Flash Pickles (Cool Stuff You Can Do with a Vacuum-Sealer, Part 1)

As much as I admire the commitment and delicious outcome of projects like Live Baconblogging! and the Romance of Canning, I lack the restraint required to prep, cook…and wait. I’m not a patient person when it comes to cooking projects. If I cook, I want to eat. I’ll cook all day, maybe even two days, as long as I get to eat the results as soon as the cooking part is over.

Inspired by culinary impatience, this Edible Cocktail and a yen to do more than vacuum-seal chicken breasts with my FoodSaver, I’ve been “flash pickling” all kinds of good stuff using little more than the marinator/tube accessories on the FoodSaver, and a few basic pickling recipes. In a few hours, I can make gorgeous, crisp-tender (if sometimes mouth-sucking tart) pickled okra, green beans, cauliflower with carrots and jalapeno, Jerusalem artichokes, beets, onions and chiles. (Flash-pickled "dilly" beans + Chris' legendary Bloody Mary's=a thing of beauty.)

One caution for the Darwin Award contenders: this is not a technique for jarred, put ‘em up pickles. You cannot make flash pickles, put them in a jar, store the jar in your pantry for six months, eat the pickles, and live. The pickles should be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container.

I’ve never done any true, old school pickling, so I can’t say how flash pickles differ from “quick pickles” (although it just sounds cooler) or how they compare to the real dill, but this process couldn’t be easier. Bonus: it doesn’t require boiling jars.

1. Clean and cut raw vegetables and pour into marinator box.

Notes on other veggies: I found that leaving the stem/cap on okra keeps the slime-factor down. For bigger veggies like beets and Jerusalem artichokes, cut into small/thin pieces, no more than about 1/2 inch thick.

2. Bring the vinegar solution and seasonings to a boil. Pour over vegetables.

The vinegar solution varies, and I’m still toying with recipes. I’d like to try doing Japanese tsukemono. ronnie_suburban also recommended The Joy of Pickling, and I’m hoping the pro-picklers—ahem, Cathy2—will add expertise on basic pickling formulas.

For okra, I use white vinegar and a little water, along with the seasonings. For the cauliflower medley, I used straight cider vinegar with seasonings, but it’s far too strong. (In the future, I’ll cut with water, and may use tarragon vinegar).  

3. Put on the lid and tube attachment. Hit the “canister” button.

One minor glitch in flash pickling in the marinator box: the veggies float to the top, so they’re not completely immersed in the vinegar solution. But I haven’t noticed any raw, un-pickled spots, so I’m not sure this makes a difference. The new FS has a “marinator” button that keeps sucking the air out at intervals, presumably helping the vinegar soak into the vegetable faster.

4. Refrigerate.
It can take as little as 3 hours to make a good, tart flash pickle, but never more than 24 hours, in my experience. It depends on the vegetable and the vinegar solution.

Pickled Cauliflower Medley
1 pound cauliflower, washed and broken into bite-size florets
1 large carrot, peeled and sliced into 1/2-inch rounds
2 jalapenos, washed, sliced into 1/2-inch rounds and seeded*
2 cloves garlic
2 bay leaves
2 cups cider vinegar
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 tsp. black peppercorn
1 tsp. celery seed
1 tsp. mustard seed
1 tsp. pickling salt

* If you like heat, don’t seed the jalapenos.

Pickled Okra
2 pounds small okra
2 cups white vinegar
1/2 cup water
2 tsp. pickling salt
1 tsp. dill seed
1 tsp. celery seed
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp. mustard seed
2 Thai chiles, sliced in half

p.s. I’m working on Cool Stuff You Can Do With a Vacuum-Sealer, Part 2: Sous vide. If anyone has a professional immersion heat circulator to donate to the cause, drop me a line me.

Comments

[ekb]

I made a quick pickle recipe for Thanksgiving in Kansas this year - -
Sliced radish - around 2 cups
pickling spice
fennel fronds
champagne vinegar around 3cups, enough to cover the radishes
sugar (1cup)
I cheapo pickling spice mix in the standard shorty spice container. you know - the one that's got a red topper and is about an inch and a half tall.

Boil vinegar with sugar and spice mix. Once boiling, douse the radishes with the liquid. Chill overnight, garnish with the fennel fronds.

IT'S PINK! And nicely spicy.

making split pea and ham soup from xmas pig right now