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Cheater’s Pickles
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- Total Time
- About 45 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- 2English cucumbers
- 2tablespoons sugar
- Handful of ice cubes
- ¼cup rice vinegar, Champagne vinegar, apple cider vinegar or distilled white vinegar
- Several pinches of flaky salt, such as Maldon
- Several grinds of black pepper, optional
- 2tablespoons snipped fresh dill, mint or chives, or a mixture, optional
- ½Vidalia onion, sliced into thin half-moons, optional
Preparation
- Step 1
Cut off the ends of the cucumbers and use the tines of a fork to draw long stripes down their lengths. Slice the cucumbers like bread-and-butter pickles, about ⅛-inch thick, and pile them into a large shallow bowl. Sprinkle the sugar over the cucumbers and stir in well. Scatter the ice cubes over the slices and cover the bowl loosely with plastic wrap. Chill in the freezer for ½ hour.
- Step 2
Drain the cucumbers in a colander and pat dry with a clean kitchen towel. Put the cucumbers back in the bowl, sprinkle the vinegar over them evenly, and stir well. Add the salt and pepper, if using, and stir well to combine. Toss in the herbs and the onions, if using. Refrigerate until ready to serve. They will still be good the next day, though not quite as crisp.
- Kirby or pickling cucumbers (which actually taste better) can be substituted, but they have more seeds than English cucumbers. If the cucumbers are seedy, cut them in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds with a spoon. Slice into half-moons.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
Just like the pickles my Jewish grandmother made in Brooklyn back in the day. They were -- and are -- terrific. Only difference: my grandmother would have had no time, and certainly no patience, for putting them in the freezer mid-process. Still wonderful. Just let 'em chill for a bit in the fridge.
I too have been making a pickle similar to this for years, though I leave out the freezing part (will try that next time) and the herbs (they truly are optional, use what herbs you like). I use rice vinegar, and if anyone in the house can't do sugar, Splenda or other sugar substitutes are fine. You can also add some finely chopped carrot to this if you want.
My grandmother, a farm wife and an excellent cook, made yet another version while she was making "real" pickles so that we could eat some pickles immediately. They are not for the faint of heart though. Simply, use 2 T salt instead of sugar. Of course, my grandmother did not use Maldon salt or champagne vinegar!
This is a very basic pickle recipe. It's like the first step of bread and butter pickles. "How was it developed by accident?"
I made these with salt, rather than sugar and chopped fresh chives. Superb. Incredibly crisp. Also a whole Vidalia onion.
Fascinating how the same recipe is described as Jewish, Japanese, Thai and farmhouse!I imagine the variations might be in the type of vinegar used. I did the freezing technique, but don't really think it is necessary. I used Cava (Spanish sparkling wine) vinegar and dried dill, since I didn't have fresh, and Kosher salt. They were delicious and still crunchy after a couple days in the fridge.
Also known as cucumber salad when my mother made it.
I often use the little Persian cucumbers, sliced about 1/8 inch thick. And when I eat the last of a jar of store-bought pickles, I save the juice in the jar and add my own well-washed and sliced cucumbers. Refrigerate for a day or so before eating. They seem to keep at least a couple of weeks in the fridge. I also do this with the pre-packaged "baby" carrots.
Freezing? Just try the old fashioned mix of rice vinegar, sugar, perhaps some water, and fresh chopped dill. Don't marinate too long if you want some crunch.
We routinely eat cucumbers in rice vinegar and I don't see that all this extra work of freezing etc added anything.
Another quick idea. Soak sliced carrots, onions, small bits cauliflower, zucchini, etc., in the liquid in a jar of pickled gardiniera for a couple days in the fridge. Add spices, sugar if you like. Veggies will only pickle on the outside and are a more sophisticated appetizer this way.
I think what the author meant was 'in addition to dill'. I too was puzzled at first.
This recipe is simiar to one in a cookbook by another of Savannah's iconic cooks, Sema Wilkes of Mrs. Wilkes Boarding House. Her recipe leaves off the dill and is served with sour cream after draining the cukes. I make her version often as a salad.
My grandma used to do this and I just made it yesterday, almost identical recipe ingredient-wise, but all I did was mix white wine vinegar, sugar, salt and chilled the cukes in this for 2 hrs. Scoring with fork and slicing 1/8 inch thick and then the ice bath is not something grandma ever did, and I'd bet the typical southern grandma didn't bother either. Thicker slices also result in cuke + pickle flavor.
Followed recipe as written and it turned out to be fabulous! I don’t know why but the ice in bowl in freezer does something a bit magical and the cucumbers are really crunchy. Also added 1/2 sweet onion with cucumbers and tossed in sugar.
If you have a nearby farm market, you might try this with the tiny (& relatively skinny) Kirby cukes which have far fewer seeds , if any. Kirby cukes are wonderfully crispy.
Not really pickles at all. Cucumber salad...meh.
So easy, so delicious! I didn't even have any fresh herbs on hand and they were just fine!
Almost the same as the traditional Norwegian agurksalat. Heat the sugar vinegar solution, pour over cucumber slices. Chill.
Made this as directed with dukes, onion and mix of fennel leaves, basil and mint. Repeated with left over string beans!
I add celery seed. It adds a nice flavor.
No need for plastic wrap..just cover loosely with a plate or some sort of lid.
The Jamaican way: no sugar and add diced Scotch bonnet pepper, slivers of carrot and onion. Eat with a nice piece of pear (avocado) and slices of hard-dough bread...and now I'm hungry.
Our family chopped peeled cucumbers (a pickling variety grown out back if possible) and tossed them with white vinegar, cooking oil, chopped white onion and chopped garlic. Salted them and left them on the counter all day to marinate and be occasionally snacked on. No chilling (or sugar) involved (I think it was handed down from pre-refrigeration days).
Try lime juice instead of vinegar.
I shy away from very sweet things. How would these be with just one tbsp of sugar?
Better. (Without the sugar)
Super easy! Questioned whether it needed the freezing and after reading notes I’ll skip that step. Added a bit more salt at the end before serving. Delicious!
I am a city girl just wading into pickling. This was a quick and easy pickle, followed the recipe exactly and so very happy with the result. The pickle was crisp-tasty and versatile in terms of working it into other meals. I was able to use utensils and ingredients easily at hand.This will be one of my go to recipes.
Whenever I have made a similar pickle I layer cucumbers & sprinkle with salt, any will do, build up layers of cucumber and salt, cover for an hour or two and then rinse well & drain. This process leeches out excess liquid from the cucumbers and make them crisper. Then proceed as described, minus the sugar .... way too sweet and no more salt needed! Dill & sweet onion are great additions though.
On our small Midwestern farm, my mother frequently made "fresh pickles" on warm summer mornings when she came in from harvesting the most recent garden vegetables. Wash and slice cucumbers still warm from the sun--scrape out the seed section if they had hidden under a big leaf and had gotten a little too big--and then layer in a bowl with some salt and a very little sugar sprinkled over. Pour over apple cider vinegar (the only kind we ever had), just enough to barely cover. Voila--pickles!
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