Hairy Bikers Piccalilli

Hairy Bikers piccalilli is filed in the book as hot mustard pickle, which is why it is so hard to find. So five jars come out of it at roughly 295 calories each, built on cauliflower, green beans and courgette salted overnight. That recipe is from Perfect Pies, and it runs to 25 hours once the salting and simmering are counted.

The headnote ends with a nudge rather than a tip, telling you to “try it with a ham and egg pie”. That pie is in the same book, built on a whole ham hock, so the pairing is theirs rather than a guess.

The 24 hour salting is the step people shorten, and it is the one that decides the texture. Because salt pulls water out of the cauliflower and courgette first, the finished pickle stays thick and the vegetables keep their crunch.

Hairy Bikers Piccalilli

Author: Alex Saidani Cooking Method:Pickling Cuisine:British Courses:Side Dish

Difficulty:BeginnerPrep time: 30 minutesCook time: 35 minutesRest time:24 hours Total time:25 hours 5 minutesServings:5 servingsCalories:295 kcal Best Season:Summer

Description

Vegetables sit under salt overnight, then drain and go into onions simmered in malt vinegar. Then a paste of mustard powder, turmeric and cornflour thickens it in the last ten minutes. And the jars need a month in the dark before they are worth opening.

Ingredients

For the vegetables

• 250g green beans
• 500g small cauliflower florets
• 250g courgettes (2 medium)
• 100g fine sea salt
• 3 medium onions, chopped

For the pickling liquid

• 300ml malt vinegar
• 300ml white wine vinegar
• 250g granulated sugar

For the spice paste

• 1 heaped tbsp English mustard powder
• 1 heaped tbsp ground turmeric
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp dried chilli flakes
• 25g cornflour

Instructions

1. Salt the vegetables: Cut the beans into 1.5cm lengths, quarter the cauliflower florets and slice the courgettes into 1cm pieces.
2. Leave them overnight: Layer the vegetables in a non-metallic bowl with the salt between each layer, cover with a plate, and leave 24 hours.
3. Rinse and drain: Tip them into a colander and rinse the salt off, then cover with cold water, swirl, and drain again.
4. Simmer the onions: Put the onions in a large pan with the malt vinegar and simmer gently for 15 minutes, stirring now and then.
5. Make the spice paste: Mix 5 tbsp of the white wine vinegar with the mustard powder, turmeric, ginger, chilli flakes and cornflour.
6. Cook the vegetables: Stir the rest of the white wine vinegar and the sugar into the onions until dissolved. Add the drained vegetables and simmer for 10 minutes.
7. Thicken it: Pour in the spice paste and stir briskly, then cook 8 to 10 minutes more. Check the vegetables are tender but still crisp.
8. Jar and wait: Pour into warm sterilised jars, seal with glass or plastic-coated lids, and store somewhere cool and dark for at least a month.

FAQs

How much sugar goes in, and why do recipes disagree?

The book says 250g of granulated sugar, and that is the figure to use. And confusion crops up because older piccalilli recipes measured sugar by the pint rather than by weight. So weigh it, since a pint of sugar is nearly double that and would make the pickle cloying.

The ingredients are all ordinary, since it is cauliflower, beans, courgette, onions, two vinegars and five store-cupboard spices. And the chilli flakes make this a hot piccalilli rather than a mild one, so halve them for children.

Why is it called hot mustard pickle and not piccalilli?

Perfect Pies files it under hot mustard pickle, and BBC Food publishes it under the same name. And the headnote is the only place the word piccalilli appears, where they call it their take on the classic. So anyone searching the obvious term never lands on it, which is why few people know the recipe exists.

It came from their Best of British series, in the Cheese and Pickle episode, which is where most people first saw them make it. And BBC Food still lists it under that programme rather than under piccalilli.

Do I really have to wait a month before opening it?

Yes, and this is not the usual recipe-writer caution. Because the vinegar is harsh straight off the hob, the month lets it mellow and lets the spices move into the vegetables. And opening it at a week gives you something sharp and raw, with the mustard still sitting on top.

Made in late September it is ready for Christmas, which is when most people want it beside a glazed gammon. And it keeps for months unopened in a cool dark cupboard, so one batch covers the season. And it is an easy recipe with a long wait, which is not the same as a quick one.

What do you serve piccalilli with?

The book answers that itself, sending you straight to their ham and egg pie. That one is built on a 1kg ham hock with quails’ eggs set through the middle, so the pickle cuts the fat. And that is why people search for a Hairy Bikers ham hock and piccalilli recipe, though they are two separate recipes.

Beyond that it belongs with cold cuts, a strong cheddar, a slice of pork pie and leftover ham. And their rhubarb chutney is the other preserve worth making, sharper and fruitier than this one. And homemade piccalilli beats the jar because you control the crunch, where shop-bought cooks the vegetables to mush.

Why do the jars need glass or plastic-coated lids?

Because vinegar corrodes bare metal, and the recipe is specific about it. So a plain metal lid pits and rusts over a month, which taints the pickle and can loosen the seal. And Kilner-style glass lids or the plastic-coated ones from jam jars both do the job.

Sterilising matters just as much, since a month in the cupboard gives anything left behind plenty of time. And the jars go in warm rather than cold, so the hot pickle does not crack them.