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Adapting traditional pickle recipes to vacuum pickling

Brendan_Lee_56950

One of the reasons, among the many, that I bought a chamber vac was to do quick pickling. Are there any guidelines on how to adapt traditional pickle brines to this vacuum method? And are there any considerations about how we need to treat the vegetables being pickled (i.e. peeling, blanching, size, shape, etc)? I am of the understanding that you clearly don't need as much brine since it's going to be rapidly absorbed, how much brine would be enough?

Thanks.

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Chris_Young_80640

I've never found the need to adjust my pickle brine when doing flash pickling. As you say, you really only need enough liquid to cover the vegetables or fruits that you are pickling—equal parts of brine to vegetables should be more than enough.

Note: I suggest always running the vacuum pump for as long as possible to ensure that you rupture as many cell vacuoles as possible. For especially thick or hard plant foods, you may need do several cycles of vacuum packing to get them entirely pickled. You'll need to cut open the bag on each cycle.

Chris

Brendan_Lee_56950

Could I do this instead in the uncovered jar in the chamber so I don't have to waste a bag and can run the cycle several times without any extra work?

seijoed

In slightly large chambers, removing the space plates and folding the plastic over helps with leaking bags.

I use the same pickle ratios that I learned from my mother

Works really well.

Jack_Mayer_85396

@Chris @Brendan @Seijoed and others

Seems like I saw a trick on one of the eGullet forums where you turn on the chamber vacuum and then just before it is going to seal, you unplug it and allow the machine to just sit there with the vacuum pulled but no seal. Then simply plug the unit back in and run a new cycle of just a few seconds to vacuum and seal. Any thoughts on this idea? Thanks

seijoed

I've not tried that, but you can always throw a scrap bag in there and do a first run, let it seal, do a second run or just run more bags with less items in them, for the 215 45-50 secs does do the trick.

Onions (red) will come out looking like painted glass windows if you will, very interesting colors and great texture.

On a side note - try french toast

Jack_Mayer_85396

I've heard that! Gotta make the decision on the chamber sealer and get it ordered!

Otherwise what I'm hearing Chris and others suggest is to leave extra room in the original bag and vac and seal, then open the bag, cut away the seal and then re-vac and seal. correct?

Chris_Young_80640

@Jack Yes, this trick works on many machines. I first started advocating it for aerating chocolate—somethign we'll cover in module 3.

You can do this, but realize the pressure will continue to rise. The reason is that the water in your food will continue to boil, releasing water vapor into the chamber, until the pressure rises enough to halt the boiling. So, in practice, I find that sealing, opening the corner of the bag, and resealing works best.

Jack_Mayer_85396

@Chris thanks for clarifying things for me.

Brendan_Lee_56950

And I'm kind of wary pulling the plug mid vacuum on my $500+ investment, bags are much cheaper than a new machine.

Mason_Perry_34060

@Brendan_Lee 100% agree with that last comment.....

Jack_Mayer_85396

That did occur to me too! Hate to belabor the point but, would you go for the 210 if the budget and space considerations allowed for it? Budget-wise, it just means I put off getting the Polyscience circulator for a while longer. My Sous Vide Supreme is adequate for now but I need (okay - want) another unit so I can do some a la minute items while I have short ribs or pork butt or something like that in for a long soak. The 72 hr. short ribs is what first sold me on SV cooking in the first place!

seijoed

If you have the budget and the space, yes I think you'll love the 210.

Jack_Mayer_85396

Thanks @Seijoed!

Mason_Perry_34060

I know you will think the 210 is worth it after the first couple of uses, you will wonder what took you so long to get a chamber vac... just the pickling capability is worth it.

Brendan_Lee_56950

Yes, I would tend to agree. If you can afford it go for it, especially since you already have a SV rig running, the extra time to wait to build up that budget isn't going to be as rough as it would be if you were deciding between a SV rig and the chamber vac.

Jack_Mayer_85396

Thanks fellas, I'm placing my order tomorrow!

Allen_Johnson_67197

I never knew the opportunities that a chamber had to offer!! I have the Weston Pro 2300 and was content with it but saw an episode on the FoodNetwork and after investigation I got one. I have only had it for a week but I am in love with it!!!

Jack_Mayer_85396

@Allen so what unit do you have now?

dpietranczyk_49940

Vac master VP 215 all the way!

Allen_Johnson_67197

@Jack Mayer

I have the Vacmaster 215c that thing is a RockStar!!

SteveM_20803

Great post. I recently purchased a chamber sealer and have been playing with pickling recipes. So far I have not found a need to change the strength of the brine when quick pickling. My first "pickle" was an Asian pear thick sliced horizontally. I used a poaching syrup of cabernet and sugar. I put the pear and liquid in a bowl, stirred it so everything was coated then covered it with plastic wrap. I make 4 knife slits in the wrap. The fruit was not submerged but coated. Then I ran the vacuum sealer through its cycle. The pear slices were awesome. Since then we have done tomatoes, cucumbers and watermelon. Our next experiment will be apples with caramel.

Once again, love the topic. Looking forward to seeing some other ideas.

seijoed

No need to change any recipes.

You do get it pickled a heck of a lot faster.

Matt_H_63094

I do most of my pickling using jars, bowls, tupperware etc in the vac chamber - the issue of boiling over was really annoying... Until I covered over the top with cling film and poked a few holes in it. No mess and saves a lot of bags.