Ploughman's Pickle

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large heavy-bottomed preserving pan or stockpot
• •Sharp knife and a chopping board you don't mind staining
• •4 medium jars with vinegar-proof lids (about 350ml each)
• •Wooden spoon
• •Funnel for filling jars (helpful but not essential)

Instructions

1. 1

   Dice everything small

   This is the part that asks for patience. Put the radio on. The vegetables all need to be cut to roughly the same size, somewhere between a pea and a small dice. Not minced, not chunky, somewhere in between. The swede and carrot are the firmest, so start with those. The cauliflower wants to be broken into tiny florets, no bigger than a fingernail. Tip everything into your largest bowl as you go. It will look like a great deal of vegetables. It is.

   Resist the urge to use a food processor. It turns the vegetables to mush and you lose the texture that makes a pickle worth eating. A sharp knife and forty minutes of your evening. That's the deal.
2. 2

   Build the spiced vinegar

   Pour the vinegar into a large, heavy-bottomed pan, the biggest you have. Add the muscovado sugar, the treacle, the tomato puree, the mustard, the Worcestershire sauce, the salt, and all the spices. Set it over a low heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved and the treacle has melted into the vinegar. The kitchen will start to smell like Christmas in November, dark and sweet and a little fierce.

3. 3

   Add the vegetables

   Tip in all the diced vegetables, the dates, the gherkins, the garlic, and the apple. Stir well. It will look dry at first, then the vegetables will start to give up their water and the whole thing will loosen into a dark, glossy mess that already smells like the inside of a cheese sandwich.

   If your pan looks too full, it isn't. Everything cooks down by about a third. Just keep the heat low and stir from the bottom.
4. 4

   Simmer slowly

   Bring it up to a gentle simmer, then turn the heat down as low as it will go. Cook uncovered for an hour and a half to two hours, stirring every ten minutes or so to stop it catching on the bottom. You want the vegetables tender but still holding their shape, and the liquid reduced to a thick, dark, glossy sauce that coats the back of a spoon. Drag a wooden spoon through the middle of the pan. If the channel holds for a moment before the sauce flows back in, it's ready. If it floods straight back, give it another fifteen minutes.

5. 5

   Finish with lemon and taste

   Off the heat, stir in the lemon juice. Taste it carefully, it's hot, but you need to know what you've made. It should be sweet, sharp, savoury, and a little spicy, all at once. If it tastes flat, more salt. If it tastes too sweet, a splash more vinegar. Season and taste. Then taste again.

6. 6

   Jar it up

   While the pickle is still warm, spoon it into hot, sterilised jars, pressing it down with the back of a spoon to push out any air pockets. Fill right to the top, then seal immediately with vinegar-proof lids. Label them with the date. Now comes the hardest part: put them in a dark cupboard and forget about them for at least four weeks. Six is better. The pickle needs that time to mellow, to let the harsh edges of the vinegar soften and the spices marry into something deeper.

   To sterilise jars, wash them in hot soapy water, rinse well, then dry them upright in a low oven (140C) for fifteen minutes. The lids should be boiled for a few minutes in a small pan of water. Everything must be hot when the pickle goes in.

Chef Tips

• •The dicing is the whole job. Get it right and the pickle has texture and bite. Get it wrong and you've made chutney. Take the time, keep the pieces small and even, and don't be tempted to shortcut with a machine.
• •Muscovado sugar matters. The dark, treacly kind, not light brown, not demerara. It's what gives the pickle its proper colour and that deep, almost smoky sweetness. If you can only find light brown, add an extra spoonful of treacle to compensate.
• •The four-week wait isn't optional. Freshly made, the pickle tastes harsh and one-note, all vinegar and heat. After a month in the cupboard, the vegetables have surrendered, the spices have settled, and the whole thing tastes like itself. Patience is an ingredient here, the same as the salt.
• •Eat it with strong cheddar, a good ham, a pork pie, a baked potato, a cheese sandwich on Tuesday. It belongs anywhere a sharp, sweet, spicy spoonful would do some good.

Advance Preparation

• •This recipe is itself a make-ahead. The pickle needs at least four weeks in a cool, dark cupboard before opening, and six is better. Plan accordingly.
• •Once sealed in sterilised jars, the pickle keeps unopened for up to a year in a cool dark place. Once opened, refrigerate and use within two months.
• •Make a batch in October or November and you'll have jars ready for Christmas, January cheese boards, and every cold lunch through to spring.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 20g)