge cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced chunkily lengthwise
handful of picked dill fronds, washed
1 1/2 cups distilled white vinegar (or cider vinegar)*
2 1/2 cups water*
2 tbsp fine sea (or desert, or pickling) salt
mustard seed (optional)

Put the vine leaves in the bottoms of two large, clean jars. Pack the cucumbers in on top, then add in the dill, garlic and jalapenos, distributing them evenly between the two jars. I decided to try adding mustard seed to one jar (deviating from the recipe I'm trying to recreate, but potentially good). Put the vinegar, water and salt in a pan and heat until just boiling. Pour over the cucumbers, filling right up to the top. Put the lids on and let cool to room temperature before storing in the fridge. Try and wait at least 48 hours before eating.

*A second round, tweaked proportions - changed to the above from 2 cups of vinegar and 2 cups of water.

Edit: We managed to wait almost 48 hours! I made them on Sunday afternoon and we tested the first jar on Tuesday lunchtime. They look and taste like the real deal. S says they are a little more vinegary than Grillo's, which may be just because they could do with pickling for longer (will hang onto the second jar til the end of the week at least), or if that doesn't work I might try using a lower proportion of vinegar in the brine if we come by more cukes. Not bad for a first effort though!

Edit II: After a week the first batch still tasted a little vinegary to S, so I tweaked the proportions of vinegar as above (and ended up subbing some cider vinegar). I gave away several jars from this second batch, and they seem to be universally loved. High praise from D, who not only grew the cukes but is also a bit of a pickle expert. Plus, S reckons he cannot tell the difference between these and Grillo's. Think I've cracked it.

Variations:
Tea leaves instead of vine leaves - it's the tannins that keep things crisp; tea works well and adds an interesting flavour (that can be tweaked eg by using Earl Grey)
Chilli flakes instead of fresh chilli.
Adding fresh nasturtium seeds or dried mustard seeds to the mix.
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