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Labor Day usually brings us together over a lot of food, much of it rich with lots of flavors. Bring some piquant zip to the spread with the lift of pickles. But not just dill spears or round, flabby sweet slices. No, I want to see displays that include several different types of pickles. Although they are fun to make, we have access to food from many cultures here, pickles included. So go round up some of your favorites and create an enticing display.
If you’re skeptical about featuring pickles, here are some ideas. You can use a few little bowls of different pickles and set them next to cheese, charcuterie, and crackers. Pickles are a natural here. If you’re planning on serving sandwiches or setting up a sandwich-making station, include a few types of pickles that will complement them. At the bar, offer picklebacks (aka whiskey or tequila shots) with pickle brine chasers. For cocktails, pickled green beans are the perfect accompaniment to a Bloody Mary. If you’re looking to get zonked on the holiday, dirty martinis with pickles instead of olives are bracing. Also, you can ask some of your guests to bring their favorite pickles. And since you have so many pickles now, use a bit of the brine in your favorite potato salad recipe.
To display the pickles on offer, I would use mason jars in a combination of sizes. Being able to see them will become a de facto decor since many are so colorful, and you’ll have a consistent look to the display. You can set up the jars in advance and close them up, bringing them out as needed. If you’re not sold on this idea, let me give you a few pickle pairing ideas.
Kimchi comes in many varieties. Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.
A few suggestions of what I would buy: A selection of lacto-fermented dill pickles. Langers ’ and Brent’s are both great, and they have half sours. Dills are available everywhere and in hot and garlic versions. Kaylin and Kaylin is a pickle specialist with a stall at the farmers market at 3rd and Fairfax. They have spicy pickles as well as mustard sweet and hots. There are many small pickle company wares in supermarkets. Sonoma Brinery is excellent. Get some good bread-and-butter chips and some gherkins too. I love the snap of gherkins, and they're good for people who don’t want to commit to a larger pickle portion.
Most Armenian, Russian, and Persian food markets have various pickles in bulk and in jars. If you’re lucky, you’ll find pickled garlic, beets, and chopped mixed vegetable pickles. All have a strong vinegar kick.
But not all pickles have a strong hit of vinegar. Japanese pickles are often more mild with complex flavors. Sugar is used for balance. I love pickled yellow radish, which comes whole in every Japanese market. But there is also pickled ginger, which is good with everything, and umeboshi plums for a delicious palate cleanser. Look in the pickle aisle of these stores and take a chance on something new.
Kimchi (or kimchee) is the king of pickled vegetable matter, in my opinion. The variety of preparations and types of vegetables used make putting together a selection easy. California Marketplace has a great selection as do most Korean markets. Look not just for cabbage kimchi, but the milder summer white radish version and the squares of chile-infused radish kimchi. Green onion kimchi is one of my obsessions.
I have a thing for quick vegetable pickles. If they are in my vicinity, they will get wiped out. Once a year, on Thanksgiving, I nibble throughout the evening on the vegetable pickles that one of our group always brings, and I end up taking home whatever is left over. Usually included in this elevated refrigerator pickle are carrots, fennel slices, cauliflower, green beans, and mushrooms. Eventually, I asked myself why I have to wait once a year to enjoy this treat, so I asked for the recipe, and my friend pointed me to Alice Waters' The Art of Simple Food . Buy the book. It’s great. But here’s the recipe . The brine is perfect and suits a wide variety of dense vegetables so you get a good crunch.
As for what to do with any leftover brine, well, pickle brine is liquid gold — it’s essentially a seasoned vinegar solution that’s absorbed the flavors of spices, herbs, and whatever vegetables were in it. You can think of it as an acidic seasoning that’s already balanced, salty, and complex. I think a glug of any kind of pickle brine in potato salad is a winner, for example. But you can use it in vinaigrettes in place of some or all of the vinegar. It’s great as a marinade for chicken or pork — pickle brine acts like a mild brine, tenderizing while adding flavor. You can deglaze a pan with it instead of wine. Splash into a hot pan to loosen brown bits, then finish with butter or cream for a tangy pan sauce. |
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