Polish · sauce/condiment

Ogórki Kiszone (Salt-Brined Dill Cucumbers)

Name: Ogórki Kiszone (Salt-Brined Dill Cucumbers)
Prep time: 2 h 15 min
Total time: 98 h 15 min
Cuisine: Polish
Ingredients: pickling cucumber — 1500 g; water — 2000 g; salt — 60 g; dill — 2 g; garlic — 24 g; horseradish; blackcurrant leaves — 2 g; sour cherry leaves — 2 g; black peppercorns — 5 g; yellow mustard seeds — 10 g

Ogórki Kiszone (Salt-Brined Dill Cucumbers) reads allium 6.5, salinity 3.6 and herbaceous 3.5 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Polish sauce/condiment, about 98 hr 15 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

Umami & Savory — 3.9 / 10
Sweet & Fruity — 1.3 / 10
Sour & Bright — 2.9 / 10
Bitter & Earthy — 1.7 / 10
Rich & Fat — 0.8 / 10
Aromatic & Spice — 7.2 / 10

The measured notes (of 18)

Allium 6.5 · Salinity 3.6 · Herbaceous 3.5 · Sourness 2.9 · Heat 2.8 · Warm Spice 2.4 · Umami 2.1 · Bitterness 1.6 · Sweetness 1.3 · Floral 0.9 · Earthy 0.8 · Funk & Ferment 0.7 · Richness 0.7

What's in it (10)

pickling cucumber — 1500 g
water — 2000 g
salt — 60 g
dill — 2 g
garlic — 24 g
horseradish
blackcurrant leaves — 2 g
sour cherry leaves — 2 g
black peppercorns — 5 g
yellow mustard seeds — 10 g

Time & effort: about 98 hr 15 min (2 hr 15 min active) · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 7.7 kcal, 0.3 g protein, 0.3 g fat, 1.2 g carbs

Dietary: Vegan — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (9 steps)

Scrub the cucumbers and stand them in ice water for 2 hours. Limp cucumbers make limp pickles, and this is the only chance you have to firm them up.
Dissolve the salt in the water. The ratio is 30 g per litre, a 3 percent brine, and it is worth weighing rather than guessing: weaker than this and the wrong bacteria get a foothold, stronger and the ferment stalls.
Trim the blossom ends off the cucumbers. The blossom end carries an enzyme that softens pickles from the inside.
Pack the cucumbers upright into a scalded 3 litre jar or crock, layering in the dill head and stalks, garlic, horseradish, blackcurrant and cherry leaves, peppercorns and mustard seed as you go. The leaves are not decoration; their tannins are what keep the cucumbers crisp for months.
Pour over the brine so everything is submerged by 3 cm, weight the cucumbers down with a small plate or a water-filled bag, and cover loosely.
Leave at about 20 C. After 3 days you have ogórki małosolne, half-soured, still bright green and mild, which are eaten as they are. Left for 3 weeks they become fully kiszone, olive-coloured, cloudy, sharply sour and fizzy on the tongue.
Skim any white film off the surface every few days and top up the brine if the level drops. A film is harmless; fuzzy or coloured mould is not.
Move them to the cold once they taste right, and keep the brine. That brine is an ingredient in its own right in Polish kitchens, going into zupa ogórkowa and drunk straight as a hangover cure.
Substitutions: oak leaves can stand in for the sour cherry leaves.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

Gomen Wat (Spiced Collard Greens) — Ethiopian
Mediterranean Cucumber and Yogurt Salad With Red or Black Quinoa — Mediterranean
Potato and Cauliflower Curry (Aloo Gobi) — Indian
Svanuri Marili (Svan Salt) — Georgian
Zakwas na Żurek (Rye Sour Starter) — Polish

Keep reading: what allium, salinity, herbaceous mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.