Skip to content

Robert St. John

Restaurateur, author, enthusiastic traveler, & world-class eater.

The Late-Great Louis Norman’s Garlicky-Sweet Dill Pickles

Ingredients

Plain Dill Pickles
2 tsp Minced Garlic
1 ½ cups Granulated Sugar

Instructions

Start with one-gallon of the cheapest dill pickles you can find (Do not use kosher dills). Drain and discard all of the juice and cut pickles into one-inch segments. Next, layer approximately 2 inches of pickle segments back into the bottom of the empty one-gallon pickle jar. Top pickles with approximately two teaspoons of minced garlic and pour enough granulated sugar over the top of the pickles to cover (approximately 1 – 1 1 /2 cups). Repeat procedure until you have filled the pickle jar. Close lid tightly and let sit. Within six hours the sugar will dissolve and make a new, sweeter, pickle liquid. Add an additional cup (or two) of sugar making sure that the pickles are always covered by sugar or liquid.

Store pickles in the refrigerator for three days. Rotate the jar twice a day to thoroughly mix ingredients.

This is not a pickling recipe. True canners will scoff at this procedure since raw cucumbers aren’t being used. But who cares what they think. The end result is worth the loss of authenticity. The hardest part of the recipe is finding plain-old dill pickles. Kosher dills won’t work (they shrivel up). Louis sliced his garlic into small shaved chips (about two heads per gallon of pickles). I use minced garlic.

Recent Recipes

Salsa

Makes about 3 cups Place all ingredients into the bowl of a food processor with the blade attachment. Pulse several…

Read more

Pastel de Huevo

OK, so it’s a quiche. But “Mexican Quiche” just didn’t sound right. I’ve already thrown in an Italian version in this book. I don’t want to do even more to insult the Francophiles. So, we’ll just call it an egg pie. If you have a Mexican market nearby, purchase your chorizo there (unless you make your own). Substitute queso cotija or queso chihuahua for a little more depth in the flavor profile. Leftover salsa can be used for a topping on scrambled eggs or a dip with chips later in the day.

Read more

Baked Potato Quiche

I call this recipe “Comfort quiche.” It’s perfect for a cold December evening. The great thing about quiche is that it can be prepared in advance and held cold in the refrigerator or frozen up to a couple of weeks. When the holidays are hectic and the house is crowded, this quiche is perfect as a lap meal in front of the fireplace served alongside a light salad.

Read more