Friday, July 22, 2011

PB & J's Evil Twin - Peanut Butter & Dill Pickle

My dad introduced me to the awesomeness of a Peanut Butter and Dill Pickle Sandwich when I was very young.  It was a guilty pleasure of my youth to be eaten when Mom wasn't around.  Sort of a male bonding thing. All three of us boys enjoyed them immensely. Seriously, I am not kidding.

I know I sound like I have completely gone off the deep end.  I know is sounds weird and possibly even disgusting.  My mother would agree with that assessment.  Then again, she hates peanut butter to begin with.

Trust me, I am not insane, (OK, maybe a little, but that's beside the point) there is just something magical that happens to peanut butter when you add the sharpness of a Dill Pickle to it.  It becomes sort of sweet.  That combination of sharp vinegar laced with dill & salt works it's VooDoo on the lowly peanut, creating a whole new flavor that is sweet & creamy, yet salty and savory shot with the pungency of apple cider vinegar.   It is a strange phenomenon that I cannot really explain, but it's delicious. (or at least I think so, but I like Balsamic Vinegar Ice Cream too)

Now mind you, I have only eat this sandwich when I'm fortunate enough to be in possession of a jar of my dad's homemade dill pickles.  But even though I cannot personally vouch for store bought Dill Pickles in this application, I am fairly confident they will work just as well as my dad's do.  The most important thing is the  peanut butter. No JIF, Peter Pan or Skippy.   Just good old peanuts, ground into "butter", with a little salt added.  Me, I prefer the crunchy version, but creamy does work.  It's just the Sugar & HFC laced stuff you need to avoid.  As well as those that include non-peanut oils such as soy bean and palm.

I am also a big fan of seedy bread when doing this... Seriously seedy bread.  Like the bread version of an everything bagel. It adds just a touch of heft to the sandwich.

PB & DP Sandwich

2 slices Seedy Bread, toasted
Natural Peanut Butter
1 Dill Pickle, sliced

First Toast the seedy bread and grab the peanut butter. (It doesn't need to be organic, just natural and untainted) ;)

Your gonna have to stir it up of course, cause it doesn't contain any artificial emulsifiers and always separates.

Spread a thin layer of peanut butter on each piece of toast.

Time to unveil the pickle, and slice it thin.

Lay down the pickle slices.

Place one piece of toast on top of the other and slice in half.

Enjoy...  I know I sure did.  The flavor of childhood memories.

Mangia!!
~~

3 comments:

Patti T. said...

I can hardly believe this post. Do you have any idea how old I am? Anyway when I was in grade school we packed our lunches and this was my very favorite sandwich of all time. Believe it or not I was the only one who no one would trade sandwiches with, well harumph, they have no idea what they were missing out on. By they way, I love seedy bread also especially if they are sunflower seeds. Sure wish I had some of that bread right now, I now what I would be having for dinner. Thank you for bringing back such vivid childhood memories.

Angela said...

Seriously, this is one of my favorite childhood memories--and people think it is crazy, but it is sooooo good! I like to slice the pickles thin and use untoasted bread, but otherwise, you nailed it.

Ren Kitten said...

A roommate introduced these to me in college and I love them just as much as you do. Like our peanut butter and dill pickle page on Facebook and help me spread the sweet and tangy word <3