It's funny, it wasn't until I read this thread on the Chowhound message boards that I realized people do anything more with pickles than eat them out of the jar. I love pickled anything, and that is my preferred method: as a snack food, straight up. I don't mess around with crackers or any of that fancy nonsense. Although if someone else goes to the trouble of laying out a charcuterie board, I certainly don't turn up my nose at it. But I never think of pickles as something to accompany other food.
This is short sighted of me, of course. Pickles are great on sandwiches, where they can provide two contrasts: texture and taste. A pickle is crunchy, which plays well against a sandwich that can often be too soft and bland. And its sharp vinegar taste serves the same purpose, perking things up when otherwise they might be "meh."
Pickles also go well with barbecue and other rich meat dishes. This plays on the contrast theory of food design, which is that you want to keep your palate surprised by throwing it a curveball as you eat. Otherwise you're just shoveling barbecue into your face, which is great, don't get me wrong, but stopping to crunch on a vinegar-y pickle will provide a nice contrast to all that delicious saucy meat.
However, I still think of these as edge cases. I love making refrigerator pickles out of just about anything: carrot spears, cauliflower, asparagus, green beans, you name it. (Even cucumbers, occasionally.) I eat them on their own, the same way you might eat Doritos or any other snack food. But pickles, unlike most other snack foods, are both low carb and loaded with all those great vegetable-y nutrients. And so cool, crisp, and delicious!
Image courtesy Flickr/YoAmes
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