Nose To Tail At Home

A version of the pickled onion that makes lively company for meats hot or cold, and cheese.  Use small round shallots, peeled but left whole.

A Happy Father’s Day to you and yours.  I headed to my parent’s house today and made my father his favorite dessert – grandma’s banana pudding.

Happy Father’s Day, Dad.

Now, on to the update.

I picked up a few pounds of shallots at my local megamarket to start this recipe, then peeled and trimmed them.  Mr. Henderson instructs that they need to sit in a salty brine for a whole week, so into the brining bucket they went to serve out their sentence.

Seven days later the shallots had lost some of their bright purple color, turning dull and a little soft.  Next up I needed to make the pickling liquid.

Half malt vinegar, half white wine vinegar was called for, along with multiple spices like cinnamon sticks, cloves, allspice, bay leaves and peppercorns.

I rinsed the shallots with some fresh water and then added them to the same pot the pickling liquid was simmering in.  For five minutes the shallots bounced around in the pot before I removed them.  The liquid was strained to remove all of the spices, then the shallots and vinegar mixture were placed into a sterilized jar …

… like so.  The shallots needed to sit for a month to mellow and properly pickle, so I found a cool place in my cupboard for them to rest.

One month to the day, we cracked open a jar to be greeted by a pungent whiff of vinegar and shallots.  Not exactly the kinda smell one would want on their breath when interviewing for a job, or going on a first date.  The first bite was actually more powerful than I could have possibly imagined.  If the vinegar had mellowed even slightly, I couldn’t tell.  The flavor was overwhelmingly tart, with a slight sweetness showing up here and there.  My wife enjoyed them immensely, as did my father.  I’m happy to have them in my arsenal, but I think I’ll let ‘em sit for a few more months until the vinegar’s bite is softened.

One down, seventy five to go.