Put a Cucumber in a Crispy Cheese Blanket
I’m a big fan of the combination of pickles and dairy. I’m a big fan of the combination of pickles and dairy. I’m a big fan of the combination of pickles and dairy. they’ve been known to dip gherkins in sour cream and sauté pickle slices in a pile of shredded cheddar , and I’m not the only one obsessed with the combination. “Pickles in a blanket” – aka “chickens” – is very popular on TikTok right now. The blanket is made from cheese.
It’s a simple two-ingredient appetizer: a slice of cheese is placed in a non-stick pan and, when it’s bubbly and lacy and starting to brown around the edges, wrapped around a marinated spear (or a small half marinade). In terms of flavor, it’s not that much different from our Pickled Cheese Chips (which also appeared on TikTok), but the marinade to cheese ratio is much larger and you get the same amount of marinade in each bite. .
The hardest part about making this appetizer is knowing when to fold the cheese around the brine. Do this too soon and you’ll end up sliding the melted cheese from the marinade back into the pan. Let the cheese fry in its own fat until it is golden brown around the edges, with very few melted spots. You want a lot of small holes, indicating that most of the water has evaporated, allowing the cheese to become crispy after being removed from the pan.
You can use almost any cheese you want. Even an American that melts and remains rubbery will, with enough time and heat, turn into a crispy cheesy crisp. (In fact, this is what I used to make the brine in the blanket you see above.) You don’t even have to use the cheese slices; most fricos are made with shredded cheese, and a shredded cheese blanket is folded in exactly the same way as a sliced cheese blanket.
Either way, you get a sour, juicy cucumber wrapped in a crunchy layer of salty cheese, and it’s delicious. It tastes a bit like a diner cheeseburger, minus the hamburger. It screams “flat,” but it doesn’t require a waffle house-like grill surface to make. All you need is a non-stick frying pan, a slice (or a handful) of cheese, and a cucumber (or a small half). Can other ingredients be added, such as chopped meat, vegetables, or even chips ? Yes, but try this pickled appetizer at its simplest first. It deserves to be enjoyed on its own. (I ended mine with honey, but sweet honey, salty, crunchy cheese, and sour pickles go so well together.)
Pickle in a Blanket (or “Chickle”)
Ingredients:
- 1 slice white American cheese
- 1 cucumber or half a cucumber
- Honey for finishing (optional)
Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add a slice of cheese and let it cook until it’s browned around the edges and almost all of the “melted” spots have turned into drier, lacy patches.
Pat the brine dry with paper towels and add it to the center of the cheese slice. Gently fold the edges of the cheese over the marinade with a silicone spatula, then remove from the pan, drizzle with honey if using, and enjoy immediately.