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In this weekly series, home cook Bruce Watson works his way through a decades-old family cookbook, adapting the best recipes exclusively for Slashfood.

When my mother, who had been raised on kosher half-sour pickles, first tried bread-and-butters, she was immediately overwhelmed. For someone who was used to the tart flavor of Northeastern dills and half-sours, the Southern sweetness of the bread-and-butters were an absolute delight.

Through a combination of compliments and guile, she managed to get hold of our friend Millie's recipe. From that year on, we had a huge picklefest every summer, when we'd spend two or three days putting up bread-and-butter pickles.

While these are extremely sweet pickles, I have kept the recipe almost exactly the way my mom made it. This is partly due to the necessities of pickling, and partially due to a sense of tradition. Mostly, though, it's due to the fact that I regularly swap these pickles out for gherkins or sweet pickle relish.

Get the recipe for bread-and-butter pickles after the jump.




These days, most sweet pickles are flavored with high-fructose corn syrup; since I don't like HFCS' flavor, it's nice to have another option. Alternately, as the name suggests, these pickles taste great on buttered bread or as a side dish for any spicy meal.

On one final note, Millie cut her pickles about 3/16-inch thick, while my mom went for about one-eighth. Personally, I like a ceramic mandoline cutter to go even thinner. Because of the ice wash in this recipe, the finished pickles remain fairly crunchy, no matter how thin you slice them.

Millie's Bread-and-Butter Pickles

1 gallon pickling cucumbers (see note)
8 small white onions, thinly sliced (see note)
1 green pepper, julienned
1 red pepper, julienned
1/2 cup kosher salt
One 8-pound bag of ice
5 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
2 tablespoons mustard seed
2 teaspoons celery seed
5 cups white vinegar

Slice the cucumbers thinly, but do not peel them. Add the onions and peppers and mix with the salt and about one-third of the bagged ice. Cover completely with ice and let stand for three hours (if you want, you can put the cucumbers in the refrigerator). Drain thoroughly.

In a large pot or stockpot, combine the vinegar, sugar, turmeric, cloves, mustard seed, celery seed and white vinegar. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and add the cucumber and onion mixture. Combine thoroughly and return to heat. Heat through, but do not allow to boil.

Place in sterilized canning jars, allowing 1/4-inch headspace. Close jars with sterilized lids and screw bands. Cook in a boiling hot water bath for 10 minutes, drain and allow to sit at room temperature until they seal. When they finally seal, you should hear a loud popping sound.

Notes:
When buying cucumbers, be sure to get ones that are unwaxed. Kirby cucumbers are a great bet. For the onions, use full-sized onions that are roughly two inches in diameter. Do not substitute pearl onions.