Pickle Themed Dinner: Pork Chops Brined in Pickle Juice and...?

I love pickles.  Really love them.  They were pretty much the only vegetable I would eat until I was, ohhhh, 23?  My mom sometimes brings me these delicious pickles from the Pop-up General Store in Oakland.  They are classic dills made by Studebaker Pickles.  They are amazing.  

Yes, I love pickles, and it breaks my heart every time I finish a jar and I have to pour the juice down the drain.  I mean, yes, sometimes I'll take a spoonful of it before sending it down the drain, but mostly it gets wasted.  So imagine my joy when I saw a twitter post with a link to A Gazillion Ways to Use Leftover Pickle Juice.  Why I never thought of using the juice is beyond me, but there it was, a bunch of ways to use it!

All of the options on the list sound pretty great, but the one that really jumped out at me was to use it as a brine for pork.  I happen to have a freezer-full of pork and love brined pork chops.  Done and done.

I took chops out of the freezer last night to defrost, and ever since I have been thinking of what to make alongside the brined chops.  By the time I got home, I had fully committed to a pickle themed dinner.  But what does that exactly mean?  Pickles aren't exactly a prime ingredient in anything.  Then I thought, FRIED PICKLES!  I love fried pickles, and after looking up a couple of recipes, decided they are easy enough to make.   I don't consider two items a themed dinner, but another food item seemed unnecessary, so a pickle martini will round out the meal.

Pork Chops Brined in Pickle Juice

Pork chops

Pickle juice

Freshly ground black pepper

Brine the pork chops in the pickle juice for some amount of time.  Mine got brined for 2 hours.  I flipped them after one hour.

Take the chops out of the brine and pat dry.  Grind some black pepper onto each side.

Cook the pork chops.  I grilled them on my trusty cast iron stovetop grill.  Surprised?

Fried Pickles

1 cup buttermilk

1 egg

Optional: dash of hot sauce (I used Crystal)

1 cup plain cornmeal

1 tsp cayenne

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp garlic salt

1 tsp red pepper flakes

1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Some pickles, spears or chips work best, cold and dried with a paper towel.

I didn't use the Studebaker pickles because it seemed wrong to fry them.  They are SO good on their own.  (I made 5 pickle spears of Whole Foods brand.  Had I made more spears, I would have needed more cornmeal coating, but I had plenty of egg wash.)

1.  Make an egg wash:  Whisk egg and milk (and dash of hot sauce if you like things spicy) together for about 30 seconds using a fork. Set aside.

2.  Make cornmeal coating: Mix remaining ingredients together and set aside.  By the way, you can put pretty much anything you want with the cornmeal for the coating.  I used whatever spices I had and sounded good.  

3.  Coat each pickle with egg wash.

4.  Coat each pickle with cornmeal coating.

5.  Repeat steps three and four to double-coat your pickles. The breading will adhere better if you give it a double dunk.

6.  Place each battered pickle on a cookie sheet that is lined with wax or parchment paper and freeze for at least 30 minutes. If you neglect to freeze your pickles, the pickle batter will not adhere and you'll end up with a naked pickle and a bunch of batter floating in the oil.

7.  Heat cooking oil to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.  I used peanut oil because it's the only non-olive oil I have in the house right now.

8.  Carefully drop each frozen pickle into the preheated oil. Stir occasionally and let cook until pickles float on the surface of the oil and turn golden brown. Generally, pickle slices take 2 to 3 minutes; spears take 3 to 4 minutes; and whole pickles take 6 to 7 minutes.

9.  Remove pickles from oil and allow them to drain on paper towels.

10.  Transfer to serving plate and serve with your favorite dip!

Pickle Martini

2 parts gin

1 part pickle juice

Put in a shaker with ice, shake, and serve straight up with a pickle garnish.

I have already written way too much in this post, but I have one note.  The average person might feel a little pickled-out after this meal.  Not me!  After I finished, I had another pickle martini and ate one of the Studebaker pickles for dessert.

Bon appetit.

tartare de cerfs communs et frites

I love raw meat.  There you have it.  When I cook ground beef, you can be assured I will have at least a little pinch of the raw stuff before cooking it up for spaghetti sauce or forming it into patties for burgers.  So, steak tartare is one of the pleasures of my life.  I don't eat it much because it can be done so poorly.  The meat can be too sinewy, the restaurant can be too sketchy, or the waiter can use Ceasar salad fixings instead of steak tartare fixings (this happened at El Gaucho in Portland - a story for another time).  And it's not a common item on menus in Portland.


During my wanderings in Old Montreal on Saturday, I passed a few restaurants that served steak tartare.   It had been my plan to stay in the area for dinner that night, but the dark and cold set in around 5, and I couldn't find a way to while away enough time to stay for dinner.  I decided tonight would be a perfect night to venture away from the area around my hotel for dinner; I can't watch the Blazer game anywhere and there isn't any good TV on, so why not spend time walking and riding the Metro instead of wasting time in my hotel room?


I picked a restaurant in my Lonely Planet and headed there after work.  The Montreal Lonely Planet that I have was printed in 2004, so it's a little old.  I could not find the restaurant I was looking for on Rue Notre Dame Ouest, but I happened upon L'Assommoir, a place featuring numerous varieties of tartare on their menu outside the door.  I couldn't resist.


Upon entering, it was obvious this was a popular after work happy hour type place.  It was packed.  The hostess offered up any open seat, and as I walked down the long bar, I realized the only open seats were covered in coats and purses.  I found a solitary empty chair at the very end next to the place the waiters come pick up their drinks.   I didn't think my entree choice was up for much thought, but after seeing deer tartare on the menu, I was intrigued.  I called the bartender over, ordered a dirty gin martini and asked for his recommendation between the steak and deer tartare.  He gave a no-thought answer: deer tartare.  And so it was raw deer for me.


Apparently there was some issue in the kitchen, so my dinner was a bit delayed.  I was perfectly happy reading my book and drinking my martini, but apparently the bartender felt bad.  He brought me plantain chips and salsa on which to nibble while I waited.

I only got through two of these massive chips before my dinner arrived.

The pictures do not do this meal justice (though, I should be proud that I braved taking pictures at all - it is a bit humiliating using one's Blackberry with flash to take pictures of one's meal at a nice, crowded place).  The tartare was spectacular.  There is really no other way to describe it.  The meat was perfectly tender and not gamey like I expected out of deer.  It was mixed with toasted hazelnuts and nestled on a bed of parmesan shavings and, of course, topped with a quail egg.  It reminded me of Oregon.  Something about the combination of a game animal and hazelnuts.  


I broke the egg out of the shell before remembering to take the pic, unfortunately.


After the meal was finished and my place cleared, the bartender came over with three shots, called the other bartender over, and told me that I was going to do a shot with them so they could apologize for making me wait so long for my food.  Oh those Canadians and their hospitality.  What started as a bit of an awkward seat at the end of the bar ended in shots with the staff.


Bon appetit.