I remember Sunday dinner at Maw Maw's house. Usually, I would stay overnight and early Sunday morning (around 4am), I would hear my maw maw moving around in her kitchen and preparing the meal that she would cook for her family. She never knew which one of her children, grandchildren, son-in-laws or daughter-in-laws would stop by for a bite to eat that day.
She liked to cook her food long and slow. Some of the dishes that I remember are: Swiss steak,Hash, chili (she used spaghetti noodles in her chili-my maw maw was a Yankee..haha and a great cook)supper would cook all day long and I also remember her shooing paw paw away from her stove. He would look at what was cooking and want to add his special touch.
What brings me to this post is the table that maw maw would eventually set after a long, full day of cooking. She would completely fill the table with food. With the main course there would be; several vegetables to choose from, bread, soft butter, condiments of every sort, and usually two different desserts and the pickle pot. The pickle pot was full of crispy cucumbers and onions with vinegar and pickle spice.
I had forgotten about maw maw's pickle pot until I happened to read a blog entry at Miz Helen's Country Cottage I can remember going back for seconds and even thirds. They were always crispy, tangy and delicious. After reading Miz Helen's blog about her pickle pots, I decided to make my own. Now the pots are sitting in my fridge for the required two weeks. It's VERY HARD to open the fridge and fight away the temptation to eat one of those crispy cucumbers!
I'm joining Miz Helen over at her Full Plate Thursday .
Sadly, I do not have Maw's recipe for her pickle pot. Thankfully, I had Miz Helen's recipe! One banana pepper from my garden was added to one of the jars.
The Pickle Pot
Miz Helen's Kitchen
1 Quart Glass Container
1 yellow onion sliced
3 cloves garlic
3 cups cucumber slices
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons pickling spice
White Vinegar to cover onions and pickles
Water to add to Vinegar
In
a clean GLASS container begin to layer with sliced onions, then sliced
cucumbers. Sprinkle the top with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1 pod of garlic.
Repeat the layer and add 1 tablespoon of the pickling spice. Repeat the
layer again ending with the last tablespoon of pickling spice and the
remainder of the salt. Fill the container 3/4 of the way full with
vinegar and 1/4 with water until the cucumbers and onions are completely
covered. Seal the jar tightly and shake up and down to distribute the
seasons. Place in the refrigerator for 2 weeks before serving, (if you
can wait that long). As the Pickle Pot empties just add more cucumbers
and onions and your Pickle Pot is always full all summer long.
