Dinosaur BBQ Garlic Dill Pickles


 
j biesinger

j biesinger

TVWBB Platinum Member
I can't recommend this book enough, and from the looks of the reviews on amazon (53/55 5 star reviews) most people will agree. You don't really need a bbq book, what you need is a book of sides, sauces, rubs, grilling dishes, quasi bbq dishes, things to do with bbq, etc. and this book excels in all areas.

for another recipe from this book, go here.

Garlic dill pickles

3-4 lbs of pickling cucumbers
1/4cup chopped garlic
2 jalapenos sliced
1/2cup chopped fresh dill

combine the following in a large saucepan and bring to a boil:

4 cups white vinegar
2 cups water
6 tbs kosher salt
1/2 cup sugar
5 heaping tbs of pickling spice
2 tbs mustard seed
2 tbs black peppercorns

let brine cool slightly, and pour over cukes/peppers/garlic/dill. refrigerate.

notes:

recipe calls for one week in the fridge, but they can begun to be eaten withing 24 without killing you.

Several people have mentioned that they were a bit on the sweet side, consider halving the sugar.

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If you put-up large batches of pickles, here's a little tip that can save you a lot of time scrubbing them / removing the "pickers":

Gently put them into your washing machine, and toss-in a few old towels (preferrably, terry-cloth). Omit the detergent, and run them through a gentle wash & rinse. (COLD wash / COLD rinse - Abort the "spin")

The fiction between the pickles themselves and the damp towels will knock the pickers loose, and the rinse cycle will drain them away.

Also note - I would not try this in a front-loader.

When I was younger, my parents and grand-parents did lots of canning. We used to put-up batches of about 40-50 quarts. "Store-bought" was a dirty word when it came to pickles and preserves.
 
I can attest to how good these pickles are and having never made refrigerator pickles how easy they are. The jalapenos get pickled too and are delicious by themselves.
 
Will they get mushy if I slice them into spears? I want to make some for a party on April 9th. Was planning on doing a test batch beforehand. Slicing before pickling would definitely make things easier but would they remain crisp if left in the brine for a week? Thanks for posting the recipe and for the advice.
 
These are excellent pickles. We just chunk up the cukes into 1" slices - they don't get mushy. The book is an excellent read, cover to cover.
 
Originally posted by Ron G.:
If you put-up large batches of pickles, here's a little tip that can save you a lot of time scrubbing them / removing the "pickers":

Gently put them into your washing machine, and toss-in a few old towels (preferrably, terry-cloth). Omit the detergent, and run them through a gentle wash & rinse. (COLD wash / COLD rinse - Abort the "spin")

The fiction between the pickles themselves and the damp towels will knock the pickers loose, and the rinse cycle will drain them away.

Also note - I would not try this in a front-loader.

When I was younger, my parents and grand-parents did lots of canning. We used to put-up batches of about 40-50 quarts. "Store-bought" was a dirty word when it came to pickles and preserves.
Click to expand...

Ok Ron, why not a front loader???
 
Another vote for both the book and the pickles. The book probably did more to improve the quality of food served in my house than anything else I can think of.
 
Because they are not "canned" in the traditional sense:

1)how long can they stay (unopened)in the fridge?

2)once that week is up, can they be moved out of the fridge (basement storage for example)?

3)how many quart jars does this make?
 
The book says that the pickles keep for "weeks" in the fridge. They are basically "refrigerator pickles" as far as I know so I wouldn't try storing them outside the fridge for a long time. It could be safe if the vinegar brine is sufficiently salty or acidic but my impression was that it was "mixed for tasty" rather than "mixed for safe".

3-4 pounds of cucumbers is basically a 3 quart or 3 liter basket, and you're making ~1.5 quarts of brine which fits around the cukes pretty well, so I think you're looking at either 3 or 4 quart jars.

For what it's worth they really don't spend much time in the fridge because they get eaten quickly. I cut the cukes into ~1/2 inch slices and they make mighty fine pickle-and-cheese-slice sandwiches
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I went down to the farmers market on Saturday here in Salisbury and got 3.66 lbs of cukes and my wife and i prepared these. I did reduce the sugar by about half the amount the book calls for, but that is the only adjustment we made to the recipe. When finished we ended up with 2 quart and 2 pint mason jars. I was supposed to wait until this Saturday but had to sneak a few today and these pickles are out of this world.

I think next time we may add some Vidalia onion slices and extra jalapeno pepper. I love the Dinosaur book my wife is fixing the Texas Dr.Pepper Cake this weekend can't wait.
 
I ended up making a batch of these, halving the sugar, and cutting them into half inch chips. I couldn't wait an entire week to try so I tried some after 2 days and they were good, and crispy!

My only concern was the pickling spice (I'm guessing the cloves) seemed a bit strong for my tastes. Does this die down with time or should I consider using a a tablespoon less next time I make these?
 
Just made these yesterday (1st time). Forgot the garlic if you can believe it. Added it this a.m. and will let it sit a day longer.

One thing I found: I measured out 4 lb of cukes. Exactly one pound would go in each 1 qt jar.

The problem (I had) was that the liquid amount in the recipe is perfect for THREE 1 qt jars.

Easy enough to mix up enough for the 4th (mix up 1/4 of the listed ingredients, boil it a bit, cool it a bit and pour it in the 4th jar.

The aroma from the opened jars (to add the garlic) was heavenly. Haven't tasted them yet though as IMO the garlic is soooo necessary.
 
The taste is wonderful. Wife thinks there's too much garlic (two cloves, sliced, per qt jar which is a lot LESS than 1/4 cup minced. I like 'em).

I used pickling vinegar instead of white vinegar (7% instead of 5% because it was about 5 years old).

Vinegar does not lose its strength over time. I still like 'em.

This recipe is a keeper for me.
 
After the pickles have been eaten (which doesn't take very long) I keep the pickle juice around and often use it whenever a recipe calls for lemon juice or vinegar. I usually filter out all the pickling spices etc.. but not always.
 
OK, that was interesting. Pickling cukes are available up here for about 3 weeks every year, and so far I've only made one batch each year and they don't last very long.

Picked up a big-*** jar of supermarket bread & butter pickles which were predictably soft and bland.

Inspired by this thread, I dumped out the liquid from the commercial pickles and replaced it with the leftover pickle juice from the last batch of this recipe. Even after a few minutes the pickles were much tastier. I put them back into the fridge, hopefully tomorrow will be even better.

EDIT -- wierd... I expected the taste to improve and it did. What I didn't expect was for the pickles to get their "crunch" back (maybe "crispness" is the right word). I don't really understand why that happened, but it's really good...
 
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