Classic Deli Dill-Pickled Cucumber Recipe
by James Cooper & Natalie Presten
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Easy
This is it. The bubbe pickle of Jewish deli culture. It’s the pickle that most people probably think of when you tell them you make pickles for a living. But here’s the thing. For the longest time, we steered clear of making them, especially commercially for Shedletskys. Why? Well, as a pickle that entirely relies on salt to preserve them, they are a little tricky to get right. Relying on a salt brine means that however carefully you sterilize things and keep your surfaces clean, sometimes things go wrong. In a commercial setting, this is a problem. You can get consistency by adding preservatives, but we didn’t want to do that in any of our products. So these incredible pickles remain an at-home treat for us.
Accuracy is critical if you want to give yourself the best chance of success with these pickles. That’s why we always suggest weighing the salt and water used here rather than relying on spoon measurements.
Ingredients for Classic Deli Dill-Pickled Cucumber
- 8 small Persian cucumbers (about 1 kg)
- 50g salt
- 3 garlic cloves, peeled and lightly crushed/minced
- 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
- 1 tablespoon yellow mustard seeds
- 1 teaspoon dill seeds (optional)
- 3 dried bay leaves
- 2cm strip of kombu (optional)
- 10g fresh dill fronds
- a large 2 litre preserving jar (or something that will comfortably accommodate the cucumbers with about 3cm/headroom)
- fermentation weight (or water-filled, sealable plastic sandwich bag)
Method for Classic Deli Dill-Pickled Cucumber
- Slice the bottoms and tops off the cucumbers and place in a large bowl. Fill with very cold water and add a few ice cubes to keep the cucumbers really cold while you prepare the brine. (Keeping the vegetables chilled helps to preserve their crunch later in the pickling process.)
- In a separate bowl, measure exactly 1 litre/4 cups (or 1 kg/21/4 lb. if using a digital scale) water from the tap. Add the salt and whisk vigorously until the salt is completely dissolved. Add the garlic, peppercorns, mustard seeds and dill seeds (if using) to the brine. Stir to distribute everything in the brine.
- Remove the cucumbers from their ice bath. Arrange in a large sterilized jar so they are standing on their ends. Add the bay leaves, kombu (if using) and dill fronds and carefully pour in the brine to cover. Make sure all of the spices go into the jar along with the brine.
- Weigh down the cucumbers so they are completely submerged using a fermentation weight or a water-fi lled, sealable plastic sandwich bag. Leave on the side until bubbles start to form – usually after a couple of days. At this point start testing the pickles. There should be a pleasant, slightly sour taste. This will develop further the longer you leave them. We like our pickles after about a week of fermentation, but feel free to experiment to your own taste.
- Once you are happy with how the pickles taste, pop them in the fridge to slow down the fermentation. They will continue to ferment, getting softer and more sour and will still be tasty up to 6 weeks after you made them. (We have had batches that are still delicious 3 months after we made them.)
- If at any point the pickles go mouldy or the brine becomes excessively cloudy, discard them and chalk the failed batch down to experience.
