When I was a kid, growing up in southern Virginia, bread + butter pickles abound in a culture that seemed to douse everything in sugar. But these pickles are one staple that I never grew out of. In fact, as the whole artisanal food movement has swept over the world, giving us higher quality, much more expensive version of previously modest foods, I’ve only grown to appreciate bread + butter pickles more.

As everyone likely already knows, bread + butters are basically sweeter than average pickles that are usually sliced before jarring. As far as I can tell, the etymology of the name most likely revolves around ‘bread and butter’ being a common turn of phrase for something that’s commonplace and the fact that these pickles were a staple in most every kitchen back in the day. I was blissfully unaware of any of that as a kid though and I invariably pictured biting into butter-covered, un-toasted white bread when I ate them and have since always associated that taste and texture with bread + butters.

Word history aside, one thing’s certain—like almost every other food in the world, homemade pickles are one thousand times better than store-bought ones. And, in this case, the work-to-payoff ratio’s remarkably low—these insanely tasty pickles are super-easy to make.

The recipe’s originally from the James Beard Foundation Award Winning Cookbook A New Turn in the South: Southern Flavors Reinvented for Your Kitchen. Written by Athens, Georgia restauranteur and Top Chef competitor and judge, Hugh Acheson, the book’s far from vegan, but it is very fresh vegetable forward and, overall, comes across as inventively delectable in its new takes on old southern favorites. It was chosen most recently in our cookbook club—which we’ll fill you in on at a later date—for Katie, myself, and everyone else in the club to prepare dishes from. We immediately zeroed in on a vegan-ize-able (tempeh) bacon-toppped baked beans, a spicy southern peanut soup, and these pickles. We thought we’d share the latter with you as we highly encourage anyone and everyone to give them a try. We envision them becoming a namesake staple in our kitchen.

So, I actually halved the recipe—it called for ten cucumbers, which sounded like it was going to make a LOT of pickles—and we still ended up with two mason jars full. I also tweaked the recipe a bit based on what I had in-stock and liked more of, spice-wise, since I was already altering the recipe a bit. I’ll reproduce what I did below, since it worked out well for me.

What you need:

• 5 small pickling cucumbers (4-5″ long and 1.5″ in diameter)
• 1 medium Vidalia onion (or another sweet onion)
• 1/8 cup sea salt
• 1/8 cup fresh celery leaves
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flaskes
• 1/4 teaspoon ground fenugreek
• 1/4 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 5 whole cloves
• 1 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup raw sugar
• 1/2 cup sorghum or maple syrup

My guess is that the only ingredient that might cause a little head-scratching on the part of some readers is fenugreek. But, if possible, seek it out—it’s got a really nice, uniquely nutty, celery-like taste and it’s actually very versatile. If you have an Indian specialty shop in your town, they should have it. New Yorkers, if you’ve never been to Kalustyans, get thee there post-haste; Angelenos, India Sweets + Spices seems the way to go, though I’m honestly still feeling out the food scene.

Wash the cucumbers under cold water and then slice them into 1/3-inch thick rounds. Peel the onion and, likewise, slice it into 1/3-inch thick strips. In a large bowl, mix together the onion and the cucumber and cover with half the salt, tossing to evenly coat. Let that sit for an hour at room temperature.

After the mixture’s sat, rinse off the salt as thoroughly as possible. You’ll notice the vegetables have grown limp over time. That’s the salt breaking down the cell walls of the cucumbers and salt and starting what would be a traditional slow pickling process. We’re going to speed it up though—place the mixture in a medium non-reactive bowl (not unlined copper or aluminum/tin) and then tear and mix in the celery leaves. Now pack the mixture into sealable glass jars.

Now combine the rest of the salt, the vinegar, your spices, sugar, and the sorghum or syrup into a non-reactive pot along with 1/4 cup of water and bring to a rapid boil. Once boiling, remove from heat and carefully pour over your cucumber-onion mixture, filling the jars. If your liquid doesn’t quite cover the mixture, cheat with a bit of 50/50 water/vinegar. Attach your lids and let everything sit at room temperature for about two hours, placing them in the fridge afterwards.

At this point, they’re pretty much good to go, though, as Acheson writes, they do improve with age, reaching their peak after a couple days of refrigeration. Top off a nice veggie burger, enjoy them as an accompaniment to a nice fresh vegetable and vegan cheese board, or use them to top off a nice dish of brown rice, charred vegetables, and Sriracha.

We realized the other day—we’ve been so caught up in music and the visual arts and insanely irresponsible corporations that we haven’t written about food in ages! And yes, music and the arts are food for your very soul that cannot and should not be held back from the outstretched arms of any human being…but food is actual food…that literally cannot be lived without. So who are we to ignore it?

Especially when it’s as amazing as this: The Vegan Carrot Dog from Fritzi Dog.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, “Carrot on a bun? That sounds both ridiculous and terrible.” I would agree with you had I not had Fritzi’s delectable creation.

The Los Angeles hot dog specialist—situated in LA’s historic Farmers Market and co-created by Iron-Chef-winner Neal Fraser—doesn’t just throw some rabbit food on a hot dog bun. No. They take those things very seriously.

First, they marinate them in a blend of 35 spices. They then cook the carrots sous vide overnight to allow them to further absorb the spices and attain a giving-yet-un-mushy texture. Finally, they’re grilled to order and topped as you like, pulling from Fritzi’s generous and creative toppings selection (Sriracha matchup, anyone?).

You can read a more detailed breakdown of the process…and see a much more phallic photo of the dog over at LA Magazine.

So next time you’re in LA and craving an excellent, plant-based, cruelty-free, mystery-meat-free alternative to your standard hot dog, get ye to Fritzi. You will seriously not regret it. A side of fresh tots will push over the brink of fast food culinary ecstasy.

Vegans, as quarrygirl points out, stick to the Parker bun and the Gluten-Free bun; the others contain egg and/or dairy. 7.16 Update: Fritzi’s since changed up their bun options—go for the (awesome) pretzel bun, which is now the vegan option.

A Better LA is a non-profit that promotes community safety + provides support services to marginalized populations across Greater Los Angeles. Concerned by the all-too-frequently heard news of violence among the youth on the streets of LA, then-USC football coach, now Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll invited community leaders to address the problem head-on. Rather than go in as outsiders, the group works through the existing local community, training and empowering outreach workers—many of whom are former gang members who have turned their lives around—to work with at-risk youths and families in disadvantaged areas across Los Angeles.

And it seems to be working.

Ten years after that first meeting, A Better LA is credited with helping to bring down crime rates and stave off violence in Angeleno communities. From Chief of Police Charlie Beck:

“We are at 40 year lows in Los Angeles in homicides. And a large part of that success is outreach work through groups like A Better LA. We have tried everything else over my career as a police officer—arresting everyone, hard-nosed suppression. It failed. Outreach work has helped transform the way we police.”

ABLA approached us about creating the concept and design for their yearly fund-raising gala’s event materials, including an event deck, an invite package, a journal, and event signage. You can see a full write on what we did for the materials in our design portfolio.

And good tidings to Pete Carroll and everyone at A Better LA on the eve of their celebration—you all do wonderful work and are well-worth celebrating!

Local favorite Golden Road Brewing has been slowly rolling out new packaging for their canned retail beers, focusing first on their flagship beers, the Point the Way IPA + their Hefeweizen. Formerly sold in boxes of traditional corrugated cardboard with designs printed directly on the surface, the new material’s a slicker, white stock that allows the designs to show through in more detail. The move’s an effort to both show off the photo-based layouts more effectively and let buyers know what they’re getting.

Co-owner, Meg Gill told Brewbound: ““Our original idea was to have a wrap-around image and show off the photography. But in a dark bar, nobody could see the name on our cans. It’s why we’ve decided to put it all up front and just tell consumers where the brand comes from.”

We like the original, raw feel of the old boxes (you can see one in the write-up we did of their excellent seasonal 2020 IPA), but we totally get where she’s coming from—we only realized after the switch to the new boxes that the Hefeweizen features the nearby + beloved Shakespeare Bridge (built in 1926).

And for anyone who hasn’t already tried it, the brewery’s Hefeweizen really is exceptional. I’m not usually much of a fan of that style of beer, but I was lucky enough to sample it right out of the vat on a brewed tour and loved its crisp, lemony taste. Definitely a winner to hold me over this summer as I wait for the Burning Bush to return.

That sounded dirty, didn’t it?

Happy weekend, all!

It’s getting to be summer soon, right? It is in LA, at least—word on the street is that the high’s going to be up 101°F Wednesday. That calls for a pool party!

It also calls some summer chickpea salad—a nice, healthy, tasty vegan stand-in for chicken salad. You can find our recipe for it here. These days, we tend to eat it on its own, sans bread, and usually skip the nori mentioned in the previous recipe, though, if you’re looking for something more tuna-salad-like, you might want to keep it in.

Either way, it’s a go-to for this coming warmer weather. So go to it!

As you may have guessed from the subtitle above, this may well be the best cover song of all time—”Sexual Healing”, by the late, great Marvin Gaye, of course, as covered by New Orleans’ Grammy-nominated Hot 8 Brass Band.

Give it a listen and tell me a better take on someone else song, I dare you.

It’s featured on the soundtrack for the highly anticipated Jon Favreau film, Chef: “Chef Carl Casper (Jon Favreau) suddenly quits his job at a prominent Los Angeles restaurant after refusing to compromise his creative integrity for its controlling owner (Dustin Hoffman), he is left to figure out what’s next. Finding himself in Miami, he teams up with his ex-wife (Sofia Vergara), his friend (John Leguizamo) and his son to launch a food truck. Taking to the road, Chef Carl goes back to his roots to reignite his passion for the kitchen—and zest for life and love.”

Probably not the most vegan-friendly movie in the world, but, with a cast boasting roughly everyone in any good movie ever and a lot of hype, it’ll likely be worth a watch. Plus the soundtrack’s curated KCRW’s Mathieu Schreyer, meant to mirror the road trip taken by Favreau + co. in the movie.

If this track’s any indication as to the worth of the rest of the songs, it’s going to be a pretty stellar collection of songs. Listen to the Hot 8 Brass Band’s take on the classic below and then give the movie trailer a watch. Chef opens in select theaters today and the movie’s soundtrack is available on iTunes now; Hot 8 is in the midst of a summer tour now and soon to head across the pond—full tour dates on their site.

Last week, when we up in Sonoma for some work meetings, we got a strange recommendation during an end-of-the-day happy hour:

“You have GOT to check out the Seed Bank in Petaluma!”

I’ve never been on Family Feud, but if I were, and if whoever hosts it these days requested that I name one of the top five must-see sights of California wine country, I would certainly not say “Visit the Petaluma Seed Bank, sir!”

But, it turns out, we were not at all led astray by that friendly, slightly bewildering recommendation. The Petaluma Seed Bank was established in 2009 as western outpost for the Missouri-based botanical behemoth, Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. Set in the historic Sonoma County Bank building—built in the 1920s—the Seed Bank is nothing short of impressive, be your thumb green or not. Acting as both a retail store and a kind of archival repository for obscure + nuanced flora, the massive depth of their seed collection matches the interior of the vast, high-ceilinged building.

The call the Bank “a beacon for gardeners, foodies, shoppers, and tourists alike.” They continue on their site—”We offer over 1,500 varieties of heirloom seeds, garlic, tools, books, and hundreds of local hand-made gifts and food items. Remember—everything we offer is pure, natural, and non-GMO!” Writing that out now I realized I somehow missed the heirloom garlic. I have no idea what heirloom garlic is…BUT I WANT IT.

Pair that enthusiasm for heirloom seeds with the “did I just step onto the set of Frontier House“, homemade garb of company founders and store workers, and…I have no idea what you get, but it’s excitingly weird. In a great way. As long as they don’t sit me down to talk about ‘the great lord’s bounty’ or anything.

You can read Christine Muhlke’s 2010 New York Times article to find out more about Baker Creek and the quelling of that writer’s curiosity on the company.

Visit the Petaluma Seed Bank for all your seed-buying needs next time you’re in the area, located smack in the middle of historic downtown at 199 Petaluma Blvd. It really is worth the trip. You can shop Baker Creek’s online store as well.

A happy Cinco de Mayo to everyone today. We suggest celebrating this holiday in any of these three ways:

1. Listening to the excellent mariachi covers of Mexico’s Mariachi Rock-O, like their take on Morrissey’s “Everyday is Like Sunday” or Bob Marley’s “No Woman, No Cry”, both below;

2. Traveling back in time a few days and making this habenero-infused tequila from our 2009 recipe—it makes for some of the best, most adventurous margarita-drinking ever; and

3. Actually learning what we’re celebrating with Cinco de Mayo. Not to talk down to anyone—we’d barely known ourselves until recent years—but we are not, in fact, celebrating Mexican Independence Day; that’s in September.

What’s actually being commemorated is the May 5th Battle of Puebla, during the French “Intervention” in Mexico, when Mexican forces very unexpectedly defeated a much larger, better-equipped French Army. The French eventually went on to overpower the Mexican people in subsequent battles, but that little glimmer of hope—the underdog in the fight—that’s what we’re celebrating. That and, more importantly and broadly, Mexican heritage and how it plays into our lives here in LA and elsewhere.

Who can’t get behind that?

I guess the French, maybe. Everyone else—happy Cinco de Mayo to you!

Art by Danny Martin.

No, that’s not an HP-Lovecraft-esque beast; it’s a Buddha’s hand—Citrus medica, a fragrant citrus fruit native to northeastern India + China. The fruit’s used traditionally to perfume rooms in its native land and is also given as gifts in Buddhist religious ceremonies—”According to tradition, Buddha prefers the “fingers” of the fruit to be in a position where they resemble a closed rather than open hand, as closed hands symbolize to Buddha the act of prayer.”

But, with a thick peel + pith that are sweet rather than bitter as with most citrus, it also makes for a great infuser. Just cut the segments, or fingers, from the fruit and then divide down their middles to increase the exposed surface area. Place the resulting peel + pith (not fruit) into a sealable bottle and fill with vodka or another fairly neutral liquor. Allow to sit at room temperature for a few days to a week, shaking every now and then then to circulate the fruit in the liquid. Then use in any citrusy drink recipes, like the one pictured below—a great match for the heat we’re feeling in Los Angeles right now.

One amendment to said recipe straight from our ex-bartender friend, Hayden—it’s actually best to place the mint leaves in the palm of one hand and then slap them with your other a couple times rather than muddling them as the latter causes them to take on a bitter flavor.

And, for anyone who’s never made a syrup at home, you essentially add some water to some sugar stovetop and cook it down until the sugar’s dissolved and the liquid thickens a bit, becoming a little thinner than your run-of-the-mill maple syrup. To flavor a syrup, simple place your flavoring ingredient in while cooking down the syrup. We wrote up syrup-making in more detail in 2010. Note for this particular syrup—the jalapeño syrup—that you really do need to be careful around it. Cook it on low in a well-ventilated space and expect the fumes to burn the eyes, nose, and throat nonetheless while you’re making it.

We also wrote up a ton of other infusing ideas back in 2011 too for anyone interested.

For most of the US—especially our friends in New York—actual spring weather is just around the corner, which means long days at the beach, grilling out, and not openly cursing as you trudge through the snowy streets. But, as anyone who’s lived in New York knows, the city is fickle and teasing with its seasons and, most years, an upper 70s care-free day can and often is followed immediate by a small blizzard the next day.

So why not squeeze in one last cozy soup recipe before we’re in the clear? And, when I say ‘we’, I don’t at all mean me, obviously. LA continues to boast unchanging, eerily nice weather.

Truth be told, this dish is an all-weather favorite of ours, based on a recipe from one of our favorite cookbooks, Mangoes and Curry Leaves, by (then) married couple, Jeffrey Alford + Naomi Duguid. The couple wrote a number of stellar books before their split that walked a fine line between travel + Eastern culinary arts in terms of subject matter, each  featuring beautiful photography of both the food of the regions they cover and the people and culture of those regions too. For us, they represent the perfect introduction to the cultures behind many of the foods we love. And, whereas the recipes included aren’t vegan or even fully vegetarian, as with many non-Western culinary traditions, most of the foods featured are very vegetable-forward and easily convertible.

Case in point, the Classic Bengali Fish in Broth (p223)—AKA Jhol, meaning “simmered” or “cooked in water”. As the couple writes: “Jhol is served at the main noon meal in many households in Bengal. There’s a lot of broth, and flavors are delicate, with some heat from fresh green chiles and a little cayenne as well as from the mustard oil.”

A simple swapping of cod to tempeh keeps a similar texture and soaking up of the spices used while vegan-izing the entire dish. We find ourselves craving this dish all time of the year and highly recommend giving it—and the cookbook as a whole—a try.

So, what you need:

8 oz Tempeh, cut into 1″ cubes
2 teaspoons Salt
1.5 teaspoons Turmeric
4 tablespoons Mustard Oil (see note below)
3 tablespoons Vegetable Oil
1 teaspoon Panch Phoron (“five flavor/five spice”, a traditional Bengali spice mixture) or scant 1/4 teaspoon each Black Mustard, Nigella (or Black Cumin), Fennel, Fenugreek, and Cumin Seeds
1 teaspoon Fresh Ginger, finely minced
1/2 cup Tomato, diced
1 cup Zucchini, cubed
1 cup Asian Eggplant, cubed
1 teaspoon Coriander Seed, ground
1 teaspoon Cumin Seed
1/2 teaspoon Cayenne
3 cups Water or Vegetable Broth (see note below)
4 Green Chiles, seeded, de-stemmed, and cut into chunks
1/2 cup Cilantro Leaves, de-stemmed and sliced

In a small bowl, mix 1 teaspoon each of salt and turmeric and throw in the cubed tempeh, tossing to coat; set aside.

Now heat 2 tablespoons of the mustard oil in a heavy skillet.  A quick note on mustard oil—first, it lends an amazing taste to anything you cook it with. Second, in the US, it’s allowed to be sold if marked for external use only. Reason being, some believe it to be a health risk if ingested. As the New York Times writes in a 2011 piece on mustard oil: “Since the mid-1990s, the Food and Drug Administration has banned the import or sale of pure mustard oil as a foodstuff. Some mustard oils are 20 to 40 percent erucic acid, which studies have indicated might cause heart problems in lab rats.” But the jury’s still out. Some actually believe it to be good for the heart and health in general and many cultures have used it in cooking for generations. You can read the full article to find out more, but, our call—it’s good and we don’t use it too too often, so I doubt it’s doing much harm or good, if any at all.

Anyway, heat the oil and add the coated tempeh, cooking over medium to high heat and turning the pieces until it’s uniformly browned. Remove from the pan, draining excess oil, and set aside. You can put the tempeh in a bowl lined with paper towels if you’d like to soak up more of the oil or not if you’d like to incorporate the oil into the final meal.

Add the vegetable oil to the same pan and place back over medium-high heat. When you can hold your hand just over the pan and feel heat coming from it, throw in your spice mixture—Panch Phoron (pictured to the right)—and stir-fry briefly, until it starts to give off a fragrant scent. Add the ginger + tomato and sauté for about a minute, stirring as you do and allowing the tomato to break down a bit. Add the zucchini + eggplant and cook for 2-5 minutes, until the vegetables begin to soften. Add the rest of your spices—remaining turmeric, ground coriander, cumin, and cayenne—then add the water or broth, siring to mix. Bring to a boil.

On water vs. broth, we tend to use vegetable broth to give back some of the flavor lost by using tempeh instead of cod. We use a homemade broth, made from vegetable scraps that we save + freeze until we’ve accumulated a bag-full, then boil down for a few hours. It creates some really unbeatable broth and we highly recommend doing the same, but low-sodium store-bought’ll work too.

Carefully add the tempeh and chiles to the boiling mixture, lower the heat, and simmer until the vegetables are all tender but still retain most of the color—usually just about 5 minutes or so. Add your remaining salt, stir, and then carefully taste to see if you need to add any more salt or other seasonings.

Remove from heat and serve hot in a bowl, garnished with cilantro leaves. A nice rice or naan is great to serve with this soup to offset and control the spice level of the meal as a whole.