Pickled co*cktail Onions Recipe (2024)

For new cooks who want a quick trick to peel those pearl onions, blanch them for about a minute straight into an ice bath, and the onions practically peel themselves!

Oh, please don't dump the brine! Even if you have leftovers, there must be vegetables in the house who would like to be pickles when they grow up!Break up some cauliflower and salt the florets. Leave them for about an hour, rinse and pat dry. Place them in a clean jar and cover with the warm brine. Put it in the fridge and wait a week (if you can). It makes a delicious pickle. And most vegetables will pickle well. No brine gets wasted in my house!

A quart+ of brine for a pound of onions?!? That's completely ridiculous and more than three times what you need. (I actually tried it with the full recipe though I thought it sounded like too much.) Halve the amount of brine, or you'll be dumping most of the excess down the drain anyway after you have packed the onions in your jar.

We miss you in the Times, Rosie! Thank you for honoring the Gibson. This is a splendid recipe, but I have made some tweaks, learned through having made a few batches since it was published.1) Don't blanch the onions; you risk losing that crunch.2) Skip water and dissolve salt and sugar in warmed-up vinegar.3) One cup white sugar makes the brine too sweet. I prefer one tablespoon light brown sugar.4) Use sea salt.5) Crush the coriander seeds.6) Use ALL the herb mixture.

Didn’t have any rice vinegar so I substituted 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar, 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar and plain white vinegar for the rest. Used red and white onions too so the pink brine worked.

These are fabulous and last a long time. Great for a Gibson, as noted. I agree that adding the brine to a Gibson or martini is too strong with this mix. However, what IS great is rinsing your glass with the brine. Put a tablespoon or so in, swirl it around to coat the glass and then dump it back into the jar. Superb Gibson with an onion from this recipe and that wash.

Further to above, let them sit a week in the fridge before sampling. VERY tasty in a Gibson. Much more than onions in vinegar. Since the onions carry the flavor with them, don't add any of the "brine" to the co*cktail, it overpowers the gin and vermouth.

Note for other Europeans (and myself when I make this again). Translation into metric and based on the amendments from Jose and Jerry.450g onions450 ml vinegar (I successfully used white malt)60 ml warm water1 tbsp sugar1 tbsp maldon sea saltPickling spice as directed above

Is there a point in dissolving the salt and sugar in the warm water? I added it the water/salt/sugar to the brine and when it was warm, I stirred to dissolve.

Extra brine? Yes, please. Call me weird (you would not be the first), but I love a "dirty" Gibson as much as a "dirty" martini. I do like replacing some of the vinegar with dry vermouth - add it after you remove from the heat. Thank you for this recipe - I keep draining my store-bought jars of onions!

These are fabulous and last a long time. Great for a Gibson, as noted. I agree that adding the brine to a Gibson or martini is too strong with this mix. However, what IS great is rinsing your glass with the brine. Put a tablespoon or so in, swirl it around to coat the glass and then dump it back into the jar. Superb Gibson with an onion from this recipe and that wash.

Recipes that call for the creation of over 9 tablespoons of a spice blend, only to actually use 2 are mildly infuriating. And what of the cloves and bay leaves? You only have a fractional chance of getting one of those spice elements each time you use the blend.

Frozen onions don’t work nearly as well as fresh. Let me know how yours came out.

We miss you in the Times, Rosie! Thank you for honoring the Gibson. This is a splendid recipe, but I have made some tweaks, learned through having made a few batches since it was published.1) Don't blanch the onions; you risk losing that crunch.2) Skip water and dissolve salt and sugar in warmed-up vinegar.3) One cup white sugar makes the brine too sweet. I prefer one tablespoon light brown sugar.4) Use sea salt.5) Crush the coriander seeds.6) Use ALL the herb mixture.

I wondered the exact same thing!

Didn’t have any rice vinegar so I substituted 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar, 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar and plain white vinegar for the rest. Used red and white onions too so the pink brine worked.

For new cooks who want a quick trick to peel those pearl onions, blanch them for about a minute straight into an ice bath, and the onions practically peel themselves!

I think they're fantastic, with all the subtle flavors. Used purple and white pearl onions - made a pretty mix. I did have about twice as much brine as I thought I needed, though (as another reader mentioned). I didn't mind peeling the onions without blanching. Didn't want to risk less crunchiness in the final product.

A quart+ of brine for a pound of onions?!? That's completely ridiculous and more than three times what you need. (I actually tried it with the full recipe though I thought it sounded like too much.) Halve the amount of brine, or you'll be dumping most of the excess down the drain anyway after you have packed the onions in your jar.