Cooking Broken Pickles Is Violence and Well
A chopped disc of brine has its own time and place (like in a burger), and a sharp spear on the side of a plate can add a touch of delicacy to lunch, but the shapes of the brine don’t have to be so smooth, so neat, so clean. In fact, there is a very good argument for ditching the knife altogether: break the pickles, my friends. Break them down and be free.
From what exactly? Knives, for example, but also the idea that the marinade should look a certain way. Similar to the cucumbers in the smashed cucumber salad , pickles absorb flavor better than their clean-cut counterparts.
Crushing damages the cell walls of the cucumber much more than chopping or slicing, and damage to the cells is what allows the cucumber to absorb flavor. (This is why a quick massage of the pickles helps speed up the pickling process.) Plus, it’s just plain fun. Bringing a blunt object to a hard but juicy fruit is a pleasure, unlike working with a knife. You can even get the kids involved – just remember to put the cucumber in an airtight freezer bag before handing it over for breaking.
I don’t have a strict “recipe” for mashed pickles because it works with any pickle. (Spruce Eats has a recipe if you like this sort of thing, but I used this pickle for everything.) Just take a few pickles, place them in an airtight bag, then break up a small skillet, hammer, or heavy scoop. Place the chunks and chunks in a jar along with the garlic, spices or flavors and cover it all with hot brine. Let the brine cool to room temperature, then refrigerate the pickles.
The crunching not only prepares the pancakes for the brine flavor, but it also releases more juice from the cucumber into the brine, resulting in the brine being juicier and more cucumber-like. I smashed one cucumber from my garden and doused it with pickled corn brine and it was completely scented. (Smaller creatures may find these pickles too aromatic, but I like the particularly aggressive pickles.)