You know what goes great with hamburgers, and summer in general? Pickles. Know what's even better than buying a jar of Vlasic and calling it a day? Making them yourself after only an hour's time.
Photo by little blue hen.
The Chicago Tribune explains how making pickles that you intend to eat fairly soon, rather than store over a winter in traditional pickling practice, can be far easier than you'd think. After preparing a suitable batch of brine, the rest is just picking out and prepping your vegetables, be they cucumbers or other stuff you'll put to good use.
Because we're not making these pickles to be preserved, we can avoid the laborious canning process with its boiling and sterilizing and its accompanying nagging fear of lurking botulism. We're simply going to make an acidic brine and use it to soak our vegetables.
Just about anything can be quick pickled. Cucumbers are the most common choice, but any nice crisp vegetable will do: green beans, cauliflower, carrots, shallots, onions, asparagus - they all make terrific pickles.
Done your own quick pickling for authentic spears? Tell us how you got there in the comments.
Prep Schools: How to make quick pickles [Chicago Tribune]