At the end of summer, the excess "cuc" crop was sliced, salted,
pickled, and put up in jars for the cold, lean months ahead. If you thought summer
Depression-era sandwiches sucked, it was much worse in winter, when you
couldn’t even find a bland vegetable to slap between your slices of buttered
bread.
I can just imagine what a treat it must have been to fill a
sandwich with these sweet crunchy coins, or "bread and butter pickles," as they came to be known. I’m sure it was a wonderful break from
what must have been a fairly flavorless existence. Happily, times are a bit
better now, and we only make these because they taste really good.
So, make a batch, experience a little piece of American
culinary history, and as you’re tossing them on that burger, think back to what
those days must have been like. I mean, especially with no YouTube! I hope you
give these bread & butter pickles a
try soon. Enjoy!
Ingredients for about 2 pints:
2 lbs pickling or other firm, little cucumbers
2 lbs pickling or other firm, little cucumbers
1/2 yellow onion, sliced
2 red jalapeno pepper, sliced
3 tbsp kosher salt
2 cups sugar
2 cups white distilled vinegar
1/4 cup water
1 tbsp mustard seeds
1 teaspoon celery seeds
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 tsp black peppercorns
2 cloves garlic, sliced
2 cloves garlic, sliced
61 comments:
Weirdly enough, although I don't particularly love cucumbers, and as an Italian I find butter + raw veg a weird combination, I LOVE a simple cucumber sandwich. I don't know why but it is delicious. But this seems amazing - exactly the kind of pickle I love.
The garlic isn't in the list of ingredients. Is it just one clove?
You're not going to like me for this but are the jalepeno chillis necessary
I used to make these every single year. My mother also made them. I grew up on them. Not sure what my grandmother thought (her being the depression era ancestor.)
A couple of years ago I was into the heat of my affair with lacto-fermenting everything. I tried to do the same with the BnBs. Ummm. Not my finest experiment. I think all the sugar gets eaten up by the bacteria and seems to soften the pickles too much. Last year I didn't do any at all.
You have inspired me. I do love these pickles and like so many recipes of this kind they just don't taste the same store-bought.
Oli, for me yes, for you, I'm not sure!
Julie, just added! 2 cloves.
Hey Chef John can't wait to try these, but did your grill break ? It's been almost 2 months since your last grill post and I'm dying over here to try another one of your fantastic BBQ recipes.
Hey!
I am not too kin on the sweeter pickles. Am I able to use half of it, or is it an integral part for this process to work?
Thanks for all the amazing recipes o/
I love canning -- I must try these!
Two questions: how many quarts does this particular recipe yield?
And, is there a variation for pickles that would end up less sweet?
That brine would work good for pickled eggs too. 3/4 less sugar though. Some of the simplest things are some of the best tasting.
Oh, I wanted to ask you Chef. Since these pickles are going to be in the fridge, is it necessary to sterilize the mason jars I am going to use or would soap and water followed by a rinse be sufficient? Thanks.
Ricardo, I'm not a sweet pickle person either. These are lightly sweet but yes, you certainly can cut down on the sugar. Actually I do. It will make them sharper which suits me well. You probably do want to put some sugar in. This is kind of a sweet sour sort of flavor. You would lose the breadth of flavor without some sugar (and this coming from a person who is on a very low sugar diet.)
Ricardo, I'm not a sweet pickle person either. These are lightly sweet but yes, you certainly can cut down on the sugar. Actually I do. It will make them sharper which suits me well. You probably do want to put some sugar in. This is kind of a sweet sour sort of flavor. You would lose the breadth of flavor without some sugar (and this coming from a person who is on a very low sugar diet.)
Yes, what he said! :)
I made these last night, my first attempt to make pickles. They are deliciously wonderful. Thanks again for another recipe that turned out perfectly. One note, it made more than you said, maybe because I added four hot (but not jalapeño) long yellow peppers. Mine made 3 1/2 pints. My thinking is that the peppers will be good as a condiment.
Just soap and water is fine! Enjoy!
If I were to make home made giardiniera vegetables (for Italian beef sandwiches) with the pickling technique, would you foresee any problems? I'd be using more heat then your bread & butter ensemble.
Out of curiosity, we ate bread and butter pickle sandwiches today for lunch. They were delicious. And they also made us feel like we were experiencing a part of American history. Thanks for the idea. Good recipe! Works decent with not so tender-skinned cucumbers too. Mine were bitter and very thick skinned, but still made delicious crunchy pickles!
Chef John, these pickles, mmmmmmmh.... they're just amazing! So crunchy and so delicious! Thank you for the recipe. Luckily, the Great Depression era is (hopefully forever) gone, but we still can enjoy the great pickles - and they're a part of history too.
P.S. I did not have celery seeds. I went for one celery stalk instead. Yum!
Chef John, this is so far the best best best pickle I ever had in my life. After the first batch, I ran to Canadian Tire and bought a dozen big jars to make more!!
So I just made these last night. They were pretty darn good. I found I could really taste the peppercorns, a bit too much so next time I'm going to reduce that a bit but otherwise it's pretty awesome!
Great recipe, thanks, I've tried it and it end up a terrific snack! Can you please advise how long it can be kept in a fridge (i.e. without hot-bath canning)?
The pickles were great lost a pint to a family picnic. The brine seemed too good to throw away so I'm trying a trick I learned from my mother I added two cans of sliced beets to the brine after the pickles were gone hopefully in a week or two I'll have a nice retread. Thanks for a great receipe.
Hi Chef John, I live in Costa Rica and I can't find any other salt that's not iodized table salt or sea salt, could i still make these maybe with just less salt?
Sea salt will work! Salt is basically salt in this recipe. They all taste the same.
is there a substitute for ciliary seeds
You are such a great chef. Thanks for sharing wonderful recipes.
Closest to my Grandma's recipe. She added raisins to her pickles and they are delish with that little bit of sweetness.
My Grandma made these every year and I love them. She would put part of a cinnamon stick in each jar which seemed to make them even better.
I want to make these but I'm not sure for how long will they last, either if they are in the fridge or outside.
One of the beauties of pickles is their shelf life. If you want to keep them outside the fridge, you'll have to process them in a canning jar, sealed in an airtight fashion. You can find "how-to" videos on YouTube. If you keep them in the fridge, the canning process can be skipped--they'll keep for at least a month, probably a lot longer. I have some I made 3 months ago, & they're still good. Salt & vinegar are powerful preservatives.
Love this recipe. Just made two batches!
They look as good as they taste!
So pretty!
Thank you!
Chef, I hope you are still monitoring this thread. I made these pickles and we love them. The crunch, sweetness, and tartness is exactly right for us! Do you have a recipe for dill pickles made this way or can you suggest how to modify this recipe for dill? We have many cucumbers every year and I hate water-bath canning! This recipe is easy enough that I can make a batch in an evening, I love it! Thanks!!
Hello, nevermind, I found a bunch of the refridge dill pickle recipes on allrecipes.com, trying one now, thanks for your great videos!
So if the bottle is sterilized and sealed can store out of the refrigerator?
any alternative to celery & mustard seeds?
any alternatiive to celery& mustard seed ?
Sooooo doing this ... however I will be reducing the sugar ingredient to 1 cup this seems logical as I'm much too sweet as it is ... oh !! I will also try using the pickling Jus in my ceasar's ...
These turned out wonderful, though I liked the second batch without the onions better. One caution, use a stainless spoon, the brine will stain anything else a bright yellow.
I was bon on 8-20-1929.America went to hell.
People today have NO clue what we ate to survive then. They really do NOT want to know.
I love your recipes but one thing that I noticed is there is no step by step directions nor is there a print function. I this something that can be added?
Thank You
bigfrank49
Chef John, thank you for this recipe. Tried it and loved it.
Hello Chef John,
Just made these pickles came out great.BTW played with the vinegar, tried all white, half apple half white and all apple, should of listen to you and use all white much better.
I was going to ask you what to do with leftover juice but tried something, took 3 slices of salmon and cooked for 20 minutes, tasted wasn't bad let it sit for 2-3 days and it absorbed the pickle flavor was much better.
Any other idea with juice?
Thank you
OH my Gosh!
Just made my 3rd batch since finding this recipe. I cut down the sugar to 1 1/4 cups because my husband doesn't like really sweet things and this made it perfect for him.
Thanks Chef John...they're terrific!!!
Have pickles in my garden and did this last year. Almost forgot about it! Will do it again this year. Next year, will be sure to grow the right pickles though. Have slicing cucumbers right now but they worked for this recipe last year so, will do it again this time just so that I have some!
bjr
Have a question Chef!
I used 27 pounds of Marketmore 76 variety cucumbers for this recipe. I did this yesterday! Shocking! Hard to believe I actually did this, but I did! I have a good deal of liquid from this batch left and harvested, just this morning, more of these same veggies. Can I use the liquid from yesterday to process these cucumbers or do I have to begin all over again? This would be an expensive proposition for me as am I am just about out of ingredients.
bjr
What happened to the rest of the instructions on the bread and butter pickles it ended with ingredients???
Chef I just made your Bread and Butter Pickles and they are wonderful! Thank you so much for such an easy and fabulous recipe ❤️
Just made these! They turned out great and were easy to make. Thanks!
Amazingly easy! Taste great & am looking forward to sharing at Thanksgiving! Thanks for a great recipe!
Great technique turned out flawless pickles! Of course, I made some changes in the ingredients, using mustard seed, coriander seed, celery see, star anise and bay leaves– and fresh turmeric, no chiles.
Because I am the Chris Pine of my Brine.
BTW, I've found that leftover pickle brine is really an infused vinegar by another mother. I strain is and keep it refrigerated, although I imagine you could pasteurize at 150∘. Great for salad dressing, or to brighten up a pot of beans. I've never tried pickle-brined chicken, but I do splash a little on grilled chicken thighs.
Made the pickles. Packed them into the jar. Most of the pickling juice was left over. Could the remaining pickling juice be used for a second batch?
And the pickles are superb! Thank you for being you!!!
Hi Chef John, could i can these pickles? At which step would I do that? I would assume the basic processing time is around 10 minutes similar to other recipes I've seen. Thanks!
Oh for Dog’s sake people, they will last in the refrigerator until they are no longer good. They will last out of the refrigerator until they are no longer good. Don’t y’all check your food before you eat it? A simple sniff will tell you. Country girl here who uses common sense. Just sniff! And look! Mold? Not good. Smells bad? Not good. Tastes funny? Not good. Easy!
Google sent me some ads for depression medication after this. Thanks to the pickles, my depression lifted. Don't need the pills now!
Chef John, I've been looking for the best bread & butter pickle recipe and a lot of them are not as good as yours. This is the best I tried so far. I harvest a lot of cucumbers and I have no idea what to do with them. I love Bread & Butter pickles and I tried your recipe and came out better than the store bought. Thank you for this recipe.
I've made these with both Kirby and Persian cucumbers, and the Persians give the best results by far. They seem to be most easily available in supermarkets as cello-packed mini cucumbers, and are very expensive. I've been able to find larger Persians at local farm stands, and they're great. Kirby's are best for fermented or salt-cured pickles where they retain their snap.
i jusy made these, they are good but the flavor is very intensive
These were so good.
There are a handful of recipes I have that feel like cheat codes for life, where a small number of easily-sourced ingredients plus not a lot of work equals shockingly delicious food. This is one of those recipes now.
(Chef John, I've been watching your videos and making your stuff for a while now, and I've never had a non-tasty result - but this was the one that finally made me think, "Dang, it's about time I at least THANKED this dude for the work he does. So thank you!)
Chef John if I wanted to water bath these what is the time frame for the water bath thanks so much
Chef John if I chose to water bath these how long is the time For the water bath
Post a Comment