Bread and Butter Pickles Recipe
by James Cooper & Natalie Presten
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Easy
A version of these pickles has been a Shedletskys staple since the earliest days of the business. And from our first ever market stall, we’ve been asked the same question: ‘Why are these called “bread and butter” pickles?’ We’ve always given the answer that they are a product of the Great Depression. The story goes that during the 1930s in the USA, people were so poor they often had sandwiches with just a smear of butter and a few of these pickles between two slices of bread.
These pickles – fairly unique in that the cucumbers are cooked for longer than normal in their brine – are tasty enough to be enjoyed in a sandwich on their own. But of course, they don’t have to be consumed so plainly. They are equally good with a burger, or in basically any sandwich. This brine and spice mix is fantastic and is the basis for many of the other recipes in this book.
Ingredients for Bread and Butter Pickles
- 700g cucumber (about 6 pickling cucumbers or a couple of ‘normal’ salad cucumbers)
- 20g salt (approximate amount – see recipe)
- 10g white sugar (approximate amount – see recipe)
- 1 white onion, halved and thinly sliced
Ingredients for Brine
- 500ml white vinegar
- 150g white sugar
- 75g plus 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- a thumb-sized piece of fresh turmeric root (use 10g of ground turmeric if fresh is unavailable), peeled and sliced into matchsticks
Ingredients for Bread and Butter Spice Mix
- 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
- 1/2 tablespoon cumin seeds
- 1/2 tablespoon coriander seeds
- pinch of whole cloves (about 3–4 cloves)
- 1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
- 3 cardamom pods
- 1 tablespoon yellow mustard seeds
Method for Bread and Butter Pickles
- Top and tail the cucumbers, then slice into 2–3 mm/1/8-inch rounds. Once all the cucumbers are chopped, weigh the resulting slices and make a note. Add 3% of the total weight of the cucumbers in salt and 1.5% in sugar.
- To calculate this, take the weight of cucumbers in grams and divide that by 100. Then multiple the resulting number by 3 and 1.5 to get the quantities of salt and sugar respectively. In our case, we ended up with 638 g of sliced cucumbers. So we added 19 g/3/4 oz. salt ((683÷100)x3=19.19 rounded down to 19) and 10 g/1/3 oz. of sugar ((683÷100)x1.5=9.6 rounded up to 10).
- Stir the salt and sugar into the cucumbers well. The vegetables should start to release some of their water while you do this. Cover and set aside for 2 hours.
- After a couple of hours, drain the cucumbers in a fi ne sieve/strainer. Rinse under cold running water and allow to drain in the sink while you prepare the hot brine.
- To make the brine, add the vinegar to a large saucepan and heat over a medium heat. Add both the sugars and stir to dissolve. Add the turmeric, along with the spice mix. If using ground turmeric, stir it into the brine now.
- Bring the brine to the boil. Once boiling, carefully add the cucumbers and onions and stir so they are all mixed together and submerged in the brine. Return to the boil and cook for 3–5 minutes until the cucumbers have darkened considerably and the onions are soft and yellow.
- Using a slotted spoon, transfer the vegetables to a sterilized jar. Bring the brine back to the boil and pour over the vegetables. Seal the jar and allow to cool completely before eating, or store in the fridge for up to one month.
