Pickle juice. Olive brine. The liquid leftover from a pack offetaor freshmozzarella. What do these four things have in common? They're trash. Well, usually—what I mean is, too often we're all eating the pickles or olives or feta or mozzarella that these liquids were preserving, and then tossing out the liquids themselves.
The thing is, most of these flavorful liquids can be used in your cooking—and can make your everyday weeknight recipes even better.
To learn more practical uses for pickle brine and all the others, I turned toJeremy Umansky, chef ofLarderin Cleveland and co-author of the forthcomingKoji Alchemy, who is well-known in the restaurant industry for running alow-waste kitchen. Here are a few ideas we discussed.
What to Do With Leftover Brine
You probably have a fridge full of brine right now. You get it withevery type of pickle(cucumbers, jalapeños, cherry peppers, beets), with jars of roasted red peppers, olives, that floating block of feta. But let's break it down. That brine is probably some combination of vinegar, salt, and often sugar. Another thing that starts with vinegar, salt, and sugar:salad dressing. So mix your brine (or the liquid from a jar of sauerkraut or kimchi) with oil to start a salad dressing. Depending on how sweet your brine is you may want to add a little honey for a boost or a little hot mustard to make things sharper.
If your pickle juice or other brine is brightly flavored, you can also use it to servecruditéthe way my coworkers Anna Stockwell and Emily Johnson do. Just skip the lime juice in the recipe and drizzle a bit of brine over the veg instead, dust with chile powder (or a mix of spices inspired by whatever was in the brine). Consider the party started.
还有一些盐水罐吗?Umansky喜欢to use leftover brine or pickle juice as a marinade for meat and vegetables. "Take a raw cut of meat or veg, before you go to work, put it in a container [in the fridge] with leftover brine. When you get home, it’s ready to cook any way you want." He even says you can leave meat in a brine for an extra day (in case you forget about it or get home later than expected and don't feel like cooking) without fear of going too far, since most store-bought briny things "don't go over 5% salt." Think about combining leftover feta, olive, and red pepper brines for a Greek-inspired chicken dish and you'll have some idea of the possibilities here.