Salt-Brined Dill Pickles

My favorite pickles in the whole wide world are the small, canned, salt-brined Israeli pickles made on Kibbutz Yavneh, about an hour south of Tel Aviv. Salty and crispy-briny, they’re a staple in falafel and sandwich stands all over the country. But since the flavor of those is hard to re-create—they’re factory-canned under pressure—I reverted to a super-simple, salty, dilly pickle that you can scale up to make as many as you like; this recipe yields enough pickles for a small crowd, but you can increase the recipe amounts and vessel size all the way up to the impressive 5-gallon jar I filled and photographed here. Using filtered water for pickling prevents the garlic from turning blue, which can happen when trace metals in some tap water react with components in the garlic. Feel free to improvise, adding more garlic, dried chilies, and spices if you like. To facilitate proper pickling, it’s important to keep the pickles completely submerged in the liquid; you can buy glass fermentation weights on Amazon, or lodge a small, nonreactive bowl on top of the pickles to keep them from bobbing above the surface.

Makes 12 to 14 pickles

Active Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 3 days

12 to 14 small Persian or Kirby cucumbers (1¼ pounds)

5 peeled garlic cloves

3 dill sprigs

1 dried hot red chili pepper, such as chile de arbol

1 bay leaf

¼ cup kosher salt

½ teaspoon whole black peppercorns

½ teaspoon mustard seeds

½ teaspoon coriander seeds

Filtered water

Scrub the cucumbers under warm water to remove any excess wax or dirt, place them in a large bowl, cover them with ice water, and chill for 30 minutes (this helps the pickles stay crisp). Pack the pickles tightly into a clean, wide-mouthed 3-quart glass jar (you can also scale down to smaller jars, as long as the cucumbers will fit) with a tight-fitting lid, preferably with a rubber gasket. Fit the garlic, dill, dried chili, and bay leaf into the jar, finding crevices and pockets between the cucumbers if possible. Sprinkle the salt into the jar, then sprinkle in the peppercorns, mustard seeds, and coriander seeds, moving the jar a bit so they fall into the bottom of the jar.

Fill the jar almost to the top with filtered water and swirl it a bit to dissolve the salt. Top off with water, then try to use a small dish or fermentation weight (see Shopping Guide)—whatever will stay wedged inside the mouth of the jar—to ensure that the pickles are below the water line; this is essential for proper pickling. Seal tightly and let sit on the counter to brine; the pickles will be slightly salty and crisp after 1 day; slightly softer after 2; and soft, funky, and even slightly fermented at 3 days, at which point you can move them to the refrigerator for storage (you can also leave them out for longer if you like really fizzy, salty, fully sour, and softer pickles).