Some of the best pickles I’ve ever had were in New Orleans. I know that sounds crazy but it’s so true. John and I ate at Cochon Butcher and I took one bite of the pickles and I think I blacked out. Nothing else mattered. It was at that moment I knew we had to purchase a jar of them and bring them home. I’m sure you may be wondering what in the world made them so yummy and to be honest, I don’t know. They were sweet yet at the same time a little tart. They were crunchy and just so tasty. I regret nothing.
All of that, almost a year later, got me thinking that I’ve never made pickles before. I remember my grandmother would always have jars of homemade pickles on the countertops when I was growing up. I wanted to try my hand at pickles but I wanted to be lazy about it so quick pickles it is! I always see folks making quick pickles but I never explored with it until recently and I’m so glad I finally experimented.
You can pretty much quick pickle any vegetable: onions, cucumbers, carrots, radishes, ginger, green beans – the list goes on. For my first attempt at a quick pickle, I decided to keep it simple with cucumbers and onions – ya know, the basics. Here’s how it all went down.
How to: quick pickles
What I liked about making my own pickles is that you can get pretty creative with the herbs and spices. I love that. Your pickles can adopt whatever flavor you like and that’s a beautiful thing. Not only are they versatile in flavor but they’re versatile in how you consume them. You can put them on sandwiches, serve with fried chicken or even put them in tacos – seriously you can do whatever your heart desires.
It’s just beautiful.
So for the onions, I decided to keep the flavors pretty mild and kind of traditional. I didn’t want to stray too far away from a flavor profile that I was familiar with. I used a blend of apple cider vinegar with spices (kosher salt, black pepper) and other flavors like garlic, rosemary and I threw in a little bit of fresh oregano at the end. Now for the cucumbers, I decided to do something a little different and use soy sauce as the base instead of a vinegar. THESE WERE SO GOOD.
Honestly, when they were done, I was just eating them out of the dish – one by one. They were that delicious. I can’t wait to quick pickle more things. I think I’ll try carrots and green beans next.
Ingredients
For the quick pickled red onions
- 1 small red onion, sliced
- 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
- Fresh rosemary & oregano, optional
Soy quick pickles
- 2 cucumbers, thinly sliced
- 2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- Black peppercorns
Instructions
Quick pickle red onions
- In a small saucepan, combine the vinegar, water, sugar, salt and black pepper and simmer over medium heat. Stir until the sugar and salt has dissolved. Remove from heat.
- Pack onions in a small jar along with the garlic. Carefully pour in the vinegar mixture then, if using, add in a few sprigs of rosemary and oregano. Let the jars cool at room temperature then store in the fridge. The flavors will get better as time goes on. If you're itching to get in there, you can try them after 24 hours. If you can be a bit more patient, I'd wait at least 48 hours.
Soy quick pickles
- Combine the cucumbers and the salt in a bowl and let it sit for 5 minutes. Drain then rinse the cucumbers.Toss together the cucumbers, rice vinegar, sugar, soy sauce and peppercorns. You can enjoy these immediately.
