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Pickled Onions (Mix a quarter of a pound)
Mix a quarter of a pound of Spanish onions, finely minced, with a quarter of a pound of chopped apples and an ounce of chopped chillis. Pour over them half a pint of white-wine vinegar, which has been boiled with a tea-spoonful of salt, and when cold put the mixture into bottles, to be used as a relish for cold meat.
A stick of celery, finely minced, is by many persons considered an improvement to this favorite pickle. Time, half an hour to prepare.
Despite the name, nothing here is pickled in the long-keeping sense: this is a fresh, uncooked relish held in vinegar, closer to a chow-chow than to whole pickled onions. Treat it as a refrigerator condiment with a short life.
- The weights in cupsA quarter pound of finely minced onion is roughly a cup; a quarter pound of chopped apple is about one small to medium apple, peeled. An ounce of chopped chillies is a great deal of heat by modern taste, on the order of three or four fresh cayennes; scale down if you want a relish rather than a fire.
- Half a pintIf the book is working in imperial measure, half a pint is 10 fl oz rather than 8, i.e. a little over a US cup. Either way, the liquid should just cover the solids in the jar.
- Vinegar strengthOrdinary white wine vinegar today runs about 5 to 6 percent acetic acid; the vinegar sold for pickling in this period was often stronger, though the recipe does not say. Use a good strong white wine vinegar and do not dilute it.
- Boil the vinegar, then cool it fullyBoil the vinegar, then cool the mixture -- The salted vinegar is boiled to dissolve the salt; the recipe pours it over the onion and apple and waits for the whole thing to go cold before bottling. If you want maximum crispness you can cool the vinegar first, though that is not what the text specifies.
- Storage and shelf lifeThere is no heat processing and no sealing step, so this is not a shelf-stable preserve whatever the word "bottles" suggests. Keep it in a clean jar in the refrigerator and use it within two or three weeks, discarding it if the liquid turns cloudy or ropy.
- ApplesA firm tart apple such as Bramley, Granny Smith or a hard russet holds its texture in acid better than a soft sweet eating apple, which will go soft quickly.
- Yield and restingExpect about a pint of finished relish, enough for a dozen servings alongside cold meat or cheese. The half hour given is preparation only; the flavour is noticeably better after two days in the cold.
- The celery variationIf you add the minced celery stick, add it at the same time as the onion. It contributes water, so keep the vinegar quantity the same rather than topping up.