Palates can change, as I've explained, but there's always going to be things on our plate we have to work extra hard to appreciate... and for me, it's always been Pickles. I like them better than Ketchup! Ketchup is my arch-nemesis, constantly praying on my downfall. But pickles and I simply don't seem to have a lot of common ground...
That is until I met Daikon. Daikon is funky, smart, and cool. Neon pink hues, and primarily there to provide texture, I can get down with Daikon!
Flavor Breakdown
Briny and sour, sweet and peppery, daikon is refreshing and mild. I respect the Daikon as a low key, flexible kinda veggie with culinary versatility; the art kid of the vegetable world.
Fresh Pickles
Daikon are not the first pickles I encountered that I actually liked. When I first moved to the South, I was suprised to learn that there are a LOT of chefs fresh pickling their own stuff in North Carolina, a tradition borrowed from the Appalachians and Western NC. Fresh pickles, I decided, are alright. They're my second favorite tangy bite to cut through a greasy fried chicken sandwich, just after pickled sweet onions.
But if you asked me what precisely I liked about them, I would have to tell you it's their crunch.
Cue the High Acid Wines
In our natural, minimal intervention wines, that textured vinegar-y note is not altogether uncommon. In Albariños and Gruner Veltliners, you might find the herbal and the textural notes that remind of a daikon radish and lend themselves to pair well with fresh, briny dishes.
I'm Still Not Effing with Grillos
There's a video on the internet of a guy going around with tongs asking people on the street "Pickle? Pickle?" and watching their faces light up. For obvious reasons of texture and hygeine, the idea grabbing a pickle with my grubby paws while out and about in a big city makes me want to dry heave. But a lot of people did accept this briny lil worm straight from the guy's tongs. And I can reluctantly kind of understand why the pickley-ness could be as refreshing as a cool Gatorade... hmm...
If all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you jump off a bridge too?
I can no more explain to you why pickles are popular than I can explain why THIS BOOK was in every child library in America. I do not remember the moral of this story.
Were we trying to assuage the male literacy crisis? Were we... hoping to get more young men exploring culinary creativity? Because -- I can't lie -- the story does kind of resemble the sense of humor and out of pocket absurdity of any conversation that goes down with the line cooks on break... Was this a book about resisting peer pressure?
Whatever the reason, don't ever tell me white people don't have culture.
Here are some pickle related jokes, let me know if you have more:
I relish the opportunity to find more ways to appreciate pickles this summer.
What to do when you're in a pickle? Make bahn mi!
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