Pikliz

As tradition built it

Pikliz

Minimum 24 to 48 hours resting before use; no active cooking.

Ingredients

• as available white cabbage, shredded or julienned
• as available carrot, shredded or julienned
• as available onion, sliced
• as available bell pepper, sliced
• as available Scotch bonnet, sliced (seeds in for a hotter batch, removed for a milder one)
• 3/4 jar white vinegar, fully submerging the packed vegetables
• as available sour orange or lime juice (some households substitute for vinegar; needs refrigeration and keeps less well)

Method

1. Shred or julienne the white cabbage and carrot; slice the onion, bell pepper and Scotch bonnet (seeds in for a hotter batch, removed for a milder one); pack tightly into a jar.
2. Pour white vinegar, or sour orange or lime juice as a substitute, in to roughly three-quarters of the jar's volume, fully submerging the packed vegetables.
3. Rest the jar a minimum of 24 to 48 hours before use, the flavour and heat intensifying the longer it sits.

Notes

Some households substitute sour orange or lime juice for vinegar, though this needs refrigeration and keeps less well.

What a modern chef changes

Controlled Ratio, Ground Spices

Rung 5

Method

1. Weigh the packed vegetables and measure the vinegar to a fixed, repeatable ratio rather than filling by eye, understanding, as Rung 5 sets out, that this is an acetic quick-pickle, not a ferment, so the outcome is genuinely controllable rather than left to a live culture's own timing.
2. Grind whole clove and black pepper in a spice grinder before adding them to the vinegar, for a more even distribution through the batch than whole spices dropped in loose.