I chose this recipe from BLACK MOON - Japanese Pickle Recipes for its simplicity. Basically, you just salt, press, rinse and eat. Here's how it went.
I started as soon as I got home from work yesterday - about 6:00. The directions say place cucumbers in pickle press, add 3 tsp. salt gradually, stirring with hands to mix well.
Clamp on the top. Leave under pressure for at least 10 hours or overnight.
I awoke this morning anxious to see how my tsukemono turned out. It was about 6 a.m., so about 12 hours later . . . small-kine longer than the instructions stated. The directions now say: Remove from press , place in colander and rinse well. I did exactly that, then grabbed a piece, cut off a small slice and bit into it . . .
Oh My Gaaaaawwwwdddd . . . AAAAAAKKKKKK . . . PTUI . . .PTUI . . .PTUI . . . it was soooooooo salty. I quickly spit it out. It tasted like I swallowed a mouthful of ocean water! So I bagged everything and took it to work with me to try to fix. I soaked the cucumbers in water for another couple of hours. That helped a lot, but all in all, it still remained a bit too salty. CQ and I decided I must've left it brining for too long.
Well, what can I say but, "Back to the drawing board!" At least it looked good for my picture . . .
especially with CQ doing the plating.
Look what I'm also trying. I found this recipe on Yasuko-san's Home Cooking where you dry your daikon before pickling. The actual pickling part of the recipe looks a bit too complicated, so I'm not too sure I'm gonna follow that portion. But for now I'm in the drying stage which is easy. It needs to dry for 2 weeks!! I leave it out in the sun all day and I bring it in at night. Today is only my second day.
In the meantime, I bought some eggplant today. I'll probably try and pickle them this weekend.
Oh, by the way, Wendell said the press was on sale at Marukai. It was about 18 bucks. Or you can just wait until I get tired of doing this, and I'll give you mine.
9 comments:
ok, this is one sample I don't mind missing...soooo funny! So, does CQ have a stash of Japanese dishes hidden in the office somewhere for the days you're gonna need some plating?
CQ is a great food arranger! So nice, just like in the food magazines.
Les, we DO have a bag of plating stuff that we're slowly adding to. You really didn't miss out on my tsukemono, but CQ did make a mean chazuke.
Erick, CQ is a very talented artist AND a great cook!
That's hilarious. I guess at least it looks good in pictures.. nice shots of the pickling process..too bad it didn't taste as it looked.
too bad the first batch was so salty...hope the rest turn out. saw the presses in the store and thought of you.
I was thinking you took the plating stuff to work along with your pickles for your photo shoot. The plating looks good! The pictures are great too!! Sorry your pickles didn't turn out like you wanted.
Shun Wah, my misadventures as a noncook . . .
Kat, I can't wait to try again.
Thanks Betty. I gave away most of the pickles. Hopefully people will be able to salvage them. What I have left I'm still soaking in water.
Les - Yup...i pull all this stuff out of a huge flowered rug-duffel bag that i carry with a talking-bird umbrella.
We go house to house and help starving children all around the island...
Erick - What so you call thoes people who arranges food for pictures as a living? Hummmm...?
Jalna - It wasnt THAT bad! After we soaked it for a few secon...uh, minu..er..hours, it tasted guud!
Post a Comment