• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Sidewalk Shoes
  • Home
  • Recipes
    • Food Recipes Index
    • Cocktails Recipes Index
    • All Recipes
  • Lifestyle
    • Gardening
    • Travels
      • North Carolina
      • Oregon
      • Tennessee
  • Cats
  • Subscribe
  • Nav Social Menu

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
menu icon
go to homepage
subscribe
search icon
Homepage link
  • Food
  • Cocktails
  • Collections
  • Travels
  • Cats
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
  • ×
    Home » Canning and Preserving

    Refrigerator Bread and Butter Pickles #thelostfamilysupperclub

    LAST UPDATED: January 17, 2019 PUBLISHED: May 31, 2018 By Pam Greer 13 Comments As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

    Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

    Love the sweet tart combination in bread and butter pickles?  Not in the mood for canning?  Then you are going to love these Refrigerator Bread and Butter Pickles that are ready in as little as one day!

    This post is sponsored by #thelostfamilysupperclub - I received a copy of The Lost Family by Jenna Blum in exchange for posting a recipe and sharing my thoughts about the book.

    Post contains affiliate links, full disclosure on sidebar.

    Plates of pickles with the book The Lost Family

    The Lost Family Virtual Supper Club

    You know what I love?  Being invited to join a supper club!  Not just any super club, but The Lost Family Virtual Supper Club hosted by The Book Club Cookbook (be sure and check out all of the bloggers participating!)  They asked if I would like to receive a copy of The Lost Family  by Jenna Blum and then make a recipe inspired from the book.  Why, yes I would.  Cooking and reading...my two favorite things!   I chose to make Refrigerator Bread and Butter Pickles.

    The Lost Family Virtual Supper Club

    The Lost Family by Jena Blum

    Before we get to the recipe, a little bit about the book, The Lost Family and the author.  First of all I loved, loved, loved the book.   The story begins in 1965 and continues for the next two decades.  But really the story begins before that, because the main character, Peter, is a survivor of Auschwitz.  He carries that with him at all times, along with the loss of his wife and daughters who did not survive.  Peter is a the owner and head chef of Masha's, a restaurant in Manhattan.  We follow Peter as he meets and falls in love with June.  Marries and has another daughter.    We watch Peter try and build a life, while coping with the devastating loss from his pass.  He uses food and his restaurant to get lost in, to forget.

    Some notes from the author Jenna Blum:

    The Lost Family is a novel about a German-Jewish Auschwitz survivor named Peter Rashkin, who emigrates to New York, starts a restaurant, and falls in love—only to find his new American family haunted by the wife and daughters he lost during the war. Really, Peter is like Ferdinand the bull, except instead of wanting to smell the flowers, all he wants to do is cook. He was training as a chef in Berlin when the Nazis came to power; in America, being in his kitchen at Masha’s, his 1965 Manhattan restaurant named after his lost wife, is his happy place. The menus in The Lost Family are a fusion of 1965-era favorites and German-Jewish comfort food, Peter and Masha’s favorite childhood dishes:  Masha’s “Little Clouds” (cream puffs with chocolate fondue),  Brisket Wellington, Chicken Kiev, and my favorite, Masha Torte—an inside-out German chocolate cake with cherries flambé. There’s also a Hamburger Walter, invented for news anchor Walter Cronkite when dining at Masha’s, served Au Poivre with No Vegetables At All.  (my dad was a newswriter for CBS and he told me this was how Walter liked his hamburgers.) 

    I LOVE FOOD, and I had a joyous time creating and kitchen-testing all the recipes for Masha’s menus in The Lost Family (there are two, Spring 1966 and Fall 1965). I relied on my German friend Christiane’s mother’s recipes, my childhood memories of my Jewish grandmother’s dishes, the Mad Men Cookbook and similar cookbooks from the 1960s, and ingredients from my garden. I worked in food service for many years as a waitress and a prep chef to subsidize my expensive writing habit, but I’m not a chef, so there were some notable cataclysms, for instance throwing ice cubes into the oven to create crispy baguettes for Peter’s crostini (explosions) and dropping an entire Masha Torte on the floor (flaming explosion; we ate it anyway, and it was good!).

    Tray of pickles on a blue background with text overlay reading Refrigerator bread and butter pickles

    Refrigerator Bread and Butter Pickles

    When I opened up The Lost Family, the first thing I saw was Masha's Fall 1965 menu.  Glancing through it, I stopped on "Dish of House-Made Pickles."  I didn't even need to think about it.  You see pickles are my jam.  Well jam is my jam too, but pickles have my heart.  And, while I love canning, there is something so wonderful about refrigerator pickles.   Easy peasy and oh so delicious!

    Jar of pickles sitting on a shelf with blue flowers in the background

    Refrigerator Pickles

    Refrigerator pickles are so easy.  You basically chop your veggies, add them to a jar, pour over some heated brine, put a lid on them and put them in the fridge.  Done.  I made these yesterday and today they are already amazing!  Refrigerator pickles will keep in the fridge for about 2-4 months, but believe me, they won't last that long!

    I modified a recipe for Freezer Bread and Butter Pickles that I found in Small-Batch Preserving - my favorite canning cookbook!

    Refrigerator Bread and Butter Pickles
    Print Pin Save Saved!
    5 from 31 votes

    Refrigerator Bread and Butter Pickles

    These Refrigerator Bread and Butter Pickles are so easy, no canning required. 
    Course Condiment
    Cuisine American
    Prep Time 20 minutes minutes
    Cook Time 5 minutes minutes
    Salting 3 hours hours
    Total Time 3 hours hours 25 minutes minutes
    Servings 8
    Calories 44kcal

    Ingredients

    • 2 cups cucumbers thinly sliced
    • 1 shallot thinly sliced
    • 1 tsp pickling salt
    • ¾ cup cider vinegar
    • ⅓ cup sugar
    • ½ teaspoon mustard seeds
    • ¼ teaspoon celery seeds
    • ¼ teaspoon turmeric

    Instructions

    • Place the cucumber and shallot in a colander.  Sprinkle with the salt and toss to coat.  Let stand for about 3 hours.  Rinse and drain thoroughly. 
    • In a small pot, combine the vinegar, sugar, mustard seeds, celery seeds and turmeric. 
    • Heat over a medium heat, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. 
    • Pack the cucumbers into a small mason jar. 
    • Pour the warm brine over the cucumbers.  
    • Put a lid on the jar and store in the fridge.  These are good within 24 hours. 

    Nutrition

    Calories: 44kcal | Carbohydrates: 9g | Sodium: 293mg | Potassium: 72mg | Sugar: 9g | Vitamin A: 25IU | Vitamin C: 1.3mg | Calcium: 6mg | Iron: 0.2mg

    You can follow:

    Jenna Blum - Twitter,  Facebook, Instagram

    Harper Books - Twitter, Facebook, Instagram

    Book Club Cookbook - Twitter, Facebook, Instagram

    More Easy Small Batch Canning and Preserving Recipes

    • Jar of cherry tomatoes.
      Fermented Cherry Tomatoes
    • Lentil sprouts in a peach colored bowl.
      Sprouting Lentils
    • Mason jar with white lid and pickled collard stems in the jar.
      Pickled Collard Stems
    • Collard greens in freezer bag.
      How to Freeze Collard Greens

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Miz Helen says

      June 18, 2018 at 2:52 pm

      5 stars
      We have enjoyed featuring your awesome post this week at Full Plate Thursday, thank you so much for sharing it with us! We are pinning your post to our Features Board and hope you enjoy your new Red Plate!
      Miz Helen

      Reply
    2. April J Harris says

      June 11, 2018 at 7:14 am

      5 stars
      Pam, this sounds like my kind of book - and my kind of pickles! What a fantastic recipe. I love that you said "pickles are my jam". I'm like that too, and as pickles aren't as popular over here in the UK they are a special treat. Pinning this post, and featuring it at the Hearth and Soul Link Party this week. It went live a little early this week, so hope to see you there! Thank you so much for all your support of Hearth and Soul! Have a lovely week!

      Reply
    3. Deb in Hawaii says

      June 04, 2018 at 3:25 pm

      I have been craving pickles and thought about making them for the event but your pickles look so darn good I'm glad I didn't! 😉 Lovely photos too.

      Reply
    4. Simona says

      June 03, 2018 at 11:27 pm

      I LOVE the photos, Pam. Turmeric adds a warm tone to the brine and cucumbers that makes a great difference and your choice of backgrounds is perfect. Just lovely 🙂

      Reply
    5. Wendy says

      June 03, 2018 at 7:26 am

      I loved this novel too and was so happy to be included in the party. Those housemade pickles caught my eye as well. I'll bet they were not near as delicious as yours sound.

      Reply
    6. Beth F says

      June 02, 2018 at 7:27 am

      I love refrigerator pickles and the cucumbers will be showing up the farmer's markets soon ... I will be making them!

      Reply
    7. Carrie @ Curly Crafty Mom says

      May 31, 2018 at 7:49 pm

      I just love pickles, so this is making me so hungry! I made pickles one time and it was a really long time ago. I should make these, since they are so easy and prepared within a day! Yum! They'd be perfect to take along on a picnic!

      Carrie
      curlycraftymom.com

      Reply
    8. Jessica Randhawa says

      May 31, 2018 at 6:03 pm

      5 stars
      Yum! I have never made my own pickles before, but these sound delicious 🙂 I bet they would be gone in seconds at my house!

      Reply
    9. Hannah says

      May 31, 2018 at 5:53 pm

      5 stars
      Wow, loved this recipe, never thought they can last that long. Although, these pickles wouldn't last a day at my house. 😀

      Reply
    10. Rae says

      May 31, 2018 at 5:43 pm

      5 stars
      Lately, my husband has been teasing me about leaning a bit German lately. I've been somewhat obsessed with books about WWII, specifically about the aftermath of both Jewish and German survivors. I hadn't heard of this book, so I will definitely be on the lookout next time I'm at Barnes & Noble.

      Reply
    11. Jessica Formicola says

      May 31, 2018 at 4:54 pm

      5 stars
      These are my favorite type of pickles! I love how easy they are!

      Reply
    12. Tina Culbertson says

      May 31, 2018 at 4:40 pm

      5 stars
      Wishing I were your neighbor 🙂 Great review, I agree that was a wonderful book. So many emotions.

      Reply
    13. Sharon says

      May 31, 2018 at 4:21 pm

      5 stars
      These bread and butter pickles look so good. The perfect compliment to Summer dishes. I will eat these up just like I will devour this book, it sounds just like one that I would love.

      Reply
    5 from 31 votes (23 ratings without comment)

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    Primary Sidebar

    Pam Greer from Sidewalk Shoes

    Hi, I'm Pam. I'm the person who plans whole vacations around where to eat and drink. Beautiful scenery is optional.

    More about me →

    Featured in:

    Collage of website titles

    Sheet Pan Suppers

    • Close up of chicken and vegetables on a sheet pan.
      Honey Balsamic Chicken
    • Tray Baked Salmon and Green Beans
    • Close up of roasted sausages and vegetables.
      Sheet Pan Roasted Sausage and Vegetables
    • Two photos of sheet pan dinners with text overlay.
      15 Easy and Delicious Sheet Pan Dinners
    See more Sheet Pan Suppers →

    Instant Pot

    • Two bowls with toppings of peppers, sauce, tomatoes, cilantro and more.
      Instant Pot Chickpea Mediterranean Bowl
    • Close up of a bowl of black beans topped with cilantro salsa.
      Easy Instant Pot Black Beans
    • Bowl of pineapple rice garnished with cilantro.
      Instant Pot Pineapple Rice
    • Bowl of pork noodle soup topped with radishes and green onions.
      Instant Pot Asian Pork Noodle Soup
    See more Instant Pot →

    Sidewalk Shoes is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

    Footer

    ^ back to top

    About

    • Privacy Policy
    • About Me
    • Contact me!

    Disclaimer

    Website Disclaimer

    Copyright © 2024 Sidewalk Shoes

    Rate This Recipe

    Your vote:




    A rating is required
    A name is required
    An email is required

    Recipe Ratings without Comment

    Something went wrong. Please try again.