Advertisement If today’s recipes don’t provide Shirley P. with enough varieties of pickles to use up her cucumbers, next year maybe she’ll need to plant fewer of them. We have refrigerator pickles, freezer pickles and cucumbers in sour cream. As did many of this week’s contributors, an anonymous friend from Sparta, Wis., provided regular refrigerator pickles and the sour cream variety, which she says are also known as “Gurksallad and Inlagd Gurka.” We also heard from Carol Maier of La Crosse, Irene Grover of Black River Falls, Peggy Bernett of La Crosse and Karen Vick of La Crosse, who describes her pickles as “mighty tasty.”
At least one of today’s recipes calls for alum, which “The Food Lover’s Companion” describes as “highly astringent crystals of potassium aluminum sulfate” that at one time were used as “the crisping agent in canning pickles.” Because alum has been known to cause “digestive distress” and with the advent of modern canning methods, alum is not used much these days.
In coming weeks, we will have recipes for sour cream raisin pie and chicken salad for Mari Moore of Westby, Wis., but not necessarily the ones from the New Villa, as she had requested. Joey is still in the market for “cabbage rollups that freeze well.” Susan Larkin, like many of us, would like to be able to duplicate (or at least approximate) some of the People’s Food Co-op’s recipes, in particular artichoke and pea pasta salad and portabella mushroom/asiago cheese pasta salad.
Oct. 16, the date of this year’s Taste of Home Home Cooking School, will be here before you know it. If you plan to attend, be sure to get your tickets before they are all gone. Tickets are $12 and are available at the La Crosse Center box office. I’ve been helping out in the kitchen at the show for more than 10 years now, and I can assure you it is informative, entertaining and just plain fun.
Tune in to Coulee Region Cooks from 10 to 11 a.m. every Thursday on WIZM-AM radio. Each week, host Mike Hayes and his guests share lots of recipes and cooking tips. The show is informative but manages to be great fun. Mike is always supportive of the Exchange and when he can catch me at my desk, he and I spend a few minutes during the first half of the show chatting about the upcoming column.
Send requests, recipes and/or cooking tips and techniques to Alice P. Clark at: Reader Exchange, c/o La Crosse Tribune, 401 N. Third St., La Crosse, WI 54601; e-mail: exchange@lacrossetribune.com or send a fax to (608) 782-9723.
Pickled Fresh Cucumbers
2 medium-sized cucumbers, peeled, sliced thin
1 medium onion, sliced
1/2 cup white vinegar
2 tablespoons water
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
Dash white pepper
1 1/2 to 2 cups sour cream
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
Place cucumbers and onion in a deep bowl with a flat bottom. Combine next 5 ingredients; pour over cucumbers. Sprinkle with dill. Place a plate over the cucumbers and weigh it down (a can of vegetables should work). Refrigerate about 3 hours before serving. Before serving drain off excess liquid and add 1 1/2 to 2 cups sour cream. Garnish with dill.
(Shared by an anonymous friend from Sparta)
Cucumbers and Sour Cream (Gurksallad and Inlagd Gurka)
Wash and slice thin 2-3 medium cucumbers, with skins, and 1 medium sweet onion. Cover with lightly salted water (for variety add a little white vinegar, too, but you are not pickling). To serve: Drain well; pat dry if necessary. Sprinkle with white pepper and chopped fresh dill; stir in a carton of sour cream. Garnish with a sprig of dill.
(Shared by an anonymous friend from Sparta)
Refrigerator Pickles — 1
Wash and slice cucumbers to make about 14 cups. Mix together 3 cups sugar, 3 cups white vinegar, 1/3 cup salt, 1 heaping teaspoon turmeric, 1 teaspoon celery seed, 1 teaspoon mustard seed and 3 onions, sliced. Stir until sugar dissolves; do not heat mixture. Pour over cucumbers and refrigerate. These will be ready in about 2 weeks and will keep for up to 6 months or longer.
(Shared by Carol Maier, La Crosse)
Creamed Cucumbers
2 medium cucumbers, washed and sliced
1 onion, sliced thin, rings separated
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayonnaise or salad dressing
1/3 cup vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
Place cucumber and onion slices in a medium bowl. Combine remaining ingredients thoroughly; pour over cucumbers and onions. Let stand in refrigerator at least one hour to blend flavors before serving.
(Shared by Carol Maier, La Crosse)
Refrigerator Pickles — 2
7 cups medium-sized cucumbers, sliced thin
1 cup onion, sliced thin
1 cup vinegar (not white)
2 cups white sugar
2 tablespoons salt (preferably canning salt)
1 teaspoon celery seed
Place sliced cucumbers and onion in a glass (not plastic) bowl. Combine remaining ingredients; let sit in bowl until sugar dissolves. Pour over cucumber/onion mixture, cover and refrigerate. These keep several weeks in the refrigerator.
(Shared by Irene Grover, Black River Falls)
Dill Refrigerator Pickles
Layer sliced cucumbers, onions, garlic (optional) and dill in a bowl. Boil together 1 cup sugar, 1/3 cup salt (to taste), 11/4 cups vinegar (not white) and 21/4 cups water; pour over cucumber mixture. When cool, place in jars and refrigerate. These will keep for a few weeks.
(Irene Grover, Black River Falls)
Cucumbers ’n’ Cream
3 cucumbers, peeled and sliced thin
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup plain yogurt, low fat
3 tablespoons finely chopped or sliced onion
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon sugar
Toss ingredients together in medium bowl; cover and chill.
(Shared by Peggy Bernett, La Crosse)
Cucumbers in Sour Cream
Combine 3 cups peeled and thinly sliced cucumbers, 1/2 cup sliced onion and 1 tablespoon Kosher salt (more or less), and set in refrigerator for 2 to 3 hours. Drain off accumulated liquid. Combine 1/2 cup sour cream, 2 tablespoons raspberry vinegar, 11/2 tablespoons white sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper. Add sour cream mixture to cucumbers and onions; mix well. Garnish with dill or paprika.
(Shared by Karen Vick, La Crosse)
Frozen Cucumbers
Combine 14 to 16 cups unpeeled, thinly sliced cucumbers (medium to small cukes work best), 2 cup thinly sliced onion and 3 tablespoons Kosher or pickling salt. Refrigerate. Combine 4 cups sugar, 2 cups vinegar, 1 teaspoon turmeric, 2 teaspoons mustard seed, 1/2 teaspoon powdered alum and let sit 3 hours. Drain cucumbers; pour sugar mixture over. Refrigerate 1 or 2 days; then freeze.
(Shared by Karen Vick, La Crosse)
