Gordon's Living Site

Whole Pickles

I'm trying to make some pickles a little like those big, huge ones you can buy at the movie theater. This probably isn't it. But, it's going to come out well. I modified a pickling spice I found on the internet and ended up making waaaay too much. The extra will go into the frig and I'll be be making more pickles using it soon.

• Enough fresh cucumbers for six quart jars
• 8 c vinegar
• 12 c water
• 1 T salt for each quart jar
• 1/4 c pickling spice per jar

Pickling spice

• 1 T ground mustard
• 2 T ground allspice
• 3 tsp coriander
• 4 whole cloves, grind with mortar and pestle
• 2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 2 bay leaves, crumbled

combine pickling spice ingredients and add to 3 cups vinegar and 4 cups water. Bring to a boil. Take 1/4 c of this and add to each jar. Refrigerate remainder. Like I said, this is enough to last awhile.

Bring vinegar/water to a near boil and fill each quart jar to within 1 inch of top. Process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes.

Coca-Cola Baked Beans

This recipe was inspired by Root Beer Baked Beans in July 2010 issue of Bon Appetit Magazine. Since I didn't have root beer, this recipe became an inspiration for my own creation.

• 5-6 slices fried bacon
• 1 c chopped homegrown onion
• 6 small homegrown garlic cloves, diced
• about 2 lbs. dried pinto beans
• 3 T apple cider vinegar
• 1 generous T sorghum syrup
• 1 T chili powder
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 canned Coca-Cola

Rinse thoroughly and soak beans overnite.  Add all ingredients to beans. I placed this on my smoker for several hours. Normally this works to cook them slowly, but I had to use charcoal instead of wood and it never got hot enough. Finished them on the stove and worked fine.

Bread and Butter Pickles

Here goes another one. Found the original recipe on Recipezaar. It had a 5 star rating based on 60 reviews. That's darn good. Of course, I can't leave well enough alone so I modified it anyway. I'd had my cukes soaking overnight and this called for a different soak. Didn't want to do it again, so I skipped their step. Otherwise, I'm not far off from their recipe. Here's how it's done.

• Lots of homegrown cucumbers. This recipe made 15 pints.
• 4 c water
• 4 c white vinegar
• 4 c sugar
• 1 T turmeric
• 2 tsp celery seed
• 2 tsp dried mustard

Rinse cukes and let drain. Slice lengthwise and pack into quart and pint jars.

Combine water, vinegar, sugar, turmeric, celery seed and mustard. Bring to a boil for 2-3 minutes. Stir and make sure there are no chunks of spices floating around.

Pour liquid over cukes in jars. Wipe glass lip and put on your jar lids (that have been boiled, of course). Place in large pot, cover with water and boil for 10 minutes.

Store for about 3 weeks to allow flavors to mature.

Millionaire Brisket

Actually, 2 brisket, 2 ribs and 2 chickens. I'm using a recipe from the book BBQ USA by Steven Raichlen. AN excellent book with about 400 recipes. It's a good read, too, as he details a lot of BBQ places around the US.

I've upped the quantities for this cookout. I was still left with plenty for a whole chicken later on.

• 1/2 c kosher salt
• 1/2 c light brown sugar
• 1/2 c sweet paprika
• 4 T chili powder
• 4 T black pepper
• 2 T onion powder
• 2 T garlic powder
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 6-pack favorite craft beer, more if the day is hot.

Fire up the smoker and cook about 160-180. Chicken will be probably be done first. Check with a meat thermometer. I'm lacking firewood this time around, so I'll be using charcoal briquettes and adding some mesquite chips early on.

Forever Crisp Dill Pickles - first ones of the season

I can't believe it's been February since I last got around to making a post. Spring has been so busy I fell behind in the garden. I did a lot of mulching earlier this week so it is beginning to look better, but I don't think I'll get the production I was hoping for. More on that later. Here's the pickle recipe I found on cooks.com. They are I modified it slightly.

• about 4 lbs cucumbers
• 2 cloves homegrown garlic in each of 12 pint jars
• 1/8 tsp dill in each jar
• good pinch of freshly cracked black peppercorns per jar
• 1 small slice of homegrown jalepeno pepper per jar
• 5 c water
• 5 c apple cider vinegar
• 5 T salt

Soak fresh cucumbers in lightly salted water overnight. Rinse, pat dry and slice lengthwise. Those that were too long to fit into pint jars were cut to length and the all parts packed into jars.

Boil water, vinegar and salt. Pour over cucumbers in the jars. Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Let for three weeks before opening and enjoying.