My brother wanted me to post my recipe for mushroom dip but since I made mustard pickles last night I figured I post Aunt Lu's recipe for Mustard Pickles.
Aunt Lu was my Dad's aunt and I understand that she used to make these in the basement of her house on Maple Street. They have always been a family favorite at Thanksgiving. If you grew up eating these you love them if you didn't grow up with them, well, you might like them. Personally, I like them, I just don't LOVE them the way some people do. My brothers really love them, especially Gil. My uncle Mark loves them too. In fact I usually ship him a couple of bottles when I make them and he couldn't be happier. One year I sent him a package and he sent me a check for $50 back! I really didn't send them to him because I expected anything in return, but he actually won the lottery (a really big lottery too) several years ago, so I didn't make a fuss about the check.
I make these pickles because they make the people I love so happy. If I have extra sauce left over after filling all the jars with pickles I fill a jar with the just the mustard sauce and give it to my Aunt Peg...she loves it. I think it would be good on bbq pork ribs.
Here is the recipe the way that it was given to me. I think my Aunt Bonnie or my Aunt DeeDee gave me the copy that I have. Last night, I followed it pretty close but instead of 1 head of cauliflower I put in 2 heads of cauliflower and added a few cups more of vinegar. I used Asian cucumbers that I bought at Costco, I hope that those work out well because they were really easy to clean and cut. I also use pearl onions that I find in the frozen section at my grocery store. Using these onions helps reduce the amount of labor. It can take several hours just to peel enough onions!
Mustard Pickles
4 quarts Cucumbers (cut the ends off and discard. Cut with a waffle cutter)
1 large Cauliflower
2 Green or red peppers (I use red because I think the color helps)
1 quart Small white pearl onions
1 cup Salt
Boiling water
1 quart Vinegar
6 Tblsp Dry mustard
2 tsp. Turmeric (gives it the yellow color)
3 cups Brown sugar
3 Tblsp Prepared Mustard (you know...hot dog mustard)
1 cup Flour
Cut and prepare cucumbers, cauliflower, peppers and onions. Sprinkle veggies with salt, cover with boiling water and let stand 2 hours or more. Drain and rinse.
In a large kettle combine vinegar, dry mustard, brown sugar and prepared mustard. Bring to a boil, add vegetables to the syrup. Simmer 15 minutes.
Make a paste of flour, a little vinegar and add to the boiling mixture until thickened.
Pack in sterilized jars and process 5 minutes using standard processing methods.
Note: My mother told me that they were best if you let them sit in the jar for at least a month before you eat them. The flavors a supposed to get better that way. I don't know about that. I just tasted a couple of the pickles that were left over and they were pretty good!
