Charcuterie_ The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing - Michael Ruhlman [138]
6. Serve warm, at room temperature, or chilled.
Yield: 10 servings
SWEET PICKLE CHIPS
These are a simple and excellent accompaniment to any meat sausage or rustic terrine—thickly sliced cucumber cooked in acid and spices to make sweet, sour, crunchy pickle chips.
1 pound/450 grams cucumbers, sliced into 1⁄4-inch/0.5-centimeter disks
1⁄4 pound/115 grams sliced white onions
3⁄4 cup/185 milliliters cider vinegar
1 1⁄2 teaspoons/8 grams kosher salt
1⁄4 teaspoon/2 grams mustard seeds
1 cup/225 grams sugar
1 teaspoon/4 grams celery seeds
1⁄2 cup plus 2 tablespoons/125 milliliters plus 30 milliliters white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon/4 grams allspice berries
1⁄2 teaspoon/2 grams ground turmeric
1. Combine the cucumbers, onions, cider vinegar, salt, mustard seeds, and 2 tablespoons/30 grams of the sugar in a large saucepan and bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat and simmer gently for 10 minutes. Drain (discard the liquid), and transfer to a jar or heatproof bowl.
2. Combine the remaining sugar, celery seeds, white wine vinegar, allspice, and turmeric in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat, then pour the hot mixture over the cucumbers and onions. Allow to cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate.
Yield: 1 quart/1 liter
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to acknowledge the many people who gave us time, information, wisdom, and/or support in the writing of this book.
Foremost, Maria Guarnaschelli, senior editor at W. W. Norton, as well as her former assistant, Erik Johnson, and her current assistant, Aaron Lammer; copy editor Judith Sutton; and our agent, Elizabeth Kaplan.
At the Culinary Institute of America, Michael Pardus provided spirited help with the chapter on salting; Richard Virgili discussed safety issues with us. Lyde Buchtenkirk-Biscardi helped us to find the origins of the techniques used in making emulsified sausages, and Fritz Sonnenschmidt was generous in discussing different methods for the emulsified sausage.
Harold McGee was unfailingly available to answer questions about the chemical and physical interactions of salt, water, and protein, as well as the secret lives of bacteria (“Can’t live with ’em, can’t live without ’em”) and other good and bad microorganisms, and safety issues regarding nitrites, nitrates, smoking, and dry-curing, often sending us information from industry publications we’d never have located on our own. Molly Stevens gave us a last-minute read that was very helpful.
Joseph Sebranek, a meat-science expert and professor at Iowa State University, helped with nitrite, nitrate, salt, and other dry-curing questions. Brian attended that university’s meat-science seminar and would like to express his gratitude to those in the meat laboratory there. Lynn Knipe, a professor at Ohio State University, was also helpful.
Armandino Batali of Salumi Artisan Cured Meats in Seattle, and Mark Buzzio, of Salumeria Biellese in Manhattan, were informative in their discussions of dry-curing.
Chef Eric Ziebold contributed to our ongoing discussions of sausage making.
Peter Kaminsky, author of Pig Perfect, helped with dry-cured ham information.
This book owes much to the good fortune of Brian’s position as a chef-instructor in the culinary arts program at Schoolcraft College in Livonia, Michigan. He thanks the administration there for the use of their extraordinary facilities; Bruce Konowalow, director of culinary arts, and his colleagues, for their ideas and support; and the many students who, wittingly or unwittingly, participated in recipe development and testing. Especially valuable were his sous-chefs there, Zak Kuczynski, Adam Shulte, and Justin Swain.
Brian also expresses enormous gratitude to the staff at his restaurant, Five Lakes Grill, especially Steve Grostick and Joel Vassallo, who worked harder at the restaurant