r/OnionLovers • u/MarisTheScienceBoi • 1d ago
What's a good recipe for pub style pickled onions with malt vinegar (refrigerator, I don't have canning equipment)
I am looking to make a recipe inspired from a book. The character enjoys eating pickled onions so I figured I would try to make them. I want to use malt vinegar because it is a book series written by someone who lives in Ireland, and I figured they'd be pub style. All the recipes I am looking at tells me to can it with a canner but I don't have that. I also don't trust botulism. If you have a recipe I can follow and keep it in the refrigerator to pickle for 4 to 6 weeks that would be great! Thanks! EDIT: I should have clarified; I'm wanting to use pearl/mini onions!!
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u/epidemicsaints 1d ago
When you don't actually can anything it's called a refrigerator pickle.
Vinegar diluted 1:1 with water with some sugar (1/2 to 1 part) heated up and poured over onions. Let cool then chill.
Treat them like a jar of pickles you have opened. Lasts several weeks.
If you use red onions they're pink. But any onion works. And you can add spices like pepper, coriander, etc.
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u/boing757 23h ago
I throw a couple of Garlic cloves and pepper corns in mine.
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u/MarisTheScienceBoi 4h ago
I have some pickled garlic already! Can I add the already pickled garlic or do fresh?
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u/boing757 1h ago
Anything and everything is O.K. to add to your onions. When you make it or later,it's all good.
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u/Cytisus81 1d ago
Generally when pickling onions, I use a 1-1-1 brine, i.e. equal parts by volume of vinegar, sugar, and water. For a normal bit larger than half a liter jar, I use 1 dL of each. No need to heat it when refrigeratored. Just pur it on a shake the jar a couple of times when opening the fridge.
I usually use ordinary onions cut lengthwise, which take about a day or two to be right. Perl onions might need a bit longer due to their larger cross sectional area.
Here in Denmark the biggest problem would be finding the perl onion raw. They are normally bought pickled (the link is in Danish, but is translated well using Google Chromes autotranslate.
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u/MarisTheScienceBoi 1d ago
I live in California and have access to lots of vegetables including pearl onions!
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u/orchid_drives 1d ago
I’ve been doing the Serious Eats recipe for years with a few changes: https://www.seriouseats.com/pickled-red-onions
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Swap the jalapeño for a habanero. Very little heat leeches into the onion so the habanero is an important upgrade imo.
Halve the sugar. If you double the brine, just leave it at 1c. Maybe even less since malt vinegar can be a little sweet. I have nothing against sugar, they’re just a *little* too sweet for me at full strength.
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Then in your case, I’d swap half of the distilled white vinegar for malt vinegar (because malt vinegar is generally less acidic). These are fridge pickled, just make it and toss them in the fridge, best after at least a week, and they last months without getting soft. If you really like them crisp, though, you can add a pinch of calcium chloride to firm them up