Household pickle recipes.

 

This is a HouseHold staple recipe. 

Curiosity of Maragret Fitzwillams (Jennifer 'Pixel' Getty) 

Here's the brine recipe for the grapes:

1 1/2 c red wine vinegar

1 c water

1 c sugar

2 t yellow mustard seeds (I used brown, because it was easier to get that jar)

1 t peppercorns

1 cinnamon stick (Ceylon cinnamon)

1 bay leaf

whole allspice

cloves

dried ginger root

Then in each jar:

1 bay leaf

2 cloves

2 peppercorns

some cinnamon fragments

a whole allspice

Rinse grapes, pack jars. Simmer brine for about 10 minutes then pour into jars. Let cool, refrigerate.

And here's the mushroom brine:

1:1 ratio water and red wine vinegar

Per 1 c of brine:

a garlic clove or two

6 peppercorns

3/4 t sugar

a couple of bay leaves

thyme

2 T kosher salt

I packed additional thyme, bay leaf, and peppercorns in the jars as well. Pack jars with button mushrooms. I used the ones that come in jars, which can get expensive -- if you use fresh, you'll need to simmer them in salted water until they're properly cooked, then pack into jars.

Bring the brine to a boil, simmer briefly, pour into jars. Refrigerate when cool.

[The instructions to refrigerate are in the original recipe, but honestly if you can them properly you shouldn't need to refrigerate.]

Cherry sauce for midnight pork 

(again Pixel)

Since multiple people asked about the cherry sauce: it was a very half-assed amalgam of two recipes in Scappi, II.259 and II.277

Summary of II.259: 4lb fresh Roman cherries, cook with 2/3 litre of verjuice, 2 oz fine mostaccioli (a sort of fruitcake), 4 oz breadcrumb, a little salt, 1 lb sugar, 1oz pepper/cloves/cinnamon/nutmeg, put through a strainer and serve.

Summary of II.277: for every pound of cherry juice, 1lb sugar, 1/8 oz whole cinnamon, 1/4 oz ground pepper/cloves/nutmeg. Boil until thick.

What I did:

1 bottle tart cherry juice

1 can panko breadcrumbs

Put some breadcrumbs into a container. Pour in some cherry juice. Mix. Add more of both (about half of the panko and 1/3 of the cherry juice, total). Cover and put in fridge overnight. Take out, realize that you should have put in more cherry juice. Mash it all through a strainer. Add the rest of the cherry juice, ground cinnamon, nutmeg, pepper, and some whole cloves because the spice grinder is being difficult. Heat over a low flame, stirring periodically, until it gets thick. Taste. Add a lot of sugar. Taste again. Add more sugar. Taste again. Decide that will do. Decant into a container and put in the fridge.

I'll probably have to do one that is a little more true to Scappi's spice proportions, just to see what the difference is.