Piccalilli
(not a place where clowns go to die)
In spite of what you might think, piccalilli is not a place where clowns go to die. Nor is it a wonderful street in London where all manner of thrifty buys may be found (though that may, in fact, be the case). The piccalilli I'm referring to is a strange "traditional" mustard pickle concoction that grannies on both sides of the pond have been known to gleefully subject their unwitting relatives to.
I didn't always like mustard but I have come to really love my Gulden's (not allowed to buy it for a year...that is a huge hardship) and other mustards that have a real tangy whip to them so I thought this recipe sounded promising. I thought this one was a great recipe to end the canning season with; bright and colorful; great use of cauliflower; mustard tang.
Unfortunately I am scared of it. The cauliflower completely fell apart in the cooking process and the sauce smells like raw flour. (There's flour in the recipe, as a thickener.) Does it smell like raw flour because I used whole wheat instead of unbleached white? (I didn't have any white on hand.) I have ten pints of bright yellow wheaty vegetables. I know I should try them. Even though I'm sure the turmeric will dye my liver. I know that eventually I will have to try them. Because I made them and they will sit on my shelves taunting me.
So if anyone out there has tried piccalilli I beg you to report your opinions here. I was always suspicious of this recipe in the past because it has one of those quaint names that hides a hideous assortment of ingredients very much like "chow chow" which sounds a lot like dog treats but is, in fact, a relish that utilizes all of what's left over in the garden when the weather turns.
I have just discovered part of my difficulty. The recipe I really wanted to try was in a British preserving book called "Preserves" by Catherine Atkinson and Maggie Mayhew. I looked for something similar in the Ball Blue Book of Canning because most of the recipes in the "Preserves" book aren't processed in a boiling water bath at all. Something I'm a little afraid to do yet. So I made the mustard pickles from the Ball book which are very similar. However, it uses twice the flour and half the flavorings.
Damn. That makes me want to try one more time. British people all over the place are not dying from their own canning recipes and practices and I'm pretty sure that their recipes aren't secretly formulated to make only Americans sick.
Sometimes you just have to wait for things. I'm done canning for the year. I've tried lots of new recipes and have (so far) liked most of them. Perhaps my bright yellow flour soup will improve with time? Time to hang up the jar grabbers and plan for next year.
Would someone who's tried the real piccalilli please step up and tell me all about it so I can either dream about making it next year or just consign the whole piccalilli business back to my imagination where it is a strange place full of circus folk.
I didn't always like mustard but I have come to really love my Gulden's (not allowed to buy it for a year...that is a huge hardship) and other mustards that have a real tangy whip to them so I thought this recipe sounded promising. I thought this one was a great recipe to end the canning season with; bright and colorful; great use of cauliflower; mustard tang.
Unfortunately I am scared of it. The cauliflower completely fell apart in the cooking process and the sauce smells like raw flour. (There's flour in the recipe, as a thickener.) Does it smell like raw flour because I used whole wheat instead of unbleached white? (I didn't have any white on hand.) I have ten pints of bright yellow wheaty vegetables. I know I should try them. Even though I'm sure the turmeric will dye my liver. I know that eventually I will have to try them. Because I made them and they will sit on my shelves taunting me.
So if anyone out there has tried piccalilli I beg you to report your opinions here. I was always suspicious of this recipe in the past because it has one of those quaint names that hides a hideous assortment of ingredients very much like "chow chow" which sounds a lot like dog treats but is, in fact, a relish that utilizes all of what's left over in the garden when the weather turns.
I have just discovered part of my difficulty. The recipe I really wanted to try was in a British preserving book called "Preserves" by Catherine Atkinson and Maggie Mayhew. I looked for something similar in the Ball Blue Book of Canning because most of the recipes in the "Preserves" book aren't processed in a boiling water bath at all. Something I'm a little afraid to do yet. So I made the mustard pickles from the Ball book which are very similar. However, it uses twice the flour and half the flavorings.
Damn. That makes me want to try one more time. British people all over the place are not dying from their own canning recipes and practices and I'm pretty sure that their recipes aren't secretly formulated to make only Americans sick.
Sometimes you just have to wait for things. I'm done canning for the year. I've tried lots of new recipes and have (so far) liked most of them. Perhaps my bright yellow flour soup will improve with time? Time to hang up the jar grabbers and plan for next year.
Would someone who's tried the real piccalilli please step up and tell me all about it so I can either dream about making it next year or just consign the whole piccalilli business back to my imagination where it is a strange place full of circus folk.
Labels: canning, food, kitchen, piccalilli