Dill Pickles
The ChefSteps dill method, with less sugar and considerably more dill and garlic. No bread and butter pickles here, ever.
- Serves
- 12
I make these the ChefSteps way and have changed three things about the seasoning. The method is theirs and it's a good one; go and read it if you want the reasoning behind the brine.
What I do differently, and why:
Less sugar. Their brine is balanced for a pickle you eat on its own. Mine goes beside smoked pork, so I want it sharper and I don't need the sweetness fighting a glaze.
More dill. Roughly double. Dill is the flavor I want, not a note in the background.
More garlic. Same reasoning. Smashed, not sliced, so it perfumes the brine without going bitter.
And a firm position: no bread and butter pickles. A sweet pickle beside barbecue is fighting the food rather than cutting it.
If it's not right
- Soft: blossom end left on, or the brine went on hot.
- Bland: more dill and more time, in that order.
- Too sharp: that's the point, but a little more sugar in the next batch is a reasonable answer.
Ingredients
Method
-
Wash the cucumbers and trim the blossom end off each one. That end carries an enzyme that softens pickles.
-
Pack them upright into jars with the dill and smashed garlic pushed in around them.
-
Make the brine and pour it over, covering everything.
-
Refrigerate. They're good at three days and better at a week.
Goes with
- Used in
- Crispy Pork Belly Tacos, Oven Pork Belly, Pork Belly Burnt Ends (Jalapeno Jelly & Miso), Pork Belly, Smoked Like a Brisket, Red-Braised Pork Belly, Twice-Cooked Pork Belly, Twice-Cooked Pork Belly for a Crowd, Carne en Salsa Roja, Cold Potato Salad
- Also good with
- The vinegars, and when to use which
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