Mocheni Yabluka (мочені яблука, soused apples)

The first surprise is that the apple bites back. It looks like an apple, yellow-green and sensible, then your teeth break the skin and the juice is cold, sour-sweet, a little fizzy, and suddenly a winter plate of roast potatoes or buckwheat has woken up.

Mocheni yabluka are not vinegar pickles. They are apples persuaded slowly in a light brine with sugar, salt, rye, and leaves for tannin, the old pantry thinking that says autumn fruit should still be feeding you in February. Aunt Nadia wrote only "keep them under, wait until it sounds right," which is comedy until you hear the jar begin to tick and sigh on the shelf.

The one thing that decides the dish is the apple. Choose firm, late, sharp apples with tight skins, not soft sweet ones that collapse into baby food. The brine does the rest while you live your life. Make a big jar; there is no tradition of a small one.