Recipe Development - Pickle Pops

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disco

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Oct 31, 2012
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I get a fair number of questions about how I come up with my recipe ideas. This post will take you through my work in developing Pickle Pops.

First, I have to come up with an idea. I try and think about what flavour combinations I like. In this case, I like salty and sour combinations like salt and vinegar chips.

Then, I think about what else is salty and sour. Well, bacon is salty and dill pickles are sour. Here was the basis of my effort.

Obviously, the bacon has to be cooked. I like using my Traeger Timberline so I thought about wrapping pickles in bacon and cooking them in the Traeger.

It seemed to me that this would be best as an appetizer. It has strong flavours that would pique the palate.

As an appetizer, I wanted smaller bites so I chose baby dill pickles for my pickle.

The bacon would have to be attached to the pickle so using a skewer to make a pop type appetizer seemed natural.

How to prepare it? Three thoughts came to mind:

  1. Just wrap the pickle in the bacon and cook it.
  2. Wrap the pickle in the bacon and do a double dip flour coating for a crisp note and additional seasonings.
  3. Bread the pickle with panko crumbs for crispness.
As I was thinking about the third possiblity, parmesan cheese seemed like a good addition to add some savoury notes and to add to the saltiness. Parmesan was added to the mix.

I started by wrapping 3 baby dills in a 1/2 strip of bacon each and pushing Them onto a bamboo skewer. I cut the skewer to make 3 pops.

When developing recipes, you do things wrong. I should have put two pickles instead of three on one skewer as the handles for the pops were too short.

RD Pickle Pop 01.jpg


I set one aside to be the pickle and bacon alone.

I made a flour dredge of:

  • 25 ml (2 tbsp) flour
  • 1 ml (1/4 tsp) paprika
  • 1 ml (1/4 tsp) pepper
  • 1 ml (1/4 tsp) onion powder
If you are doing recipe development, make sure you keep copious notes. If you want more pepper flavour you will have some idea how much to add.

I then made a seasoned egg wash of:

  • 1 egg
  • 125 ml (1/2 cup) milk
  • 5 ml (1 tsp) Sriracha sauce
I rolled one of the pops in the flour, dipped it in the egg wash, and gave it another roll in the flour.

RD Pickle Pop 02.jpg


For the last pop, I rolled the pop in the flour, dipped it in the egg wash, and rolled it in a mixture of 15 ml (1 tbsp) panko bread crumbs and 15 ml (1 tbsp) grated parmesan.

RD Pickle Pop 03.jpg


I wanted good browning so I set my Traeger to a reasonably high temperature, 375 F (190 C).

I put the pops in the Traeger.

RD Pickle Pop 04.jpg


I’ll take a moment here to point out that you will likely have come to a decision as to which will be best before you even start cooking. Why not just go with the one you think will be best? I find the one you think is going to be the winner, often isn’t. In this case, I believed the double dipped would be the best. As you will see, I was wrong.

I cooked the pops for 15 minutes. and then turned them.

RD Pickle Pop 05.jpg


I cooked for another 10 minutes to finish browning. Depending on how much direct heat your oven or smoker has, this could be more or less in your unit.

I took them out, let them rest for a couple of minutes and took a bite of each.

RD Pickle Pop 06.jpg


RD Pickle Pop 07.jpg


The plain bacon wrapped was tasty but kind of boring. There was the salty/sour taste I wanted but it needed more complexity.

The double dipped was very good. The crunchy coating added more flavours and a nice texture contrast.

The panko breaded with parmesan was over the top good. The panko gave a great crunch and the Parmesan added a touch more salt and an earthy goodness that was wonderful.

All three still had some crispness in the pickle and the bacon was cooked well.

Is the recipe finished? No. The same defective mental process told me this needs a touch of sweet, a bit of heat, and some creaminess to offset the crunch. I need to make a dipping sauce. Honey Sriracha Remoulade? Maybe. We’ll see.

You now have insight into the twisted mind of Disco.

Disco
 
Last edited:
Love your thought processes and the outcome! Next try a spice or mustard pickle, or a combination of both. Here are two recipes for you to play with to make both a hot and spicy and a German mustard pickle. That way you can bend both the pickle AND the pickle pop recipes to your liking. Both are 24-hour pickles without canning. 🍻
John
 

Attachments

  • Homemade German Mustard Pickles (Senfgurken) Recipe Recipe - Food.com.pdf
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  • Spicy Pickle Recipe - Snappy Gourmet.pdf
    104.3 KB · Views: 11
Love your thought processes and the outcome! Next try a spice or mustard pickle, or a combination of both. Here are two recipes for you to play with to make both a hot and spicy and a German mustard pickle. That way you can bend both the pickle AND the pickle pop recipes to your liking. Both are 24-hour pickles without canning. 🍻
John
Thanks for the suggestions.
 
My kinda appetizer! I am a big fan of cornbreaded (a la corndog) pickles, and am wondering why I have never had a bacon wrapped one..

For a shattering crunch, you want more corn starch, rice flour/starch, and potato flour/starch.
 
My kinda appetizer! I am a big fan of cornbreaded (a la corndog) pickles, and am wondering why I have never had a bacon wrapped one..

For a shattering crunch, you want more corn starch, rice flour/starch, and potato flour/starch.
Thanks for the suggestion.
 
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Fantastic, my wife will love this, me well i will make mine with Gherkins as i'm not a big fan of dill pickles but love sweet pickles
I will haver to try some dill and sweet this weekend
Thanks Disco

David (Just bookmarked so i don't lose this)
Cool! I love it when people make a recipe their own! More great variations.

I have to admit, you have me thinking about bread and butter pickles too.
 
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Whoa, I really like experiments and this looks great. From a guy that uses pickle juice as a brine, and a component for a beef spray all three sound good.

How to prepare it? Three thoughts came to mind:

  1. Just wrap the pickle in the bacon and cook it.
  2. Wrap the pickle in the bacon and do a double dip flour coating for a crisp note and additional seasonings.
  3. Bread the chicken with panko crumbs for crispness.

But where does the chicken come into play?
 
Yes i make my own Mustard and Bread and Butter pickles. If i made the mustard pickles like long pickles spears ( cut length wise ) that would work for me

What a shame now i have to make some early spring pickles lol

( the B + B were good but i think the Mustard would be better wrapped in bacon and crust of some kind
Thanks for the idea's )

DSC_0818.JPG

David
 
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Reactions: Wurstmeister
I like you style! we have been trying to perfect the fried pickle - most are too salty... these look like fun! might need to try a few with the next cook
 
Whoa, I really like experiments and this looks great. From a guy that uses pickle juice as a brine, and a component for a beef spray all three sound good.



But where does the chicken come into play?

Har! Just a brain fart typo.

Yes i make my own Mustard and Bread and Butter pickles. If i made the mustard pickles like long pickles spears ( cut length wise ) that would work for me

What a shame now i have to make some early spring pickles lol

( the B + B were good but i think the Mustard would be better wrapped in bacon and crust of some kind
Thanks for the idea's )

View attachment 496846

David

I understand one of the worst part of home pickling is having to store them. I would be happy to help you store some of those. You can trust me.

I applaud your imagination Disco. These sound like they'd be great.

BIG like!!

She Who Must Be Obeyed refers to my imagination as my affliction.
 
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