Bounty of Pickles

[Rien]

I've jumped into middle eastern cooking with all burners blazing. One of my recent endeavors was to make batches of all the pickles in Claudia Roden's New Book of Middle Eastern Cooking. I often get home late and pickles, bread and/or rice, and some form of bean dish or dip/puree is probably my most frequent meal. Any additional sources of pickle ideas and personal favorites would be greatly appreciated.

However, as I polishing off all of these pickles, I'm left with a quandry: jars upon jars filled with brine. I don't want to pour it out. I've been using it as a dip for bread, as a topping for plain rice, or mixed with olive oil as a dressing for salad/vegetables, but this uses very little at a time. Are their other common uses? What is "traditionally" done with it? Is there a name for the brine?

Many thanks.

rien

[FoodMan]

Rien-

that sounds like a fun challenge, have you gone through all of them already? Keep us posted.

Unfortunatly, the only "traditiolnal" use I know of for the brine is to toss it away. However, maybe you can use it as a marinade.

Elie

[Rien]

Yep, I've made them all - walnut stuffed eggplant, red pepper flake and garlic stuffed eggplant, standard turnip pickles, cabbage and cauliflower, mixed vegetables, etc. My refrigerator looked like a laboratory or sample cabinet of pink hued flora from some foraging expedition.

I'm pretty shocked that people commonly throw it out rather than reuse it for pickling or putting it to some alternative use. With all the creative uses of products that we - i.e. rich world westerners - would normally throw out - stale bread comes to mind - I'm surprised their aren't unusual uses for this. I'll try to concoct some sort of marinade ... replacing white wine vinegar with this brine. The extra layers of flavor - and the magenta tone - might result in something interesting. If so, I'll report back.

Thanks,

rien

[Ore]

Make a savory sorbetto - very yummy - frozen slushy brine - very delicious - and also palate clensing!!

Ore

[boaziko]

If I would have been in your place, loaded with pickle juice, I'd try some kind of soup, with something to accompany the saltiness and acidity you already got.

could boil and reduce it with something sweet and see where it goes...

keep us in the know,

Boaziko

[buttercup]

Any additional sources of pickle ideas and personal favorites would be greatly appreciated.

←

New Food of Life by Batmanglij has some intersting pickle recipes.

If you are going full on into Middle Eastern cooking, persian Loobia Polow with Eggplant torshi is amazing!

Good luck.

[rickmartin]

Throw a few hard boiled eggs in the brine a few days for a tasty snack. You'll still throw most of it away, but at least you've given it a second chance. Also, makes a great chaser or mixer for substandard tequila.

RM

[Rien]

The savory sorbet idea sounds interesting. I'll consult my local "frozen delights" expert - I'm fortunate to have an ex-Chef friend with a quasi-obsession with gelato/sorbet/ice-cream/etc.

I've got a bunch of hard cooked eggs in one of the jars. A simple idea that I'm glad "rickmartin" reminded me of. I also used some for a version of gazpacho tweaked to emphasize it's middle eastern flair ... added some dill and garnished with toasted pine-nuts/chopped olives/chopped hard cooked eggs/and a drizzle of warmed oil with cumin. The brine blended in very well.

This weekend I'm using some in a mutant version of the classic French chicken with tarragon and vinegar. I'll omit the tarragon and incorporate dill and probably eggplant.

Thanks for the suggestions.

rien

[Varmint]

It's my understanding that Jacques-Imo's in New Orleans makes their fried chicken from birds that have soaked in pickle brine. The results are outstanding.