Jun 23 Quick Pickled Cucumber

• 4 or 5 pickling cucumbers, thinly sliced
• 1/4 medium onion, thinly sliced
• cold water
• kosher salt
• white wine vinegar
• one clove garlic, cut in half lengthwise
• 3 or four sprigs fresh dill, chopped
• fresh ground black pepper to taste
• 1 teaspoon whole mustard seed

This is a dish I have never eaten or seen outside of my family. It’s entirely possible that there are parts of the country where it is fairly commonly eaten, but I have not come across them. To me, this is a food that evokes summertime whenever I make it. It brings back memories of family picnics and outings that seemed to invariably be accompanied by a batch of these cucumbers. This is perhaps not the exact recipe we ate growing up, but it is the version I like to make, and one very reminiscent of the original.

Conceptually, these cucumbers are prepared very similarly to traditional quick-process pickles, but they are eaten right away instead of being canned and processed. The result is something with all the freshness of a raw cucumber, but some of the flavor of a pickle.

As in my mother’s and grandmother’s kitchens, the quantities here aren’t exact. You have to taste as you go along to get it right, and because these aren’t being canned, chemical precision is much less important than taste.

First, soak the cucumber and onion in cold salted water for an hour or longer. I taste the water to get the amount of salt right. It should taste salty, but not so much so that it burns or gags.

Next, drain the cucumbers and onions, and add them to a solution of vinegar and cold water (just enough to cover them), along with the remaining ingredients. Several pickle recipes call for half vinegar and half water, so that can be a starting point, but you may add more of one or the other to suite your own preference.

Taste the cucumbers and adjust the salt and other seasonings accordingly. These pickles may be kept refrigerated for several days.