& indeed it was very nice, enough for a tinkering do-over this week omitting the salt & trying out, as per japanese ramen egg recipes, "ok for re-use if you heat it high enough)
NB I haven’t been sticking my fingers in the wine vinegar, salt, nor icing sugar (as our ultra-fine is) so ripe for experimentation on personal consumption in the cook bag)
The crunch is very nice, no soggy pickle bits here & very satisfying to snack on or top out a hot dog.
As the initial batch (first try) was a bit too salty for me I am simply not adding salt at this time to find what I prefer & to understand pickling flavour a bit better, …i’m on the eternal search for nice pickle juice as it is a very personal preference) once chilled I will see where the salt needs stepping up / alternate additions with a more definite aim (onions I can eat more forgivingly than screwed up cucumber pickles)
Anyway, if you have not yet tried pickles in such a simple form I recommend these, they do what the recipe says for short term pickle storage eats… (just ease off on the salt maybe)
24 hours later I tried them for flavour which is sweet but fine for those who like sweet contrast to their onion, previously with the amount of instruction recipe salt was throwing off too much “oddness” so i’d sartt with 1/3 - 1/2 the salt stated & take it from there if not adding any herbage (dill etc)
Or maybe it just comes down to the fact that north america is salt heavy? (I once tasted "blue box kraft mac & cheese before giving it to my then small daughter, …it was poisoning by salt, how is that allowed?
Additional:
I’m always keen to understand what can be re-used & recycled, the fact that the japanese re-heat for multiple use their egg pickles (for noodle dishes) really was me coming out of the dark ages, with that in mind I forgot to say that I packed out the same jar used with likely 3x the onion into the same jar the second time round, …the results were the same in the sous vide & when jarring up.
I would never consider this with a weak brine from a store bought jar, but when making it at home, it is not a weak watery solution so all is well for multiple uses as the whole lot is pasteurised (the premise of the egg pickling too) & as it’s just me using a clean fork (not fingers) to lay those pickles down onto breakfast rice, cheese on toast, …whatever little chance of contamination passing through to the jar liquid.
DO NOT EXCEED 30 MINUTES, DO NOT “FORGET” Have your ice cold plunge water at the ready.
I did the above due to sickness & left it 22 mins over (thus 52 mins total SV time) & the difference in crunch is very big indeed, nothing like jars one & two in the recent weeks.
I would also say to add a splash more vinegar if you are re-using the vinegar brine mix after the second go as it begins to fade out) …it’s just me eating these pickles, from a clean fork, in a jar only I am bothered with so no bugs being spread from re-use.
UPDATE: Max use for the brine is TWICE only, I tried a third & despite topping up with some more of the same bottle of red wine vinegar I can only assume something within the onions hits other flavour elements hard as it builds up, or the second heating process maybe? anyhow, that is all Forrest has to say on that matter.
