Again, I am writing this basically for me so I have a refresher what I did for next year. If you see something I am doing wrong, correct me!
Easy day today- pickles and sun dried tomatoes. Sun dried tomatoes first. I actually started drying yesterday, and that was a mistake. I thought six hours would be enough, and it was not, so next year I am going to start first thing in the morning. I have a Nesco dehydrator I bought a few years back to make jerky and I never used it and it just languished in the basement, so I brought it up and used it. First step was to select big round beefsteak tomatoes so I could have thick, wide slices. I washed the tomatoes, and cut them in about 3/4 inch strips (and next time I may even do wider!) and placed them on the dehydrator- I set it at 135 degrees, let it go six hours, and it was not done, but I was ready for bed, so I put them in the fridge. Took them out first thing this morning, and let them go. I checked every hour or so near the end, and felt for any moisture, and on slices that had none, I took them out. Continue this until finished.
The next step is a quick vinegar bath.
Throw one in the red wine vinegar, flip it so both sides get wet, shake it off, and throw it into a container with olive oil on the bottom. As you add tomatoes, add oil to keep them covered until you are done. I threw in a little basil from the garden:
I’ll transfer these to glass containers when I am done making them this year. I should note that a lot of people get rid of the seeds and I do not know why. I don’t have diverticulitis so YOLO.
Pickles were easy, too.
Sterilize your jars in the canner with a splash of vinegar to keep from getting hard water spots. Dump all your cukes into the sink, and wash them thoroughly. While they are soaking, start making your pickling juice. I used a couple cups of distilled white vinegar, water, some pickling spices, some black peppercorns, some dried chilis, salt, and brought it to a boil on the stove.
While that was coming to a boil, I cut a tiny sliver off the ends of the pickles after washing them. I stuffed them into all the jars, poured the hot brine in, threw in a sprig of dill in each, put my lids and rings on, and gave them a 20 minute process. I did that for six of them. For two of them, I let the pickling brine cool to room temp, and then poured the juice in, put lids on them, and just put them in the fridge. I’ll eat those and they will stay crisper without cooking them. Pickles keep forever uncooked, but I just don’t have room in my fridge for eight quarts of pickles. The finished product:
I hadn’t planned to do more than 2 quarts, but I was at the farmers market at closing time and the lady just wanted to get rid of them so she gave me a peck for five bucks. Also, this is the first year I have had any success growing dill- it always flowers on me- the trick is to just keep it in the shade, so mine is growing in a planter on the front porch on a portion that gets only a couple hours of morning sun every day.
Easy day today- only about 90 minutes in the kitchen total.
jl
” If you see something I am doing wrong, correct me! ”
More dill.
Edit: but thanks for great pix and explanations.
Edit2: When can this full service almost top 10,000 blog expect to feature ‘In the Kitchen with John’ videos? With the cuss words and Cole pets tormenting the chef?
Patricia Kayden
Love sundried tomatoes — especially blended with some basil leaves. Great addition to most stewed dishes.
Ann
I stand in awe of you in the kitchen!
MagdaInBlack
I used to dry my plum/paste tomatoes, but not the big juicy ones, just for sake of time, no other reason.
I ate them like candy, btw. ?
CaseyL
I would absolutely, totally, PPV to see “Cooking at This Fucking Old House, with John Cole and his Menagerie.”
hells littlest angel
Thanks. I’m waiting for my tomatoes to ripen so I can dry them (I’m using my oven heated to 170° as my “sun”). I appreciate your experience. I’ll be standing on your shoulders when I do mine.
jl
@CaseyL: I can’t imagine why not. The blog was supposed to pay for itself. Cole could at least try.
I got a big ad advising me that there is a place I can go and pay a mint to freeze off unwanted body fat. That won’t do the trick.
Edit: an ad telling me why I should pour Coca Cola all over my car’s headlights ain’t going to do it either.
Shana
I made dill pickles last year and they were mostly salt flavored. This year I got a tall thin plastic container and did a batch that were brined before canning and they turned out much better. I also doubled the amount of dill to two sprigs per jar.
hells littlest angel
@CaseyL: If he does it nude, CineMax might pick it up.
jl
@hells littlest angel: Should be more than enough cursing.
@Shana: Yeah…. more dill. Told ya, Cole
ruemara
You’re quite a kitchenista, JC.
Yarrow
@Shana: I made refrigerator pickles earlier this summer and they mostly tasted like salt. Not super happy with them.
Steve in the ATL
@hells littlest angel: you are clearly confusing John with Tammy
Yarrow
@jl: Agreed. More dill.
hells littlest angel
@Steve in the ATL: No one could be that confused.
opiejeanne
@Yarrow: my experience too. The previous batch were supposed to be dill but the results tasted like bread and butter pickles, and I don’t like those very much.
When I used to make dill pickles I used the old Ball canning book’s recipe. It was for the water bath process and it worked very well. John is inspiring me. I need to find that book and use it this summer.
namekarB
@MagdaInBlack:
Yep. Roma tomatoes have a lot more meat and a lot less liquid. They are the best for sauces, canning and sun dried.
ETA: Anyone else ever put a vanilla bean in each jar when canning peaches or pears? Yum yum.
Comrade Colette Collaboratrice
John, those ‘maters look gorgeous. What are you doing to inhibit botulism risk with the basil? Is there enough acidity from the vinegar rinse and the tomatoes themselves?
Yarrow
@namekarB: Check yesterday’s peach canning post. John said he added vanilla extract but not beans because that cost too much.
Chetan Murthy
Surely I cannot be the only one who sees a future career as {Youtube,IG} Kitchen God, in Blogfather’s future?
Cowgirl in the Sandi
I am soooo enjoying these canning posts!! It’s a nice respite from the horror we are living in and I find it interesting that so many posters are chiming in with suggestions, recipes, and comments. Plus, the pictures are great!! This really is a full service blog!!
Chetan Murthy
@Cowgirl in the Sandi:
As an all-thumbs barely-able-to-cook-but-tryin’-I-swear boy here, I enjoy ALL of John’s cooking posts, but honestly, I enjoy even more the home-improvement posts! I mean, watching the slow bit-by-bit transformation of “This Fucking Old {Money-Pit,House}” has been a treat!
John, c’mon, you know there’s money just lyin’ on the table, waiting for you to pick it up — over at Youtube!
hilts
RIP D. A. Pennebaker, one of the giants of documentary film
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sACe54Y_lFE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1inL6s1htio
something fabulous
@Yarrow: Also: no garlic??
danielx
Cole’s domesticity makes me feel guilty, and I will say this – that is a phrase I never ever thought I would type.
Olivia
In years past, I would can a bushel or two of cucumbers because they were in high demand. My sister has taken over that job and hers are so much better than mine so they are also in great demand. One trick I learned early on is that if you have a top loading washing machine, it works beautifully to wash lots of cucumbers at once. Obviously you need to use cold or warm water and a slow speed for washing and spinning. I have also used the dishwasher for the task but it doesn’t work as well as the washing machine.
Steve in the ATL
The better food thread is the prior Respite thread, wherein MomSense introduced us to the hummus puta.
Kristine
You’re a machine, John!
I love sun-dried tomatoes. I dry mine in the oven.
Pickled grapes are my new fave condiment. A little sweet and a little sharp.
MelissaM
Ooh, I love dill but never get enough from my yard, even though I let it reseed itself. I’ll try planting a bunch in shade next year! Thanks for the tip!
rikyrah
Sun-dried tomatoes ???
Cole, I am jealous. They look delicious ??
Meg
I did sun dried tomatoes in a hot car.
It worked well and the car smelled good afterward.
Also no insect net was necessary this way.
Patricia Kayden
@Meg: Very smart!!
Suzanne
I want SuzMom to try canning, as she enjoys domestic foody things. She doesn’t know how to get started. Can anyone recommend their favorite links or guides or YouTube videos for absolute noobz?
SiubhanDuinne
@Chetan Murthy:
If I’m counting correctly, we are just about at the third anniversary (tomorrow, maybe, or Monday) of John’s buying the house and the beginning of the great transformation. And, of course, the whole Walter saga. So much has happened in a mere 36 months.
Chetan Murthy
@SiubhanDuinne:
Oh man! I didn’t mention Walter b/c it felt off-topic, but YES! YES! Walter, the way he and John met, the way John found him a forever home with Debit, Debit’s reports back with pics! All of it! It’s all amazingly heartwarming stuff, and a bg part of why I read this blog (besides that you all make me feel like I’m not alone) but also, I HAVE TO BELIEVE it could be Ratings Gold!
thalarctosMaritimus
@Suzanne: I don’t know where SuzMom lives, but if she’s close to a land-grant university, then their University Extension probably offers classes and other resources.
It’s easy and rewarding, once you get started, but there are very real safety concerns that canners need to take into consideration, to avoid botulism and other contaminations. But the principles are very straightforward, and there aren’t too many of them.
High-acid fruits are the easiest to get started with, because the temperatures in a water bath, plus the acid in the fruit, are sufficient to keep the food safe (unless she lives at ridiculously high altitude). Low-acid fruits and tomatoes need acid added, but with added acid, a water bath is safe. Vegetables, meat, seafood, and basically anything that is not fruit needs a pressure cooker to can safely–a water bath will not cut it under any conditions.
But with a good teacher, and tested recipes, she can master the techniques quickly and easily, and then–if she likes–go on to pickling and fermenting as well.
The good thing about untested recipes is that–while you can’t know whether they’re safe or not for long-term storage–you can do short-term refrigerator preserves or frozen preserves with them, so you don’t have to choose between giving up on the recipe totally, or risking ending up with an unsafe product.
It’s a wonderful way to spend time and enjoy food, and I can’t encourage her enough to try it! Here’s an excellent resource to get started–any recipe that comes from the National Center for Home Preservation (go, Dawgs!) is guaranteed to have been tested for safety.
sukabi
You’re a busy man. Nice domestic skills John. ?
Hate to crap up the thread with politics, but McConnell got a very lively greeting at a fancy picnic he eas speechifying at.
https://youtu.be/7pabwN45i0E
Moscow Mitch.
mrmoshpotato
@Steve in the ATL:
LOL Hummus Buddha?
mrmoshpotato
I picked up a ~7lb pork shoulder and some canned pineapple today. Tamara’s Al Pastor slow cooker recipe is getting made tomorrow. :)
MomSense
@mrmoshpotato:
I will never live this down.
Mary G
Baby’s first haircut:
Mikey, I think he likes it.
sukabi
@Mary G: lol. Baby getting buzzed from a buzz cut.???
Steve in the ATL
@MomSense: you might as well tell eneyone that you’re leaving the blog, and later reappear with a new nym as a totally different person who happens to live in Maine and eats vegetables and has a musical son. Most of us aren’t very bright and will totally fall for it.
On the other hand, that’s one of the best typos ever here!
mrmoshpotato
@MomSense: No judgement here.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@mrmoshpotato:
Wait, am I on the right blog?
frosty
@namekarB: I tried making tomato paste from my roma tomatoes. By the time I was done I got maybe 2 tablespoons of paste. Clearly, I need more tomato plants..
Romas and cherries do well for me. The big beefsteak ones not so much. This year the cherries took over my square foot garden, the peppers are kind of buried. Oh, and the squash decided it liked the lawn more than the veg garden. Every year is another experiment.
frosty
@SiubhanDuinne: Wow, it’s been 3 years? Time is flying by*.
*But then it does, based on my theory (the theory of mine, which it is) that time is experienced non-linearly as the the fraction of the life lived to date. e.g. the 9-weeks marking period in 3rd grade took forever and now I can barely sharpen a pencil in that amount of time.**
** OK, *find* the pencil.
frosty
@thalarctosMaritimus:
But still, fewer dangers than distilling whiskey. There are SO many ways that can go wrong.
janesays
Good fucking God, we can’t even go 24 hours now between mass shootings…
There’s now an active shooting scene in Dayton, Ohio, and initial reports are that possibly as many as 7 dead.
Fuck this.
https://www.daytondailynews.com/news/crime–law/police-responding-active-shooting-oregon-district/dHOvgFCs726CylnDLdZQxM/
janesays
Here’s video someone just posted from the scene.
https://twitter.com/Judahbm/status/1157903517505343488
WARNING: the video is a bit blurry, but there are clearly several bodies underneath white sheets on the sidewalk.
Janesays
Story has been picked up by the Washington Post. Still very scant details. None of the cable news networks are covering it yet.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/national/wp/2019/08/04/police-in-dayton-ohio-say-theyre-investigating-active-shooter-incident-in-the-citys-nightlife-district/?utm_term=.e316fce9be1b
Ken_L
Yeah more dill, preferably seeds. Just let a few plants go to seed, pick the heads when they’re dry, put in a paper bag to store.
Also how can you not put garlic in dill pickles? Add 2 – 3 cloves per jar now.
Oh and I put the dill and garlic at the bottom of the jar, before the cukes. No idea if it makes any difference, but intuitively it seems the flavor would be more likely to blend that way than if they’re floating on top.
JWR
@Janesays: ABC has it too. So far, 16 victims, no word on deaths, if any.
Martin
CNN saying 9 dead (10 including shooter) 16 wounded.
White male, black mask, wearing hearing protection, AR-15.
janesays
29 innocent lives taken by two separate mass shootings in two U.S. cities more than a thousand miles apart in less than 18 hours time.
This country is just fucked.
Jeffery
You have Christmas gifts for so many people.
debbie
@Mary G:
I love this! Every other baby’s first haircut usually involves tears and screaming.
debbie
@MomSense:
I similarly went through the same thing when I mistyped “public” and “accounts” in the same letter; more than 10 years later, co-workers still guffawed at the memory.
rikyrah
@mrmoshpotato:
????
Katie
Thank you for these posts John! It’s super inspiring! I’m moving from a very urban condo with two brown thumbs to a more suburban setting soon. Learning how to garden is going to be a big step for me.
Jak
We have a similar drier but it is an older model with just an on/off switch. A temp setting would be nice. Plum tomatoes or other pulpy ones like the Heinz variety will dry a lot faster than the juicier varieties. Great way to store and keep. Last through the winter until the next growing season.