Old Fashion Fermented Dill Pickles

Hey boys,

Granny Mack would make pickled dilly-beans and carrots and they were AMAZING! I don’t remember her ever actually making dill pickles though. My mom – your Granny S. would make them most summers. My mom’s pickles turned out amazing, crisp and crunchy with the perfect sour bite…most of the time.  I have tried to make dill pickles following her recipe.

Major FLOP! They were a funky colour, mushy and yucky… not nice.

I have found the PERFECT dill pickle recipe! I have made this recipe many times (Lochlan you LOVE these). Every single time I have made this recipe – it has turned out perfect. Which makes sense as the recipe belongs to one of my all-time favorite Chefs Alton Brown.

If you are looking for a recipe for… well anything, and you find one that Alton Brown makes – USE IT! It will be perfect!

This is his recipe for Old Fashion Fermented Dill Pickles I pretty much follow it exactly…. why mess with perfection? The man knows his stuff.

Lochlan this is really for you. Peanut Butter and Dill Pickles …. two smells that will always make me think of your toddler years!

Love ya!

Alton Browns Old Fashion Fermented Dill Pickles

Worlds BEST fermented dill pickles. Salty, crunchy .... PERFECTION.

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Course Side Dish

Cuisine American

Ingredients

  

• 1/2 cup pickling salt
• 1 Gallon FILTERED water
• 4 pounds cucumbers 4 - 6" long I love to use baby English cucumbers.
• 1 large bunch fresh dill weed
• 1 TBSP whole black peppercorns
• 1 TBSP red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp dill seed
• 2 cloves garlic crushed

Instructions

 

• Thoroughly wash all of your cucumbers and trim off the ends.
  
• Combine the salt and water in a pitcher and stir until the salt has dissolved.
  
• Place the peppercorns, pepper flakes, garlic, dill seed and fresh dill into a 1-gallon crock.
  
• Add the cucumbers to the crock on top of the aromatics.
  
• Pour the brine mixture over the cucumbers in order to completely cover.
  
• Place crock lid on top of the pickles making sure that all of them are completely submerged in the brine. if your crock does not have a lid use a 1 gallon freezer bag filled with left over brine. Set in a cool, dry place.
  
• After 3 days check on your pickles. There should be a skim of white stuff on the top that looks like mold.
  
• Skim off the white film. Check on your pickles daily now skimming as needed. After 6 or 7 days taste one of your pickles, it should be sour with a sharp funky mouth puckering fermentation taste. If it tastes right move the crock to the refrigerator. Your pickles will stay nice and tasty in the fridge for up to 2 month.... or so Alton Brown says, we have always eaten ours within 2 weeks so I have no proof of this!
  
• I wish I had a picture of the finished product.... we ate them all.