It’s barbecue season, and everyone knows that what goes on top of your burger is just as important as the burger itself. Layering on smoky homemade barbecue sauce and home-canned sliced pickles or digging into a jar of peach chutney and an interesting grainy mustard will take your perfectly grilled burgers to the next level. However you dress it up, homemade preserves let you personalize all your grilled favourites, including chicken drumsticks, fresh fish and perfectly marbled steaks all summer long.
So get out your canning supplies and preserve these big, bold flavours for barbecue season:
Barbecue Sauce
Make this the summer you make your own incredible barbecue sauce. Start with a fruit or vegetable base, such as onions and tomatoes, cherries, peaches or apples. Then add in loads of tangy vinegar, brown sugar and plenty of classic barbecue spices such as chili and cumin. Let it all simmer low and slow to intensify the flavours, then puree for a smooth consistency. Today’s canning books have some creative ideas for barbecue sauces that will knock your socks off and add some serious zing to your grilling. This is a preserve you’ll have no problem using up. In fact, you may even end up wishing you had made more.
Relish
A classic sweet green relish made with cucumber, vinegar, sugar and salt is a crowd pleaser. But relish can go well beyond this standby into a world of other chopped pickled produce that can add variety and excitement to barbecue season. Try a smoky tomato relish or a pepper relish made with a mixture of red, green, orange and yellow bell peppers. And relish isn’t just for burgers and dogs. Try herbed fennel relish with grilled sausages, or barbecued salmon with zucchini sweet relish to use up all those extra zucchinis in your garden. As a bonus, relishes make a fantastic chip dip when mixed with sour cream, especially corn relish. Pass the tortilla chips!
Pickles
Everyone loves a classic dill pickle. They are a canning favourite and an easy project for first-time canners. Start with firm pickling cucumbers and rinse them well under cool running water. Stuff clean mason jars with a garlic clove and a bunch of fresh dill, then snugly pack in the cucumbers. Boil a brine of vinegar, water and plenty of salt and pour into the jars before processing in a boiling water bath canner for just 10 minutes. Can them whole or in spears for the side of the plate, or can them pre-sliced to be tucked under burger buns. Use a trusted recipe and you’ll be enjoying your own homemade pickles for months to come. Other pickles that are right at home during barbecue season include hot pickled peppers, pickled pearl onions and pickled green beans, which are wonderful chopped into potato salad.
Chutney
People who really love to get creative dressing up their cheeseburger will love some chutney in the condiment line-up. A classic mango chutney is an easy favourite, adding a punch of sweet and sour to ground pork or turkey burgers. Other unexpected chutneys can be made with pears, apples, cherries, peaches and more. While relishes are generally crisp in texture and just briefly cooked, chutneys are cooked longer, resulting in a softer texture and concentrated flavour. Once you preserve your first chutney, it’ll become a regular part of your annual canning routine for grilling season.
Mustard
Too bold to be ignored, mustard is a barbecue classic that brings big flavour to the table. Your own homemade mustards can be canned any time of year and pulled out at grilling time and enjoyed for their wonderful flavour and colour. Grainy mustards, honey mustards, herbed mustards, fruit mustards, spicy or sweet, there is a world of mustard to explore. Try a beer mustard that soaks whole mustard seeds in your favourite beer with vinegar, salt and a little brown sugar for a grainy mustard that will knock your grilled smokies right out of the park!
Amy Bronee is the author of the bestselling cookbook ‘The Canning Kitchen: 101 Simple Small Batch Recipes’ from Penguin Canada. Visit her food blog FamilyFeedbag.com for recipe ideas and stories from her small Vancouver Island family kitchen.