Pickles are delicious anytime of the year. For Thanksgiving they are especially good. Their crunch and acidity counterbalances the deliciousness of gravy, mashed potatoes and roast turkey.
For years I used cukes, the choice of traditional kosher pickles. One year when cukes weren't available, I "made due" with Persian cucumbers. Longer, more dense and thiner than Jewish style cukes, I discovered that Persian cucumbers kept their crispy crunch longer than the cukes I was used to. Ever since then, I use Persian cucumbers when I make kosher pickles.
In the 1920s, my great-grandfather made pickles on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Grandmother Caroline used to tell stories about working in their little grocery store as a child. When customers would want pickles, she would hop off the counter and go out front to the pickle barrels and fish out the ones they wanted.
I never knew my great-grandparents. I never ate their pickles, but I must have brine in my veins because wherever I shop or travel, I am always on the look out for pickles.
Lower East Side Kosher Dill Pickles
When making kosher dill pickles keep in mind four very important steps:
1. Select Persian cakes or pickling cukes, not salad cucumbers, and pick ones without blemishes or soft spots.
2. Use only Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt with no additives. Taste the brine to confirm you like the balance of salt-to-vinegar. The flavor of the brine will approximate the flavor of the pickles.
3. Once the cukes are in the brine, they must be kept submerged in a refrigerated, sealed container.
4. Store the pickles submerged in the brine, seal and keep in a refrigerator where they will last for several weeks.
Ingredients
8 cups water
1-2 tablespoons kosher salt (to taste) only use Diamond Crystal Kosher
1 cup white wine vinegar or yellow Iranian vinegar (my preference)
5 dried bay leaves
10 whole black peppercorns
10 whole mustard seeds
¼ teaspoon pepper flakes or 1 dried Sichuan pepper, split open
5 sprigs of fresh dill
5 pounds cakes or small pickling cucumbers, washed, stems removed, dried
1 medium sized carrot, ends removed, peeled, washed, cut into thin rounds
Directions
1. In a sterilized glass jar(s) or plastic container(s), add the salt, water and vinegar and stir to dissolve.
2. Dip your finger in the brine, taste and adjust the flavor with a bit more salt, water or vinegar.
3. Place the aromatics in the bottom of the container. Arrange the cucumbers and carrot rounds inside.
4. Pour in the brine being careful to cover the cucumbers. Reserve 1 cup of brine.
5. To keep the cucumbers submerged in the brine, cut out the bottom of a plastic cup the size of the opening and lay on top of the cucumbers.
6. The cucumbers have become pickles within 24 hours and will keep refrigerated for several weeks. If you like your pickles crisp, enjoy them within a week of pickling.
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