McClure’s is a pretty good pickle-maker. But I agree with puly (again)…best to go to an Eastern European neighborhood and buy sours and half-sours right outta the barrel.
Claussen (in the refrigerated case) makes a good gherkin-sized garlic dill, for occasions where you simply can’t face up to a full-size pickle.
Finally, the fawncy-food shop a couple blocks north sells what they call “Tapas mix” at the olive bar — a melange of large green olives, small black olives, cocktail onions, garlic cloves, and tiny cornichon-size dill pickles, all wallowing in a pungent pickling broth smelling to high heaven of garlic and anchovy. The green olives and onions go into Martinis and Gibsons, the pickles get eaten straight out of the fridge.
Best pickles I’ve ever had was at a restaurant called Cajun Catfish. Went there with my parents and a friend of the family; the four of us polished off at least two platters of those dills! Cajun Catfish has since been demolished and a Walgreens took over the property.
I’m crazy for pickles. Kosher, sweet, any kind of pickled cucumber is fine with me. I also love pickled okra, pickled garlic and pickled asparagus, although the latter seems pricey for me sometimes.
I also enjoy pickles from other cultures. In particular, I like assorted Japanese-style pickles, which include pickled daikon, differently-pickled cucumber, pickled carrot… And although it seems to be classified a little differently from other Japanese pickles for some reason, I love pickled plum or umeboshi. It’s got a strong flavor, but something about it really stimulates my appetite. I believe that from Korea, kimchi is essentially a kind of pickle, too? Well, it’s delicious as well.
This is my favorite, too: bright-green Ba-Tampte half-sours. (I like their tomatoes, too.) But the dominant grocery store chain around here stopped carrying them, and I haven’t found another local source. Like JohnM, I’m reluctant to try Internet orders as it seems unlikely they’d arrive in that best bright-green condition.
I may be the only person on the planet that thinks Mt. Olive pickles suck donkey balls. Give me Heinz or store-brand any day over those Offences Unto Nuggan.
Is kraut pickle(s?)? Kimchi? Anyway, I love most things pickled (or fermented), even trout/salmon (not grav (ugh, no smell), rak!). Herring is different, vinegar-solution please. No surstrømming for me.
Try pickling your own beets with hard-boiled eggs.
This recipe is a good starting-off point…just skip the canned beets and boil a couple of medium ones…peel and slice them afterwards and that’ll give you your beets and your “beet juice.” And for god’s sake cut back on the sugar.
I love and will only eat Kuhns barrel polish dills from the boutiquy food stores. $6 a jar and perfect.
I will not eat any other pickle I know of. I will not eat any US commercial pickle made at all. I am seriously severe in this. There is no good pickles to replace the ones that came from poland called Krakus I think except Kuhns. If they go under I got no options I can taste.
The thing is the balance of salt, vinegar, and pickle (with some sugar). If they don’t pay attention to that being great it’s a worthless product and most of the US brands have an unnatural preservative smell and taste.
McClure’s are great and I’m even happy with a Claussen’s dill, but the best don’t have brand name. I just wish I could make my own. I’m pretty good with most foods, but I’m like Aunt Bea when it comes to pickles.
I just get them at the Polish groceries here on the Southwest Side. A good bunch of them have disappeared, so my main one these days is Shop & Save on Archer & Central. I honestly haven’t noticed one store’s being particularly better than another’s. I do believe many of the ones you see in the groceries come from a common distributor. You do have various types, though in those barrels. There’s usually a barrel of the regular ones (kiszone), a less salty/sour type (malosolne), and then also a vinegar type (konserwowe). I think “kiszone” and “małosolne” roughly translates to “sours” and “half sours.” I mean, literally, the words mean “fermented/pickled” and “little salted (or something like that),” but the main difference is in fermentation time between the two.
I’ve had half-sours. And I’m talking the good stuff (I used to live in the Catskills). But personally, they’re not my thing. To me, they always taste like a cucumber that only got halfway to being a real pickle.
