While hilarious, Portlandia was not my inspiration for my recent adventure. What inspired me to pickle? Two restaurants on the Westside.
Cafe Surfas home-made pickles (via Yelp)
Mendocino Farms home-made pickles, which make their tuna sammy KILLER (via TheMinty)
A few weeks ago after spending the day at the Kubrik exhibit at the LACMA with my boyfriend and I found ourselves at one of our favorite spots: Mendocino Farms. I decided to stray from my favorite combo, the Drunken Goat on a Highway, and try their tuna. What really struck me: the pickles! Weeks later, after discovering Cafe Surfas in Culver City another moment of pickled clarity- their standard side salad comes with an amazing balsamic, pretty edible orange "confetti" flowers, and...home-made pickles! Needless to say, I had to get in on this.
Hanging out with my buddy, Hal, at LACMA
A quick trip to Trader Joe's for the cucumbers (I bought 9 of the Persian variety) and a failed trip to Ralph's for some pickling spice (again, they fail me), and I was ready to tap dance my way around this project. I ended up adjusting a pickling spice recipe I found on the great wide web, keeping some of the most important ingredients present: allspice berries, cumin seeds, peppercorns, and a crushed cinnamon stick. The next important ingredient? Fresh dill, of course! Also making appearances are fresh garlic, kosher salt, and apple cider vinegar.
What really struck me was the smell of the apple cider vinegar when I was making the brine. The smell instantly reminded me of the pickles that inspired me in the first place, so I was really encouraged to wait the three whole days to reap the rewards.
I know you're all dying to know: how did they turn out? I cracked open the lid and if it didn't smell like fresh pickles! But you know...they're missing something. Was it the mustard seed? Is the brine not flavorful enough? Or maybe they haven't sat long enough. I suppose I'll just have to test the competition once or twice more in order to find out that missing ingredient.
Does anyone out there have a pickling recipe they swear by? Share!
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