A Salty Little Dog
Sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami—cultivating the sensation of taste
With Mommy and Daddy gone for five days, John and I had to reach deeper into our bag of tricks to entertain two little people. I knew they were watching too many episodes of Paw Patrol when Iris crawled around on her hands and knees, woofing, on getting up from her nap.
John gravitated to outdoor activities like raking leaves into big jumpable piles, and I resorted to kitchen activities to engage the precocious Kirk. Iris is more self-contained and content with peeling the skins off the onions since they are within her grasp in the lower kitchen cabinet. But Kirk needs constant oversight of his dynamic reach and imagination. He can get into trouble in a minute. What to do with him?
Aha! Kirk loves pickles—he has since he was a baby. He likes cucumbers, too, but mostly when they are made into crunchy, salty pickles. He also likes to eat Parmesan cheese by the spoonful, grind salt onto the counter, and then lick it up. He is cultivating his supertasting powers.
I found the last two pounds of Kirby cukes at the Idaho Falls farmers market and brought them home. I’m fond of the Once Upon a Chef recipe for Quick and Easy Refrigerator Pickles, and those little Kirbys were perfect.
The recipe calls for slicing the cucumbers in halves or spears, and I showed Kirk how to do that, but he figured out an easier way for himself—he just chunked them up. And that was fine. I got a little special knife for Lilah when she was three, and that doggie knife is now Kirk’s personal chef knife.
The recipe is easy enough for a child to make as long as an adult makes the hot brine on the stove. Everything else goes into two tall Mason jars. Kirk added the cut-up cukes and then stuffed in dill fronds, rubbed the skins off six cloves of garlic and cut them in half, and then added the coriander seeds and mustard seeds to the jars.
It wasn’t long before it was time to add cold water to the brine and pour the liquid over the contents of the jars. Mission accomplished!
Our next task was to plant the 16 cloves of Romanian Red garlic that I found at the Jackson Farmers Market at the Garlic Fete stand. Using the You Tube garlic planting video, we prepared the window boxes, lining them with newspaper and filling them with potting soil.
This was all fun for the kids and made the task go quickly. Nothing could be easier, if it works here in Wyoming. John has doubts, but he has been a garlic grower for a long time and prefers sowing the cloves into prepared soil in the garden. This is our experiment, and it gave the kids purpose for an hour on a chilly fall morning that may pay big dividends in the spring. I will keep you posted!
After planting our little garlic cribs, we topped them with leaves from the yard since we had no straw handy. They were all tucked in cozily, and then the leaf play could begin.
Soon it was time for naps—for the kids and the adults. Sweet dreams of garlic pickles danced in our heads.
Jenn Segal’s Quick and Easy Refrigerator Pickles (Adapted by Chef Kirk)
Kirk’s only change in the recipe was to omit the hot pepper flakes. See the original recipe right here on the Once Upon a Chef website.
1¼ cups distilled white vinegar (5% acidity)
3 tablespoons kosher salt
2 tablespoons sugar
2 cups cold water
1¾ to 2 pounds Kirby cucumbers (about 6), cut into halves or spears
2 tablespoons coriander seeds
6 large garlic cloves, peeled and halved
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
16 dill sprigs
Combine the vinegar, salt and sugar in a small non-reactive saucepan (such as stainless steel, glass, ceramic or teflon) over high heat. Whisk until the salt and sugar are dissolved. Transfer the liquid into a bowl and whisk in the cold water. Refrigerate brine until ready to use.
Stuff the cucumbers into two clean 1-quart jars. Add the coriander seeds, garlic cloves, mustard seeds, red pepper flakes, dill sprigs, and chilled brine into jars, dividing evenly. If necessary, add a bit of cold water to the jars until the brine covers the cucumbers. Cover and refrigerate about 24 hours, then serve. The pickles will keep in the refrigerator for up to one month.
Delightful!