Old-fashioned Dill Pickle Recipe

Reviews (29)

Most helpful positive review

I find that fermentation results are more variable, & less controllable, than those of any other food preparation method. They can be affected by any of the following: the ratio of salt to water, ratio of brine to cucumbers, cucumber size, cucumber quality (related to freshness, growing season/conditions/weather, strain/cultivar, etc.), ambient temperatures during fermentation, the unknowable variables of lactobacilli &, seemingly, assorted other completely mysterious forces. In other words, "Past performance is no guarantee of future results." So one should always consider the lactobacilli to be the capricious executive chef in charge, & oneself to be merely a lowly assistant! Read More

Most helpful critical review

Extremely salty. Not edible. Flavor - yuk. No redeeming facets. Read More

25 Ratings

5 star values: 13
4 star values: 3
3 star values: 1
2 star values: 4
1 star values: 4

This is a very old fashioned way of doing dills. It is exactly the way my Ukrainian grandmother and aunt made pickles. They are delicious and perfectly sour. I do omit any spices, using only lots of garlic and dill. Thanks Chef John for the memories. Made a batch last week and they are perfect. Read More

Please note that 1 Tbsp of Morton's kosher salt is about 17 grams in weight. 5 Tbsp is the more correct amount if you are going to use volumetric measurement. Using 5 Tbsp or 80 grams will yield a ~4% brine which is perfect. Unfortunately, if you lacked a scale and used 8Tbsp under the assumption that you were following a perfectly correct recipe, that is undoubtedly why the end product was too salty. This amount of salt is a 7% brine and is well north of the generally accepted max salinity of 5% one would typically use to produce a fermented pickle. Read More

These were way too salty if you ate them fresh from the jar after 8 days. However, I completely rinsed the pickles in fresh water and then put them in glass sealable jars that were filled with fresh water and the dill from the pickling process. They were then kept in the frig and they were FABULOUS. The family said that these were my best pickles ever. Read More

Extremely salty. Not edible. Flavor - yuk. No redeeming facets. Read More

Best dill pickles ever. But I did modify based on the reviews I read. For the first ten days, I left them in the brine which I admit is really salty. Then I poured out half the brine leaving all the good flavor (bay leaves, garlic, etc) and then filled the jar with half vinegar and half water. Then refrigerated for another week. Wow! So good. I think you can pickle almost anything this way. Try it. So good. Read More

Now I was convinced the majority of reviews saying this was too salty didn't weigh their salt out. I weighed my salt out since I wasn't using kosher salt. Luckily I decided to taste the brine before starting and found out it was WAY too salty. Not sure where I went wrong but I just added water till I got a nice salty brine that "seemed" right. Read More

I've made it. I think next time to cut the amount of salt a bit. But otherwise it turned out very nice! I've transferred the pickles into mason jars and kept them in my fridge for quite a long time without any problem. Thanks for the recipe! Read More