Quick Kosker Dill Pickles

Love them or hate them, Mrs. Wages canning mixes have been around for a while and many first time canners have used them and many continue to do so throughout their years of canning. For the most part, the Mrs. Wages pasta and salsa mixes tend to be stronger or bolder than I like. On the rare occasion in which my wife bought some on clearance at our local Walmart, I actually doubled the amount of tomatoes called for in the recipe and found that the taste was acceptable. While doubling the amount of tomatoes made the mix more economical, I still prefer to use my own pasta and salsa recipes.

The two products of Mrs. Wages that my wife purchased on clearance that I do like are the 'Kosher Dill Pickles' and 'Bread And Butter Pickles' mixes. The thing that kinda gets me with these mixes though is that they cost somewhere between $2.50 to $3.50 (depending on where you shop) for approximately ¾ cup (6.5 ounces) of mix that contains: salt, turmeric, dehydrated garlic, citric acid and maltodextrin. Personally I think this is ridiculous when you can make your own Mrs. Wages style Kosher Dill Pickles mix for less then $0.50. I call them 'Kosher' style, because the mix sold by Mrs. Wages is not kosher approved (the package does not have the kosher seal on it). To make kosher dill pickles you have to use kosher salt (See Chef's Note regarding kosher salt).

The Recipe

Although I liked the Mrs. Wages pickling mixes, I knew that I could make my own brine that had almost the exact same taste for a whole lot cheaper, and I think I have succeeded. My version of Quick kosher style pickles are easy and quick to make using my recipe which I based on the flavor and liquid amounts as used by the Mrs. Wages Kosher Dill Mix (actually I could not tell the difference when compared side-by-side). If you like this particular pre-made mix, then you will love making kosher dills with this recipe.

Mrs. Wages Kosher Dill Clone (Makes 7 Quarts)

7 ½ cups water

3 ½ cups vinegar (5% acidity)

½ cup pickling salt

1 tablespoon minced garlic

2 teaspoons pickling spice

1 teaspoon dried dill

1/8 teaspoon turmeric

1/8 dried mustard (See Chef's Note)

Add enough water to your boiling water canner to cover the jars by three inches that you will be canning the cucumbers in. And turn on high to bring to a boil. While the water is heating start by making your brine.

Combine water, vinegar, garlic, and turmeric in a large stockpot. Place the dried dill and pickling spice in a cheesecloth and tie tight making a sachet (spice bag) and throw it into the stockpot with the remaining ingredients. Bring the liquid to a boil and reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes to allow the spices to cook releasing their flavors into the liquid.

Wash cucumbers and drain, then cut off the blossom ends. If making hamburger dills, cut the cucumbers into ¼-inch slices. If making spears then cut lengthwise and quarter as necessary to fit into your jars of choice.

Chef's Note: I know Mrs. Wages uses 7 1/3 cups of water and 3 1/3 cups vinegar, but rounding the amount of liquids to ½ cup makes it easier. The ratio of water to vinegar is the same and there is no noticeable taste difference. If you do not wish to put mustard seed in your individual jars then add then add 1/8 teaspoon ground mustard to your brine. Personally I like the look of having the individual mustard seeds in each jar.

Pack cucumbers into hot jars leaving ½inch headspace. Add 1/4 teaspoon mustard seed per pint, 1/2 teaspoon per quart and pickle crisp if desired per the package instructions. Remove air bubbles and adjust two-piece caps. Process both pints and quarts in a water bath canner for 15 minutes.

Chef's Note: If you want true kosher pickles, then you need to use kosher salt instead of pickling salt. Kosher salt can be safely used in place of pickling salt, however you need to make sure that the kosher salt you use has no additives or anti-caking agents as they make cause the brine to darken and become cloudy.

Pickling Spice Recipe

Pickling spice comes in a wide variety of flavors and brands. If you do not have any pickling spice on hand and you have the necessary spices, you can make your own. I have included a basic pickling spice recipe for you just in case you do not have any or simply run out and what to make your own pickling spice mix.

2 tablespoons mustard seeds

2 tablespoons coriander seeds

1 tablespoon allspice berries

1 tablespoon black peppercorns

1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

2 teaspoons dill seed

1-2 bay leaves, crumbled

Combine all the ingredients together in a small container and mix throughly. Use as directed by your individual recipe.

Conclusion

I hope you will enjoy making and using my simple kosher dill style pickle recipe. If you have used Mrs. Wages in the past, you can save 80% or more by making your own brine with the items you have in your pantry. After all isn't that part of the reason you grew a garden anyway to save money and supply your family with a ready supply of nutritious and delicious canned products? This recipe is quick, simple and easy to make and I hope that you and your family will enjoy making and eating these quick and easy kosher style pickles, I know mine does. As always, if you have enjoyed this article, please share it with your friends and don't forget to send us a friend request on Facebook and Google+ so that you will not miss out on any of our new articles.

Other Related Articles On Our Blog.

Canning Basics: A Step-By-Step Guide

To Pressure Or Not To Pressure: That Is The Question.


References:

Ball Blue Book Guide To Preserving (2011)

USDA Complete Guide To Home Canning, Guide 06: Preparing and Canning Fermented Food and Pickles. Revised 2015.

Grandma's Barbecue Beef Sandwich

We all have those specific foods that make us think of home and bring us back to better days. Foods that we grew up with, foods that give us comfort. No matter your age, cultural background, or the country in which you are born, we all have those specific foods that make us think of loved ones. For me it is my grandmother's barbecue beef sandwiches. My grandparents owned both a small country store in a small town called Etoile in East Texas, as well as a café and pool hall on highway 103 in Lufkin, Texas. Twice when my father was stationed in Korea during his 22 years in the Air Force we lived for a year each time with my grandparents.

One of the things that my grandmother served at her café was barbecue beef sandwiches. I remember watching her cook the beef all day along with the sauce just to get it ready for the restaurant. One summer when my father was overseas I think I ate her barbecue almost everyday at the café. It is still the food that brings back childhood memories of my grandparents who are now deceased. Many years back when my grandmother died, my mother found the index card that contained her original barbecue beef sandwich recipe and made a photocopy and send it to me.

Every time I make this barbecue I think of the goods times we had when we lived with my grandparents, and that no matter how many days in a row I ate this barbecue I never got tired of it. But that's how kids are, they get stuck on such foods and want to eat them constantly. For my grandkids it was chicken tenders, for me it was grandma's barbecue. In this article, I will share with you my grandmother's barbecue recipe for 'Chipped Barbecue Beef'. It is not a traditional barbecue sandwich as it is made with cheaper roast or beef stew meat as opposed to more expensive beef brisket, but the bold tangy sauce has made it a favorite among my family, and it is requested often.

The Meat

Back in the East Texas country where my grandmother lived, there were no barbecue joints. Etoile was a town of 300 people so brisket was not something that was readily available and I will be honest I never really knew what it was when I was growing up. For us barbecue was made from roast or beef stew meat (roast trimmings). My grandmother could get beef stew meat relatively cheaply from their meat supplier for her country store, so that was the meat of choice.

The Recipe

3 – 4lbs beef stew meat or roast cubed

2 (29 ounce cans) crushed tomatoes

1 cup white vinegar

¼ cup Worcestershire sauce

¼ cup sugar

5 cloves garlic, minced

2 medium onions, diced (enough for 2 cups)

2 tablespoons dry mustard

1 tablespoon salt

2 teaspoon chili powder

2 teaspoons black pepper

Dice onions and combine in batches with crushed tomatoes in your blender and puree until the two have been thoroughly combined. Then add them to a large Dutch oven with the other ingredients (except the beef) and cook until the sauce thickens (Reduce the sauce by about 1/4 of it's original volume). 

Once the beef is cooked, and shredded, then add the thickened sauce to your beef until you get the consistency that you like. My experience has been that I generally have about 1/3 cup more sauce than I need. I simply place it in the refrigerator and use it for something else, but grandma simply added the beef straight to the sauce. As I was quite young at the time, I never really learned to make the recipe from her, at eight years of age my focus was more on “is it done yet grandma” as opposed to learning the particular steps. So I thicken my sauce to my preference and simply add the sauce until it suits my particular taste. If I have a little left over no big deal.

Chef's Notes: While my grandmother boiled her beef for hours, I prefer to use my pressure cooker to cook the beef as it is a whole lot faster. Below I have included instructions on how to cook the beef using either method.

Stove Top Method For Cooking Beef

Trim the beef stew meat or roast of any extra fat and then cube (makes shredding the beef easier). Then place the beef in a Dutch oven or large stock pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer the meat until it is fork tender. When the beef is done to your satisfaction, then drain the water off the meat then shred with a fork or other utensil and add the sauce.

Pressure Cooker Method

Trim the beef stew meat or roast of any extra fat and then cube (makes shredding the beef easier). Then add the cubed beef and 1 ½ cups of water to your pressure cooker and process for 60 minutes at 15lbs of pressure if using a traditional pressure cooker. I using an electric pressure cooker then place on the high setting (Chicken/Meat) and cook for 60 minutes. so that it is fall apart tender. When the beef is done to your satisfaction, then drain the water off the meat then shred with a fork or other utensil and add the sauce.

Cost Savings

Beef roast and stew meat is not as cheap as it was in the past, however generally beef stew meat, which is are the trimmings from roast are generally cheaper to purchase that whole roasts. This is not always the case, but generally this is the case. As big 'comp shoppers' we check our adds each week and when roast is on sale we buy several and throw them in the freezer or make barbecue or can it as beef stew or soup base. This last week we bought four boneless chuck roasts on sale for $1.99lb, normally $5.49lb at our local Walmart (a 64% savings). Total cost for making 5 ½ pounds of barbecue beef is $13.55 or $2.46 per pound or $0.153 per ounce. I have included the cost breakdown of the ingredients below.

Boneless chuck roast 4.74lbs for 1.99lb, total cost = $9.43 (Walmart)

Crushed tomatoes (29oz can) $1.00ea, total cost = $2.00 (Dollar Tree)

Onions 5lbs for $0.99, or $0.198lb, (2 onions ½lb) total cost = $0.10 (Walmart)

White Vinegar 1 cup, $0.02 per ounce, total cost = $0.16 (Walmart)

Granulated Sugar ¼ cup, $0.06 per ounce, total cost = $0.12 (Walmart)

Worcestershire sauce ¼ cup, $0.10 per ounce, total cost = $0.20 (Walmart)

Miscellaneous dry spices total cost approximately $1.00 (Walmart)

For cost comparison, this recipe is very similar to prepackaged barbecue beef in the plastic containers that you will find in your local meat or delicatessen. Brands vary per region but in East Texas we primarily see Lloyd's Shredded Barbecue Beef (15oz) $4.83 or $0.322 per ounce. At one time Sadlers BBQ also made a shredded barbecue beef product, but they have since changed recipes and I can only find the brisket product in our area and it is quite a bit more expensive. So compared to Lloyd's it is 50% cheaper to make your own shredded barbecue beef at home than it is to purchase it at the supermarket.

Conclusion

We all have those foods that make us think of home, those comfort foods that remind us of loved ones that may no longer be with us. For me it was my grandmother's shredded barbecue beef sandwiches. Every time I prepare and eat this recipe I think of my grandmother. The pictures for this article were taken as I quickly made this recipe for my grandson who requested it for his birthday last weekend. As I would be working the day of his birthday, the barbecue beef went straight into the freezer to be thawed the day of his party. That's the great thing about this recipe, it freezes extremely well.

I hope you and your family will enjoy making my grandmothers barbecue beef. It is far cheaper to make your own than it is to purchase the premade barbecue at the supermarket (50% cheaper), and way cheaper than taking the family out for barbecue which for a family of four could easily cost you $40 to $50 dollars. And keep in mind that this recipe will easily make 10 sandwiches (½lb beef each) making the cost $1.35 per sandwich minus the bun, verses $6.00 for a chopped beef sandwich at a barbecue joint. As always, if you have enjoyed this article, please share it with your friends and don't forget to send us a friend request on Facebook and Google+ so that you will not miss out on any of our new articles.

Pressure Cooker: Sweet And Sour Chicken

Sweet and Sour dishes have always been popular in Chinese American restaurants throughout the United States. These dishes are usually made with chicken or pork and include pineapple, bell peppers and onions as well as garlic and ginger. The biggest difference from restaurant to restaurant seems to be the sweet and sour sauce used. The sauces either tend to be red in color or a more clear yellow color. The two sauces are made the same way, with the exception of the red sauce which has a tomato based component which in most cases is ketchup.

I have included two recipes for making sweet and sour chicken in your electric pressure cooker. Version one is the one illustrated in the photos in this article, and is the one I make most often. I have included a recipe to make your own red sweet and sour dipping sauce that is required for version two. You can of course use any sweet and sour sauce you have on hand for version two, but making your own is really easy and most of you should have the necessary ingredients in your pantry.

The Recipes

This recipe is pretty quick and easy to make. The part which takes the longest is coating the chicken with cornstarch and sauteing it prior to cooking. If you have read in my article on 'Electric Pressure Cookers', then you know that I do not brown my meat in my pressure cooker. No matter how hard I try, the meat always seems to stick and I get crappy results. So as always, I browned the chicken after it was coated in cornstarch in a skillet and then transferred it to my Power Cooker XL. Having said that, if you have had good results sauteing meat in your pressure cooker then please save yourself the trouble of washing an extra skillet and do it that way.

Sweet and Sour Chicken (Version 1)

6 chicken thighs (de-boned and cubed)

1 (20 ounce can) pineapple chunks

½ cup water or chicken stock
½ cup cornstarch
1 green pepper, cut into medium chunks
½ onion, cut into medium chunks

3 tablespoons brown sugar

3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 teaspoons minced garlic

1 teaspoon chicken bouillon
1 teaspoon ginger paste or minced ginger or ¼ teaspoon ginger powder
¼ teaspoon each salt and white pepper

Cut up your boneless thighs into small chunks and then dredge the chicken in the cornstarch or all-purpose flour and set aside. Place the inner pot into the Pressure Cooker. Press the CHICKEN/MEAT button. Set time to 10 minutes and add two tablespoons of olive oil and the chicken to the pressure cooker and sauté the chicken until it is slightly browned. Then add the remaining ingredients and place the lid on the Pressure Cooker and lock. Switch the Pressure Release Valve to Closed.

Chefs Note: If your electric pressure cooker does not have a CHICKEN/MEAT button like the Power Pressure Cooker XL, then set it on high pressure and select 10 minutes as the cook time. You may have read in my article on 'Electric Pressure Cookers' I do not brown my meat in my pressure cooker as no matter how I try I get crappy results. So as always, I browned the chicken after it was coated in cornstarch in a skillet and then transferred it to my Power Cooker XL.

After 10 minutes when the timer reaches '0' most electric pressure cookers will automatically switch to keep warm mode. Once the pressure has been completely released, remove the lid and serve over cooked white rice, or allow to keep in warm mode until ready to eat.

Sweet and Sour Chicken (Version 2)

6 chicken thighs (de-boned and cubed)

¾ chicken stock or ¾ cup water + 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon
1 cup red sweet and sour sauce

6 ounces pineapple chunks.
1 green pepper, cut into medium chunks
1 medium onion, cut into medium chunks
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon ginger paste or minced ginger or ¼ teaspoon ginger powder
¼ teaspoon each salt and white pepper

Follow the same cooking instructions for version one.

Red Sweet and Sour Sauce

1 cup pineapple juice

½ cup ketchup

¼ white vinegar

¼ cup sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

Combine cornstarch and two tablespoons of pineapple juice in a small bowl to make a slurry and set aside. Combine the remaining ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer then add the cornstarch slurry and cook until thickened (about 5 minutes).

Conclusion

I hope you and your family will enjoy making this sweet and sour chicken recipe in your electric pressure cooker. It is far cheaper to make your own than it is to take the family out for Chinese food. If you prefer sweet and sour pork, then substitute 1lb pork butt cut into 1” cubes and coat and brown it the same as you would the chicken. If you prefer a little heat, you can add 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes to add a little zip to your meal. Add any additional vegetables you would like to this dish to give it even more flavor. Traditional additives such as sugar snap peas, water chestnuts, carrots and green onions make nice additions to this dish. As always, if you have enjoyed this article, please share it with your friends and don't forget to send us a friend request on Facebook and Google+ so that you will not miss out on any of our new articles.

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