Piccalilli Recipe and Royal Wedding Street party

On the day of the recent Royal Wedding we had a street party from 2pm until 10pm. In all, we visited seven back gardens in our road and had a course and a drink in each. It was great fun and we met some neighbours we hadn’t really known before. In between courses we marched down the street to get to the next house.

We were the second course and served Jane’s gorgeous potted ham with some of my homemade piccalilli. Piccalilli is a mustard pickle and I prefer mine to be tangy rather than sweet and have a chilli hot flavour as well. It goes well with cold meats, cheese, sausages and burgers. It was very popular when I was young and seems to be undergoing a bit of a revival. For those who enjoyed my Piccalilli, here is the recipe (it took three seasons to perfect this).

Walking down the road between courses

Johnny’s Homemade Hot Tongham Piccalilli Recipe
Ingredients
Between 3.5 and 4 lb of mixed fresh vegetables including:
1 Cauliflower
A good handful of French beans
1 Cucumber
A good handful of Spring Onions
1 decent sized Courgette
1 Red pepper
Plus:
2 large medium hot Red Chillies (chopped)
2 fat cloves of Garlic (crushed)

Potted ham, bread and piccalilli

1.5 oz of Mustard Powder
2 tablespoons of Turmeric
Over 1.5 pints of White Wine Vinegar
Plus Store Cupboard ingredients such as:
Salt
Sugar
Plain Flour
Dijon or English Mustard
Malt Vinegar
Corn Flour

1. Clean and prepare the vegetables and then chop into small pieces. Put the vegetables into a large bowl and sprinkle with about 1 ounce of salt to dehydrate. Shake and then cover with cling film and leave overnight.
2. Drain off any liquid and then rinse thoroughly in cold water. Allow to dry.
3. Mix the flour and mustard powder with a little of the wine vinegar and make into a paste. Put into a large saucepan and add the rest of the white wine vinegar, chillies, garlic, turmeric and a generous 2 ounces of sugar. Bring to the boil, stirring a little to ensure the paste mixes in well. Add the chopped vegetables, bring back to the boil and simmer for a maximum of 15 minutes.
4. Allow to cool a little and then taste. It is important to have a nice bright yellow colour and a hot and sour taste. It must also have a thick consistency. Thus at this stage you need to achieve the right balance by adding some mustard, corn flour, sugar and malt vinegar.  If you add corn flour to thicken you will need to bring to a boil again in a little vinegar and stir but do not cook the vegetables any longer. Once done to your taste, allow to cool a little again so that you don’t burn yourself when trying to put in the jars.
5. Sterilise some old jam or honey jars, add the piccalilli and put the lids on.
6. You should store for at least 3 months in a cool and dark place before opening and tasting your delicious homemade Piccalilli.