Piccalilli
Britain's take on Indian pickles, found in English cookery books since the mid-eighteenth century. What separates good piccalilli from bad is the crunch of the vegetables: they are not cooked but salted for a day to draw out water, then coated in hot sauce. Vegetables simmered in the pickle go soft and the piccalilli loses its charm.
Your own work in that: 30 min.
- Salting the vegetables 1440 min
- Mustard sauce 25 min
- Combining 10 min
- Jarring 30 min
Step by step
0 / 7 doneCut everything to an even size
Cut all the vegetables into thumb-sized pieces, roughly equal. Even sizing matters practically: the salt draws water out of them at the same rate, and no piece in the jar ends up either soggy or hard.
Ingredients: 700 g cauliflower · 400 g cucumbers · 200 g green beans · 300 g pearl onions · 80 g salt
Bury in salt for a day
Layer the vegetables with the salt in a bowl and leave 24 hours, stirring once. A good amount of liquid collects beneath them. This step, not cooking, is what gives piccalilli the crunch it keeps for months.
Ingredients: 700 g cauliflower · 400 g cucumbers · 200 g green beans · 300 g pearl onions · 80 g salt
A day in salt — a cupful of water collects beneath.Rinse and dry very thoroughly
Rinse the vegetables in several changes of water and dry them on a cloth. The rinsing must be thorough or the pickle will be inedibly salty; so must the drying, since water thins the sauce and ruins its body.
Ingredients: 700 g cauliflower · 400 g cucumbers · 200 g green beans · 300 g pearl onions · 80 g salt
Boil the vinegar with the spices
Bring 500 ml of the vinegar to a boil with the sugar, mustard seeds, coriander and ginger and simmer 10 minutes. This infusion is the base of the flavour — the spices give up their aroma and the vinegar mellows a little.
Ingredients: 600 ml cider vinegar · 200 g sugar · 3 tbsp mustard powder · 2 tsp turmeric · 40 g cornflour · 2 tbsp mustard seeds · 1 tbsp coriander seeds · 1 tsp ground ginger
Slake the starch in cold vinegar
Whisk the cornflour, mustard powder and turmeric into the remaining 100 ml of cold vinegar, pour into the boiling infusion and cook 3 minutes, stirring, until the sauce thickens and turns glossy.
Ingredients: 600 ml cider vinegar · 200 g sugar · 3 tbsp mustard powder · 2 tsp turmeric · 40 g cornflour · 2 tbsp mustard seeds · 1 tbsp coriander seeds · 1 tsp ground ginger
Thick and glossy — it should coat, not run off.Fold in the vegetables for two minutes
Tip the vegetables into the hot sauce and heat for just 2 minutes, stirring. They should be coated and warmed through, nothing more. Every extra minute costs the crunch that is the entire point of this pickle.
Ingredients: 700 g cauliflower · 400 g cucumbers · 200 g green beans · 300 g pearl onions · 80 g salt
Fill the jars hot
Spoon into sterilised jars while hot, to 1 cm from the rim, pressing down to release air pockets, and seal immediately. Process for 10 minutes from the boil in a pot of hot water reaching the shoulders of the jars (jars up to 500 ml). Piccalilli needs a month to be at its best and keeps a year in a dark pantry.
Ingredients: 600 ml cider vinegar · 200 g sugar · 3 tbsp mustard powder · 2 tsp turmeric · 40 g cornflour · 2 tbsp mustard seeds · 1 tbsp coriander seeds · 1 tsp ground ginger
Hot, to 1 cm from the rim, sealed at once.
Before you start
The month's wait is not a whim
Freshly made piccalilli is aggressively vinegary and mustardy. After a month in the pantry the acid penetrates the vegetables and the mustard heat drops — an entirely different product from the one straight out of the pan.
Swapping the vegetables
The classic set is cauliflower, cucumber, onion and beans, but carrot, courgette and pepper also work. The rule: the vegetables must be firm and low in water. Tomatoes and aubergine collapse in the jar.
What to serve it with
Piccalilli is the British accompaniment to cold meats, pâtés and aged cheeses — its acid and mustard cut through richness. Classically: with ham, cheddar and bread, as a ploughman's lunch.