I came home recently and found a package from my friend Brad. Brad lives in Florida but visits New York frequently to hobo around town and eat and drink. Earlier in the year he emailed me and said:
Did I tell you I started culinary school? And by "culinary school" I mean "community college." We have a culinary program here, and I managed to take the classes for free, so what the hell. It's pretty great. The chef is a crazy Hungarian guy in his late 60's who used to have a fancy-schmancy restaurant out near Seaside. He's a Vietnam vet and former Green Beret, so he yells a lot. The other day he critiqued one girl's dish by saying "Eet eez so bad, not even my dog would eet zhis! And my dog eez very big, with head like cow!" It was awesome. We also got to cut up a whole pig last week. We used a saw. We had to saw open the head and spoon out the brains. Again, awesome. So, yeah, anyway I'm trying to cook and eat more "real" food too. But I still plan on stopping by the Winn-Dixie deli to get some fried chicken and mac&cheese; for lunch today.
So, as you can see, Brad has taste I can trust. Not afraid of the high brow, but never too good for the low brow. I found in the package a small jar of Bread & Butter Pickles from a place in New Orleans called Cochon. I'd never heard of it before but I was just in Mississippi last week and several of my friends were familiar with it and made it a frequent stop on their trips to New Orleans. I googled it and immediately saw the draw... whole pigs, house made meats, moonshine and yes, they make their own pickles!
I've never really embraced Bread & Butter pickles before but since starting this blog, I've tried to really be open and thorough in my approach to ALL pickles...and hey, they were FREE. This approach is teaching me that I have a capacity for pickle appreciation waaaay beyond what I ever thought possible. The Cochon B & B pickles have a great fresh taste- pickle-y but with a tiny hint of cucumber taste lingering behind. The jar is packed with onions and coriander seeds too, which I love to bite down on. I went through most of the jar last night, just with a fork, as is my style, but Brad reports they are mighty tasty on a sammich. I believe him but I'm gonna need to try the Spicy Grilled Pork Ribs with Watermelon Pickle (for $9!!!!) myself! Hello head like cow!
The Ridiculous Food Society of Upstate New York
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7 comments:
you better finish these off...or I WILL!
That's Randy's favorite place. They shame almost everyone cause they do everything from the start. Nothing out of cans there.
Hey Ronzo!
If it's good enough for Randy then by god it's good enough for ANYONE. If Randy LOVES it...well, I need to get there fast. I wish I could move back to Oxford and not have to work and just pal around with everyone...any ideas on how to do that?
If you liked these pickles you should try mickles pickles from Picayune MS. They are yummy...sort of sweet, sour and garlicy. You will eat one and think they taste a bit odd, but then you will have to keep eating more and more...super yummy!!
I thought of you as I made broccoli pickles this weekend, not sure if I did it correctly in the "pickle realm" but I just mentioned you as my pickle inspiration on my last posting. I'm going to have to follow one of your recipes properly very soon!
Hi "Anonymous",
I HAVE had Mickles Pickles...it's a long story but I will post about it one of these days! I haven't had them in a couple of years, so I need to order more pickles to properly "remember" them!
I heard the Mickles Pickles sign was stolen....hope they got it back!
Thanks for the link Spice Doc!
I'm so glad you just set right out about Pickling with no regard for doing it "correctly"...that's the SPIRIT!!! I just bought a copy of "The Joy of Pickling"....OMG....I call it the BIBLE, and I read it every night before saying my pickle prayers!
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