I keep a jar of these in the fridge at all times. Great on tacos, burritos, fried rice, burgers, stirfy, or side for steak.
- Knife and cutting board.
- Zester or fine grater.
- Mixing bowl.
- 3 quarts worth of Mason jars or other airtight-sealing tupperware.
- Saucepan.
These scale near-linearly
- Three large red onions, about 1lb sliced.
- Red is key. This is not a situation where you can sub other kinds of onions and get 90% of the way there. Buy red onions for this.
- Two limes.
- 4tbsp Oregano or spice blend containing oregano.
- Mexican oregano (both cheaper than regular oregano at your local Mexican supermarket and more flavorful) is preferred here, but an oregano-heavy Italian spice blend will get you 90% of the way there in a pinch.
- Ten allspice berries.
- 5-10 bay leaves.
- Use 10 (or more) if yours are dried out and sad/flavorless. Use 5 if you have nice pliable, flavorful ones.
- 1.5 cups apple cider vinegar.
- White vinegar can be substituted here to get you 90% of the way there, as can most neutral vinegars. Something like Sherry vinegar will add a lot of bite, though (and a hefty price tag), so be careful substituting harder vinegars. Balsamic can not be substituted.
- 1.5 cups water.
- 1/2 cup sugar.
- Substitute 1 cup of orange or grapefruit juice. This makes a nice flavor, but results in a cloudier appearance.
- Sugar in the raw or turbinado can be substituted.
- 2tbsp salt.
- This is a great recipe to use up your weird spicy/smoky salt "gift spices" on.
- (Optional) 1tsp chile powder.
- This makes a spicier but cloudier pickle.
- (Optional) 2tbsp black peppercorns.
- Place the vinegar, water, and sugar (or juice, if using) into a saucepan on the stove over medium-low heat and bring to a low simmer.
- No need to stir to dissolve the sugar; the boiling will do that for you.
- This should be done in parallel with the rest of the recipe, and should not come to too hard of a boil. Otherwise, you risk boiling off too much of the liquid by the end and not having enough to work with. If that happens, top up the jars with water in the second-to-last step.
- Skin the onions and cut them in half. Cut the halves into half-rounds as thinly as you can with a knife (a mandoline is too thin) and place in a large bowl.
- Use glasses or goggles to minimize crying. As silly as it looks to cook wearing ski goggles, it really does work.
- Zest one of the limes and add the zest to the onions.
- Juice both of the limes and add the juice to the onions.
- Crush or "rub" (make a praying motion and move your hands back and forth) the oregano into the onion bowl.
- Add the salt, chile powder (if using), and black peppercorns (if using) to the onion bowl.
- With your hands, thoroughly toss the onions in the lime juice and spices. Try not to crush or break up the onion slices.
- Rinse the mason jars with hot water and place them on a work surface.
- Place one third of the allspice berries and bay leaves into the bottom of each jar.
- Tightly pack half of the onion mixture into the jars, filling each jar halfway. Try to pack the onions super tightly and use the smallest number of jars possible--really jam it down in there.
- On top of the half-filled onion mixture, add one third of the remaining allspice and bay leaves.
- Pack the rest of the onion mixture into the jars, leaving about 1cm of "headroom" on top.
- Layer the last of the allspice and bay leaves on top of the onion mixture in the jars.
- Turn off the heat on the simmering vinegar mixture. Place the jars in a sink or protected prep surface, and fill each jar to the top (only the top few millimeters of onions should be peeking out) with the hot brine. If you don't have enough brine, top up with water.
- Carefully wipe spices off of the rims of the jars firmly screw the lids on. Rinse any stickiness off of the outside of the jars under a faucet, and transfer them to a refrigerator for at least 30min or up to six weeks.
- If you notice any black residue forming on the top of the onions or the jar lids, decant such jars into a saucepan, bring to a boil for 1 minute, and then pour back into a clean jar.