quickles.

i bravely vowed to experiment with pickling over the weekend, and it is with tremendous joy and satisfaction that i report that i a) lived up to my promise and b) the pursuit of pickles went better than anticipated, in fact it was a pretty darn near perfect success! and it certainly turned this early bird into a pickle pirate. tasting those pickles and then registering the fact that they tasted good was a moment of satisfaction on the scale of the first time all those hours of relentless flipping and falling, flipping and falling, flipping and falling, over and over again on the front lawn stopped turning out mild concussions and grass stains and turned out an actual front handspring - an actual, real-deal front handspring, just like almost every other girl my age could do. yeah, it was a pretty basic move, more or less the bottom rung on the ladder (okay, just a slight step up from cartwheel and round-off that really you weren't even allowed to call yourself a girl if you couldn't pull off) as far as physical prowess and gymnastic ability went. but that was the source of the overwhelming pride and relief i felt when i finally pulled it off, it meant that i was at least as good as pretty much everybody else. i had not failed the simple. or maybe that was just my childhood, anyway, i hope you get my point. i have loved pickles my whole life. i mean, seriously LOVED pickles. see, my sister and i had an understood, undiscussed food divorce as very young children. just 13 months apart in age and always together, we decided to assert our independence and individuality through food. what one liked, the other was mandated not to like. somehow, in this bargain, i got chocolate and condiments (ketchup, pickles, mustard, mayonnaise - i got them ALL and loved them ALL) and my sister got cheese, the choice of vanilla or strawberry for her ice cream, and a loathing of condiments so strong, especially pickles, that if a pickle touched her plate she would dissolve into tears and be unable to eat. as an adult, i have grown into my adoration of the pickle and to explore its boundaries, to go beyond cucumbers and into other vegetables such as okra, carrots, green beans and into other cultural cuisines such as japanese oshinko and korean kimchi. and, so, as i have come to embrace how much i love to make food, how much satisfaction comes in the planning, the preparation, the presentation, the act and art of sharing it with others and giving them both something to enjoy and something that will nourish them, i have also come to yearn to master the art of pickling. it has always seemed like a natural fit for me. and so i have always found an excuse or been presented with a circumstance that has delayed my dabbling. because i have always needed and wanted it to be right. as simple as pickling is, i needed it to be perfect, i needed to be prepared, i needed to not fail. and so it took until this sunday for me to open this new chapter of my culinary life, the pickle.

i started this weekend with what are known as *quick pickles* - they marinate fast, they are meant to be kept in the fridge and consumed quickly. it was far easier to start experimenting with spice and vinegar and brines in this medium where i didn't have to worry about properly sterilizing jars or properly sealing them once filled or any of that *precise* stuff that comes with preservation. for *quick pickles* all you need is:

the vegetable(s) you are going to pickle

a jar with a lid (great chance to recycle jars from your pantry and cupboards)

vinegar (most often white, sometimes cider, depends on the pickle)

spices

so what pickles did i make? i made quickle versions of a basic dill pickle spear, and rick's picks windy city wasabeans and smokra. i have to give credit where credit is due, i am an honest pirate. but i'm also a pirate, and i am not about to pay $12 a jar for okra pickles, and so it was only a matter of time until i taught myself how to do it, sorry rick. i found a recipe for a quick pickle of okra using smoked paprika and inspired by rick's picks pickles. the brine deviated a bit from the specific ingredients in the rick's picks' version, so i used the amounts in the recipe as a quantity guideline and substituted with ingredients from the original smokra. i then went ahead and kept that as my base brine outline, and just swapped out all of the spices for the other two recipes. it's very much a matter of taste and trial. essentially, it's packing your jar with the clean ready vegetable(s) to be pickled, bringing 1 cup of vinegar with a combination of spices to a boil for about a minute, then pouring the hot brine over the vegetables into the jar. if the pickles are not covered compelety in liquid, then add water until they are. put the lid on the jar, close that puppy up, let it cool to room temperature and then stick it in the fridge. if your brine covers the pickles, most likely it will take 24 hours or less until you have perfect pickles. if you add water, it takes another 12-24 hours for the flavor to kick in.

smokra

in jar:

small fresh okra (i fit about 14 pieces into my jar)

2 dried chili peppers

brine:

1 cup cider vinegar

1-2 tbs smoked paprika

1 tbs sea salt

1 tsp mustard seed

1/2 -1 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2-1 tsp chili flakes

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp peppercorns

garlic - at least 2 cloves smashed up well

wasabeans

in jar:

fresh clean green and yellow beans

2 dried chili peppers

brine:

1 cup white vinegar

1/4 cup soy sauce

1-2 tbs wasabi powder

1 tbs ginger

1/2-1 tsp chili flakes

1 tsp peppercorns

garlic - at least 2 cloves smashed up well

dill spears

in jar:

quarter pickling cucumbers into spears, stand in jar

sprigs of fresh dill

3 cloves smashed garlic

brine:

1 cup white vinegar

6 cloves garlic (2 smashed well, 2 sliced, 2 chopped)

1 tbs sea salt

1 tbs mustard seed

1 tbs peppercorns

1 tsp tumeric

1 tsp cumin

chopped fresh dill

and, there you have it, quickles that will knock your socks off, are super fresh, super easy, super satisfying and super way less than $12 a jar.