[CH] more pickling notes

Alex Silbajoris (72163.1353@compuserve.com)
Mon, 25 Oct 1999 11:00:23 -0400 

Pods,

Thanks for the feedback on dried ingredients for pickling.  I'm still in
the process of pickling peppers; yesterday I made an end-of-garden mix of
every available color and shape of pepper.  I still need to make a green
salsa from the green tomatoes and immature habs.  

I opened a jar of the mixed vegetables from October 18.  The cauliflower
and carrots have lost their crispness, but the balance of flavors in the
brine is just about where I want it.  That mix has cherry peppers and
serranos in it, cut lengthwise.  Together they put a very moderate heat
into the mix; for me it's hardly noticeable at first although it just seems
to pick up a little glow after a few minutes.  I suppose people will taste
it, pause for a monent, and say it's spicy.

The dry ingredients are whole-seed coriander, cumin, allspice, fennel,
mustard and peppercorn, briefly abused in the little spice grinder but not
ground to powder.  Each jar got two bay leaves - a lot more than most
recipes I've seen, but I like that grassy flavor of bay leaf anyway.  

Yesterday I tried toasting the whole seeds before grinding.  I showed Linda
the way they begin to hiss and pop in the dry skillet.  Later in the
evening, Emeril Legasse's show was on curries, and there he was with
closeup shots of spices hissing and popping in his skillet.  But I took
mine off immediately, while he kept his on low heat for another few
minutes.  I'll have to try it that way next time.

We've gone a little crazy with the holiday decorations around here.  As I
type, my window is filled with a black-and-white silhouette of a werewolf
straining at his chains.  I'd better take it down right after the holiday,
or else my neighbors might think I'm into furry BDSM.  The other room has a
witch stirring a cauldron.  Unfortunately, both of her hands are on the
ladle - if she had one hand free over the pot, I would have drawn in a fat
pepper dropping into the mix.

     Alex Silbajoris  72163.1353@compuserve.com
     Double, double, toil and trouble
     fire burn and cauldron bubble.
     Wrinkled habs from deadly vine
     fall into the steaming brine.
     Jalapenos red and green,
     Fresno's glow and Datil's sting,
     running from the hand of frost
     into heat of fire are lost.
     Tiny tepin, busty bell,
     simmer in this broth of hell.
     Here within the pot, immodest,
     Peter Pepper finds the Goddess.
     Fillet of a big New Mex
     swims with coriander flecks.
     Behold the skinless Stinking Rose,
     quick!  Into the pot it goes!
     Seedy bits of trimmed placentas
     making people pick their dentures,
     dried-out scraps of the BREAD rinds
     make them curse their own behinds.
     Cover then this mix obscene
     (making sure the rim is clean);
     bind it down with gleaming bands,
     still too hot to touch with hands.
     Up onto the shelf it goes,
     adding to some hotluck's woes.