Indian Butter Pickles

So over the last year or so I have been playing around with pickling and fermentation. Learning about pickling and fermentation takes time, study and of course experimentation. Seeing how I still work, have a family and other culinary hobbies this is going to take a very long time. What I lack in time I make up for in tenacity. I'm just beginning to understand all the basics and the Do's and Don'ts. I own several books on pickling and the creme de la creme on on fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz "The Art of Fermentation" Prior to these books I had a basic understanding of Hot Water Bath Canning, Pressure canning and canning in general. I even played around with sauces using a PH meter reader to ensure safety.

Like everyone else I started eating pickles as a kid. My first recollection of eating pickles takes me back to NYC on the corner of Essex and Delancey Street in New York City. That picture of the subway station is where my Mom and I would exit every weekend. Every weekend we would take the J train from Brooklyn to the lower East side of Manhattan to pay my Bubbe a visit. 

It was a weekend I always looked forward too. If you look closely we would exit the train station walk about 40 yards and turn right on to Delancey Street. Those pictures of course do not represent the time period I am talking about which would have been in the early 70's. After turning right on to Delancey Street there were a plethora of stores to accommodate our Jewish taste buds. Every stereotypical food was there to cherish, admire and buy. We had to walk from the subway station to my Bubbe's and along the way we always made a pit-stop at the pickle place on Delacney Street. When I say they had pickles I just don't mean Kosher Dills either. Everything was pickled. Besides the 15 plus barrels filled with everything they also had jars and jars. 

There's so many things to write about but I will keep this one short. We also paid homage to Katz's Deli which was located across the street from my Bubbe and Yonah Shimmel's Knish Bakery where I got my Black and White cookies from among other delicious things.

It's the middle of January and it's kind of hard to find cucumbers for pickling so I went with the English Cumbers for my butter pickles. Nice alternative for butter pickles.

While doing some research on pickling I came across a low pasteurization pickling approach and found this quite interesting. I wondered if I should use my Sous-Vide (Immersion Circulator aka IC) for this application. I checked with Chefsteps and low and behold they outline the whole process. My recipe is a modified version of theirs. Thanks Chefsteps!!!  Read Chef-Steps version here......





This is right from Chef-steps and I thought it was important to post here...... this is their work not mine. 
Again Thank you Chef-Steps

"Are these quick pickles really shelf stable? Can you ask your resident mathematician/food safety expert/all around nice guy Douglas Baldwin to explain?

Here's Douglas:

“Food pathogens don’t grow if it’s too hot or too cold, too acidic or too basic, too sugary, too salty, too spicy, too smoky, and so on. Pickle recipes are too acidic for pathogens. These recipes add acid; others use fermentation. While salt and sugar make it harder for pathogens to thrive, it’s the vinegar on its own that makes the pickles shelf stable. Since vinegar takes a while to kill the pathogens, we add a cooking step to make them safe right away.

“Distilled 5 percent white vinegar, at about 2.6 pH, is very acidic. Food pathogens can’t grow below 4.0 pH, and vinegar is 25 times more acidic than this. (The pH scale is logarithmic, so 3.0 pH is 10 times more acidic than 4.0 pH.) Cooking or pasteurizing the pickles kills the pathogens that can grow below 4.6 pH, and the vinegar in this recipe is 100 times more acidic than this. For taste and safety, our brines are 38 percent and 44 percent vinegar. So as the brine diffuses into the fruits and vegetables, it quickly acidifies them to below 4.0 pH, and so no food pathogens can grow. Since no food pathogens can grow, the pickles are safe to store in your cupboard.”

The following recipe is a guide line so add, subtract or concoct what every suits your taste buds. I would suggest not changing the Vinegar Water ratios for safety reasons. 

This recipe is estimated to work with 9 one quart Jars. Make sure the jars are clean thoroughly and you're using new seals. 

7 English Cumbers sliced on a Mandoline filled 9 jars. Using a mandoline ensures consistency too so use one if you have one on hand. 

Bring the following ingredients up to 140 f degrees. Whisk until dissolved.

2000 grams of Water (I use filtered water)

2000 grams of 5% White Vinegar or any vinegar that is at least 5%

300 grams of White Sugar Which equates to 7.5% of total weight of the Water and Vinegar

100 grams of Pickling or Canning Salt which equates to 2.5% (using Pickling or Canning salt dissolves into liquids easily). 

To Each Jar Add... or what ever you want.

A few Tejpatta Leaves (.4 grams)
1-2 Dried Kashmiri Chilly (2-3 grams)
1 tsp Kala Jeera (Black Cumin 2-2.5 grams)
2-3 Dry Curry Leaves (.15-.20 grams)
2 tsp Black Mustard Seeds (7 grams)
1tbsp Coriander (4-5 grams)
2 Long Chinese Pepper (2 grams)
1 tsp Whole Cloves (1 gram)
1 tsp Celery Seed (1 gram)
1-2 crushed garlic cloves
2-3 Slices of Jalapeno
2-4 Slices Multi Colored Sweet Peppers

  

Fill jars with half of the cucumber slices and give it a shake. Toss in the rest packing them fairly tight. Leave about 3/4 of an inch at the top and fill with the heated brine stopping a 1/2 inch from the top. 

This post is not not intended to instruct you on how to CAN so I would suggest you read up on the subject. 

Put lids on jars and twist until finger tip tight. If you put the lids on to firmly the air will not be able to escape and the jars could shatter or crack. 

Process using the Immersion Circulator at 145 f degrees for 2.5- 3 hours. Eat after about a week. 

http://www.instructables.com/id/Old-Fashioned-Fermented-Garlic-Dill-Pickles/