Bread and Butter Pickle

I am warm... The heating is fixed, the boiler works, Ted saved the day... It means that I can think about foods for reasons other than the amount of heat they give out. Like this little pickle... I made a few jars of it for Christmas hampers, and now that Christmas is all but a distant memory I am still thoroughly enjoying it. It is based on a Bread and Butter Pickle that Rick Stein sells in his Cornish empire, I was given a jar as a present a few years ago and loved it. I haven’t found an exact recipe so this is a combination of a few that I may continue to tweak further, but is still pretty damn tasty...

The name is confusing, it doesn’t have any bread or butter in it... I've struggled to find an explanation, well at least a consistent one. It does define it from a sweet pickle or a dill pickle, and is often served with hamburgers in America, but I don’t know why exactly it is called bread and butter. I find it delicious with cold or smoked fish, salmon, cooked ham and even with cheese and biscuits.

As a process it is much easier to make than many other pickles, just heating the vinegar sugar and spices and adding the cucumber. That's it really... So in a large bowl thinly slice 1 large cucumber, 1 large onion and 1 green pepper. If you like a crunchy pickle go a little thicker, but I like the way all the ingredients mingle when really thinly sliced. Add 30g salt to the sliced vegetables and mix it well so the salt is evenly distributed. Cover the whole lot with a layer of ice cubes and leave to stand at room temperature for 2 hours.

In a large pan mix 100g caster sugar, 120ml cider vinegar, ¼ of a teaspoon of ground turmeric, 1 tablespoon of mustard seeds, 1 tablespoon of coriander seeds and ¼ of a teaspoon of celery seed. Bring it to the boil and then add the cucumber mix. Drain off any melted ice water but the salt should stay so don’t rinse anything... Then bring it all to the boil again, remove from the heat immediately it starts to boil and then leave to cool. Store the pickle in sterilised jars and keep them in the fridge once opened, it is ready to eat after about 24 hours.

It is a tangy spiced pickle but also quite sweet, not in the same way as a sweet apple pickle, perhaps a bit more sweet and sour at the same time. It is delicious in a sandwich, it goes perfectly with pastrami and salad on thick brown buttered bread... Have it with cured meats, charcuterie or smoked salmon or with some hard cheese and oaty biscuits...