Any other non-Brits love this stuff? I just had a grilled cheese sandwich with extra sharp cheddar and a schmear of Branston pickle and my taste buds are still tingling. Stuff goes well on just about anything.
Of course! I have two jars in the house right now. Got a little nervous a few years back when they had their fire. (Actually, looking it up, “a few years back” was all the way in 2004. It didn’t seem so long ago!) One of my biggest surprises was one day reading the ingredients and learning that there was rutabaga (swedes) in there.
Tell us unknowing what the stuff is?
Branston pickle. It’s a British kind of sweet and sour chutney/relish sort of thing made with carrots, rutabaga, gherkins, onions, cauliflower, marrow (squash). So, a vegetable pickle in a kind of brown sauce.
I had a thread about Branson Pickle a long time back (Help me use up some Branston Pickle - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board)
when I had bought a huge jar of it and needed ideas of ways to use it. Lots of good suggestions in that thread, including from you, puly .
I was just looking at a jar of it this evening at CostPlus World Market, and had to remind myself to forever stick with the small jar if I ever give it another go.
Tomorrow is shopping day. I need to pick some up. I love a ploughman’s lunch with bread, cheese, and Branston pickle.
If you’re making a grilled cheese sandwich, are you supposed to add the pickle in with the cheese before you grill it or add it on after the sandwich is grilled?
Love it!
Now if I could only find a local source for HP Curry I’d be set.
Doesn’t really matter, though I’d probably do the latter. Just serve it on the side.
I love the stuff. As with Marmite, I rapidly developed a taste for it when I lived in England 40 years ago. (My God, has it really been that long?!? :eek: )
I used to buy the chunky kind, but now that I’m dentally challenged, I need the pureed variant. Tastes the same, but harder to find in Toronto.
Of course, owing to the power of suggestion upon reading the Straight Dope before going to sleep, I woke up at around 1:30 a.m. with an insatiable craving for a Branston pickle and cheese sandwich, which had to be satisfied with a quick trip to the kitchen if I wanted to get back to sleep.
I don’t love it, but I do like it. Trader Joe’s had a version of it a while back. I’ll have to see if they still have it.
However you like. The sandwich that started this thread had it inside, where it nestled nicely with the melted cheese.
Damn, it’s been too long since I’ve indulged. I’ve got some 5 year old cheddar that should work with it to make a nice sandwich. Now I’ve got to see if my local supplier of all things eclectic (and british) has a supply.
If they carry British things, I’d be surprised if they didn’t have Branston Pickle. Otherwise, I usually find mine at Meijer (which I know you have in your general vicinity) and I’m almost certain I’ve also bought it at Cost Plus World Market (though that’s usually where I go to buy my Vegemite.)
We have two supermarkets about four miles from the house. At least one of them has a ‘British’ section, and that store might have Branston pickle. (It’s ‘right at’ the Canadian border, so British foods are made available.) I’ll have to look next time I’m there.
I actually found mine at Staters of all places. And not even on the “International” aisle with the other British stuff, but right in with the pickle relish and dill spears.
Lol, my usual supplier is a salvage grocery store that’s only open two days a week. Mexican sodas, borscht, schav, fish sauce, canned kidneys. Bargains galore, and something new and unusual each time.
Meijer’s is a better bet and also a regular stop for us. Thanks for the tip.
Yeah, every so often, I find Branston and/or Marmite in stores I would not expect to (as in, your general regional chains that sometimes don’t even have an International aisle, or, if they do, British is not included.)
The Marmite is still with the other stuff, like Heinz Beans, HP Sauce and canned Spotted Dick. That’s where I looked first and was disappointed. Then as I scanned the pickle section for Wickles, I spotted the Branston, right next to jars of chow-chow.
Weird.
I like it well enough when it gets served to me, but I prefer our own homegrown Mrs Balls Chutney for all applications where Branston might be used. Fruit rather than veg.