Pickled Onions

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Two large preserving jars with vinegar-proof lids (around 750ml each)
• •Large non-reactive saucepan
• •Large mixing bowl for brining
• •Funnel (optional but useful)

Instructions

1. 1

   Loosen the skins

   Tip the onions into a large bowl and pour over a kettle of boiling water. Leave them for one minute, no more, then drain and run cold water over them until they're cool enough to handle. The skins will slip off more willingly now, which matters because you have a lot of onions ahead of you.

   Put the radio on. Pour yourself a drink. Peeling pickling onions is the kind of tedious, repetitive job that becomes pleasant if you stop fighting it and let your hands get on with it.
2. 2

   Peel and trim

   Top and tail each onion and slip off the papery skin. Try to keep the root end mostly intact so the onions hold their shape. You'll cry. There is no clever way around this. Drop each peeled onion into a large bowl as you go.

3. 3

   Brine overnight

   Stir the salt into the cold water until it dissolves. Pour the brine over the peeled onions, weight them down with a plate so they stay submerged, and leave them on the counter for twenty-four hours. The salt draws out the water and firms the flesh. Skip this and you'll end up with soft, sad pickles. Don't skip it.

4. 4

   Make the spiced vinegar

   Pour the malt vinegar into a non-reactive saucepan and add the sugar, peppercorns, mustard seeds, coriander seeds, allspice, cloves, bay leaves, and chillies. Bring it slowly to a simmer, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. The kitchen will smell sharp and warm and a bit Christmas, which is exactly right. Take it off the heat the moment it bubbles and let it cool completely. Cold vinegar over cold onions. Hot vinegar would cook them and you'd lose the crunch.

5. 5

   Sterilise the jars

   Wash two large jars and their lids in hot soapy water, rinse well, and put them in a low oven at 120C for fifteen minutes to dry and sterilise. The lids can go into a pan of just-boiled water for five minutes. Let everything cool until you can handle it but is still warm.

   Use jars with vinegar-proof lids. Plain metal lids will corrode over time and ruin the pickles. Kilner jars or jars with plastic-lined lids are what you want.
6. 6

   Pack and pour

   Drain the onions and rinse them under cold water to wash off the brine. Pat them dry with a clean tea towel. Pack them into the sterilised jars, fairly tightly but without bruising them. Pour the cold spiced vinegar over the top, making sure the spices are distributed between the jars and that every onion is covered. Seal the lids firmly.

7. 7

   Wait

   Label the jars with the date and put them somewhere cool and dark. A cupboard, a pantry, the bottom of a wardrobe if that's what you've got. Now leave them alone for at least six weeks. Eight is better. Twelve is better still. The vinegar needs time to mellow, the spices need time to bloom into the onions, and the harsh edge needs time to soften into something you actually want to eat. Opening them too early is a small heartbreak. I know because I've done it.

Chef Tips

• •Buy the onions in late September or October when they come into season. They're small, firm, and properly pungent at this time of year. Pickling onions out of season are asad business and not worth the effort.
• •Malt vinegar is traditional and right for this. It has the depth and the slight sweetness that white vinegar lacks. Don't be tempted to substitute. If you want a milder pickle, cut the malt with a bit of cider vinegar, but keep most of it malt.
• •The longer you leave them, the better they get. Mine usually sit untouched until the first cold meat lunch of December, by which point they've had ten weeks to come into their own. Open one early to test if you must, but treat it as a sneak preview, not the main event.
• •Serve them cold, straight from the jar, with mature cheddar, pork pie, cold ham, and a pint of decent bitter. This is the most British plate of food I know how to make and there are few better lunches on a cold Saturday.

Advance Preparation

• •These must be made at least six weeks before you want to eat them. Eight to twelve weeks is better. There is no rushing this and no shortcut that will give you the same result.
• •Properly sealed and stored in a cool, dark place, the pickled onions will keep for up to a year. Once opened, refrigerate and eat within three months.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 30g, 2 pickled onions)