I'm Sure Gonna Miss You

Say It Ain't So

Manhattan's loss is Brooklyn's gain.

After 85 YEARS Guss' Pickles is leaving the LES

Can I take this moment to argue the case that we already have enough American Apparel stores?

If Loving You is Wrong...

I went to Hooters. They have fried pickles.



And just like everything else on the menu, they were excellent.
I was moved to express my feelings on a napkin.

Lit (Mandingo Pickles)

You know your crazy Uncle Randy? The one that drinks too much on the Fourth of July and "accidentally" lights firecrackers in the house? Well... I think he makes pickles now...


Mandingo Pickles are made in Owosso, Michigan by 3 guys who apparently spend their time kickin' ass-both in the field of motorcross and pickling. I don't know jack about the world of motorcross but I DO know a thing or two about pickles. These pickles come in 2 varieties- crazy GARLIC and crazy HOT.

The HOT pickles are bathed in crushed red pepper and who knows what else. The entire bottom 1/4 of the jar is bloody red and when you pull out a spear it has a slight reddish tint to it. I love HEAT, you know that, so I was thrilled when I ate these and they actually scared me a little bit. They seemed a bit like the result of a practical joke. Like a crazy uncle that would "spice up" a regular jar of pickles and then DARE you to eat them and then kick back in your dad's recliner with a Coors Light, while your dad gets all agitated that he's in HIS chair, and laugh at you while you eat them and then ask you to bring him another cold one.

Well, I love my crazy Uncle Randy and his pickles and I'd be happy to oblige him with another cold one and hey, use MY lighter for those bottle rockets!

Order your hot ones (or garlic ones) TODAY from the Mandingo Pickles website and get your uncle another beer while you're up.

Crocked, Part I

What the hell is that? you ask. That's my pickle crock with 4 lbs of cucumbers slowly fermenting during the day while I'm out making a hard earned living! What a dear, she is!

This is my first time to make pickles using the crock or fermentation method, but by all accounts it's probably the oldest method out there and so far it has been EASY EASY EASY! My one gallon crock holds about 4 lbs of cucumbers, which I lovingly and aggressively scrubbed in cold water and gently sliced off their ends.

Next I made my brine solution of 1/2 a gallon of bottled spring water, 1 cup of distilled white vinegar, and 1/3 cup of pickling salt. No cooking required, just mix until all the salt is completely dissolved. Then I placed half the cucumbers in the dry crock, added a big bunch of fresh dill, some garlic and a little crushed red pepper and then added half of my brine. I filled the rest of the crock with the remaining cucumbers and the rest of my brine, again adding garlic and pepper.



The pickles should float in the crock a little, if they don't, they are packed too tightly and there should be about an inch of brine covering the cucumbers once they are weighted down. You need to weigh them down to keep them submerged in the brine. I used a saucer that I "borrowed" from the diner across the street and an empty pickle jar (naturally) filled with water as my weight. Just place the plate on top of the cucumbers and then place the jar on top of the plate.

You can see here the inch or so of brine on the top. Cover the whole thing with a towel and leave in a stable, warm place for 3 weeks. On the third or fourth day you will have a lovely scum developing on your water surface. This means the fermentation is in process! Every morning I take a spoon and gently scrape off the scum... I admit, it looks a little gross but it smells WONDERFUL and I get over it in a hurry. I am sooo excited about these pickles. When they are ready you can just grab one right out of the crock, rinse it off and eat it or you can refidgerate them for use within a few weeks. But I hope, if these turn out to be as good as they smell, to be able to give them as gifts. Which means I will can them in the traditional water-bath process method.

You can get 1, 3 and 5 gallon crocks at The Brooklyn Kitchen (the 1 gallon crock is only $19.95) or you can order them online at www.leeners.com.

Farmer's Market: I've Come a Long Way, Baby

On the 4th of July I celebrated my freedom the best way I knew how-by making pickles.

My friend Bobby, in Jackson, MS, sent me a ceramic pickle crock a few months ago and I was finally ready to try it out. I needed 4 lbs of fresh cucumbers to fill my one gallon crock, so I set off for the farmer's market.

I guess I was expecting nothing more than a few tents, a step up from a parking lot full of trucks stacked with melons and 'maters like we have in Mississippi...Oh my god, I was blown away...this was a full flight of stairs UP. Fresh fruit, veggies, bread, cheeses, meats and even ice cream and sorbets. Not to mention all the flowers, potted plants and seedlings and even composted potting soil. I was seriously overwhelmed. I realized I was having a potential life changing moment when I found myself wanting to take home carrots...I've never eaten a carrot in my life, but look at these carrots!!!!

The farmer's market in Union Square is hardly a secret, it just took me awhile, ok 5 YEARS, to make it there and now that I've been, I'll be there every weekend, even if it's just to look and SMELL!

So, back to the task at hand. I needed pickle stuff. Most stands were selling Kirby cucumbers (perfect for pickling) at $2.00 a pound and a huge bunch of fresh dill was $1.50. My farmer gave me a dollar discount so I walked away with everything I needed for $8.50! I was so excited that I practically skipped back to my apartment and immediately got down to business. I'm so enthralled with the whole process of pickling, I'm going to try and do it every weekend this summer. I'm even going to go back and get those carrots and pickle them for my friend Randy, who always claims the best part of a jar of pickled jalapenos is the carrots.

If anyone out there has a pickle recipe for cucumbers, carrots, peppers or any veggie I'd love for you to share it!

Grocery Store Find: Poland's Finest

I can't walk into a grocery store and NOT look at the pickles...it's just a fact of my pickle discipline. So I was pleasantly surprised, when after 5 years of stalking the aisles of the Gristede's grocery store on 26th Street in Manhattan, I finally saw something NEW. And not only are they new, but they are also POLISH, Poland's Finest, they claim.

I took a jar home this past week and they are already gone. They aren't the best pickles in the world, but as far as store brands are concerned, they are better than average. They are very similar in flavor to the Gundelsheim Pickles I buy often but they are a bit smaller and have a crunchier texture. They also come in a very cool jar, which reminds me to share a link to a blog I just discovered called Food In Jars!

All in all, I am happy to see these pickles on my local grocer's shelf. I wish they were a little cheaper as they are a good "everyday pickle" for me. I practically ate my whole jar over the 4th of July weekend along with a big bag of Ruffles chips employing a Tackett family recipe for Pickle Sandwiches: a slice or bite of pickle in between 2 chips... Classic Tackett "cooking".

Getting Pickled

I'm no stranger to a pickle cocktail, in fact, if you call slurping pickle juice right out of the jar a "cocktail" then I'm having one right now!



But there are many ways to add a party to your pickle jar or just a pickle to your party.

Above is my standard, the classic Pickle Martini. I prefer McClure's Spicy Pickle Juice to really dirty up my martini. Since it's pretty common for me to have a jar on me, I just hand it over to my bartender and let them do the rest. This one was made by the lovely Rebecca at Teddy's in Williamsburg, which is conveniently located near The Bedford Cheese Shop where I stock up on pickles.

Below is a new discovery-the Cucumber Margarita. Over brunch at Alma, the much adored Mexican restaurant on Columbia Street, the cocktail menu was too enticing to pass up. I went with the Pineapple Vanilla Margarita and Charles had the Cucumber Margarita. It was cool and refreshing just like you'd imagine (and exactly how it LOOKS) but also had a slightly spicy kick due to a dash of homemade habanero sauce.



Is there a full fledged pickle margarita out there somewhere? Perhaps I need to infuse a bottle of tequila with a few spicy McClures and get to it myself! Regardless, there are plenty of ways to make getting pickled more pickled.

Pickle juice is great in martinis and bloody marys and I've even been known to "add a dash" of pickle juice to my beer. I find the spicy brine compliments most of the alcohol I'm drinking! So whether its a cocktail (pickle martini, margarita), a shot (The Delta), an eye opener (Bloody Mary), a dash (Wickles juice in your beer!) or just a slurp from the jar, I'm gettin' pickled one way or the other!