Recipe for Pickled Shallots #tigresscanjam

The nicest Ontario produce I could find at this time of year for the March edition of Tigress' Can Jam, on the theme of allium, was French shallots. I haven't worked with shallots very often, although they are a staple of classic French cuisine and Jonathan swears by their subtle taste, halfway between onion and garlic. While I was prepping them, I noticed that they didn't make me cry at all, and congratulated myself for picking an easy allium.



Pickled Shallots

The proportions for this recipe are based on one that can be found in Perfect Preserves by Hilaire Walden, with some details derived from the pickled onion recipe in Well Preserved by Mary Anne Dragan. However, I've fiddled with the batch size, the spices and the vinegar combination, so it'll be interesting to see what I end up with.

Ingredients

• ½ cup of coarse pickling salt
• 8 cups water
• 3 pounds of shallots (about 12 shallots = 1 pound)
• 1 bay leaf per canning jar
• ½ teaspoon of cinq poivres (red, green, black, grey and white peppercorns) per jar
• 1 tablespoon of dried tarragon (in total) or 1 spring of fresh tarragon per jar
• 4 cups of red wine vinegar
• 2 cups of white wine vinegar
• ½ cup of balsamic vinegar

Directions

1. Two days ahead, trim off just the tip of the tops and peel the shallots. (You can scald them in boiling water to make this easier.) If there's a papery skin between two bulb segments joined together, separate them and remove it. Slightly shave the root ends to remove any dirt and root hairs, but leave most of it intact so the bulbs hold together. (As I was prepping them, I was really impressed with how beautiful the shallots are. They're a very delicate mauve colour, and it was tricky to get the skins off without tearing away any of the inner flesh, but I tried to make it a neat, pretty job.)
2. Combine salt and water in a non-reactive bowl; when the salt has dissolved completely, add the shallots and cover them with a heavy plate so they stay submerged. Leave them in the brine for two days, visiting them occasionally for a quick stir.
3. On pickling day, sterilize your jars (about 10 half-pint or 5 pint jars, or a mixture).
4. Rinse the salt off the shallots very thoroughly, covering them with fresh cold water, agitating them and pouring it off at least three times. Then pat them dry and set them on a dishtowel to air-dry completely.
5. In a saucepan, bring the vinegar to a full rolling boil with the dry tarragon (if you're using it dry). Add the shallots and bring the pot to a boil again.
6. Pack shallots into hot sterilized jars, and add the bay leaf, the peppercorns and the fresh tarragon (if you're using it fresh) to each jar. Then pour the vinegar into the jars, being sure to leave a little head room at the top.
7. Run a non-metal implement such as a chopstick or plastic knife around the inside of the jars to free any trapped bubbles. If necessary, top up with extra brine.
8. Seal and process jars for ten minutes. (Makes about 9 pints.)

This is not a particularly frugal preserve; I paid about $9 for the shallots alone. Without the price of the jars, I've figured these cost about $2.75 per pint. That makes them a luxury condiment as far as I'm concerned.

However, last night Jonathan fried up a couple of T-bone steaks with the few that didn't fit into the jars (before they've even had a chance to take on the vinegar and spice flavours), and the salty-sour-fruity taste was delicious. I'm also guessing they'll be really good sliced thin on a roast beef sandwich with hot mustard or horseradish, or both; they could also be a garnish for a luxurious thin-sliced beef hors d'oeuvre of some kind.