Premium Selection Snackers

Okay, tonight I'm on a roll...

One of my all-time favorite sweet pickles are the Premium Selection Snackers Hot & Sweet pickles. They sell at Kroger stores exclusively for about $3.49, as the Premium Selection brand is a premium Kroger brand of foods. My wife and I have been pretty happy with Premium Selection brand items...they're as good or better than national brands, and often have flavors or combinations that you can't otherwise get.

In short, they are a crinkle-cut bread'n'butter pickle with a kick. As you can see at the bottom of the photo, the "kick" is accomplished by putting some Thai- or Chinese- style hot peppers into the pickles at brine time. DO NOT eat these things unless you really like hot stuff...they are wicked-hot!

Also from the photo, you can see they have generous amounts of minced onion, garlic and mustard seed in the jar, making these pickles a very flavorful variety. I've even found myself fishing out and eating the mixture with a fork after the pickles are gone its so yummy.

The pickles themselves are a very nice bread'n'butter sweet pickle. Not too vinegary, not terribly sweet, but a nice balance of the two. As with many bread'n'butter varieties, these have a high crunch factor...probably a 9 out of 10 on the Crunch-O-Meter. The cucumbers themselves are proper pickle-sized cukes, so they're not too mature and retain that crunch and firmness that makes this pickle distinctive.

The heat level of these isn't what I'd consider "mild", but neither is it "hot". Its in that nice spot where you can enjoy a little kick with your pickle and have to eat quite a few before it starts to accumulate to uncomfortable levels. The combination of the bread'n'butter flavor with some hotness makes these my favorite condiment to put on a cold (leftover) meatloaf sandwich. They really compliment the flavor of the meatloaf.

I've had other hot'n'sweet bread'n'butter pickles, but I really like these because they're nicely balanced between the vinegar, sweet and hot flavors. The crunch is perfect and they're not too expensive and readily available.

The Sidetrack Grill in Ypsilanti

The Sidetrack Bar & Grill in Depot Town in Ypsilanti, MI, is popular locally-owned eatery, situated right next to the Amtrack line in a building that dates back over 120 years. The train schedule is posted, and it rattles the whole place when the trains rumble by. The interior is filled with an eclectic mix of railroad, sports and regional decorations (look for the moose). The menu covers a range of cuisines and appetites, and I've never had a bad meal at the Sidetrack. You gotta try their famous burger, sweet potato fries and deep-fried pickles!

Wait, wait, wait!!! Why is a restaurant in a pickle blog!??

Well...if you visit this fine establishment and order a drink or some of their fine food, the waiter will bring a tray of condiments to your table as standard fare. It contains, the usual ketchup, mustard, hot sauces, pepperocini, and (you guessed it), pickles!

I doubt that they're made by the Sidetrack, but they're basically a deli dill, but sliced into very thin disks. They serve them in a small lidded pot, as if you might wait long enough to stack them on a hand-packed burger or sandwich. They are the perfect munchie to snack on while you're waiting for your meal or drink. Mild and garlicy, these little delights are almost a signature part of the Sidetrack experience. Try the pepperocini as well...but beware, they can pack a punch!

Cracovia Kartuskie Dill Pickles

Its been pointed out to me that its been over a year since my last post, so apologies Pickle Fans, I've been neglecting my duties!

Today's delectable dill comes from Poland--the Cracovia Kartuskie Dill Pickles. I found these at the Copernicus European Deli for $3.99 on Main Street in Ann Arbor, where they carry the complete Cracovia line of Polish foods...jarred pickles, salads, sourkrauts, beets and canned fish. It all looked very delectable, so I don't think you could go wrong with any of it. But I digress...

The thing that caught my eye on the shelf of these gems were the spices and veggies used to season the pickles...onions, red peppers, and of course, nice sized gherkins. It was torture waiting to get home from a dinner party to try them.

This pickle was a surprise, though...I expected a very vinegary pickle but these cross the boundary between a bread'n'butter variety and a mild dill pickle. The typical dill pickle taste we're all used to is completely absent, but in its place is a very mild, savory and slightly sweet pickle where all of the flavors combine yet don't disappear individually. The sweetness is very light--nothing like a bread'n'butter, so if you're not a sweet pickle fan, these won't really offend. They really do bridge the gap between a vinegar dill and a bread'n'butter variety, which really surprised me.

The flavor is a very mild, blended variety, with no one spice or flavor dominating the others. Its common to see bold flavors that stand out to define the pickle, but in these, its the blending that stands out--nothing obtrusive, nothing offensive, nothing particularly notable, but yet together, distinctive. Even the brine is pretty balanced, not at all bitey--the polar opposite of the McClure varieties.

The Kartuskies get a solid 8 out of 10 on the Crunch-O-Meter scale, and that seems to be a pretty high mark for european pickles, which I've not found to have the crunch that we seem to like here in the US. In this way, I was pleasantly surprised, since I was expecting something a bit softer.

To wrap things up, I think these are a nice change of pace if you're straddling the fence deciding on whether to go sweet or vinegary, or if you're just wanting to go for something different. The balance of flavor is how these pickles stand out from the pack.