Cooks Illustrated Unframed Print: Pickles

Over the past 20 years, renowned illustrator John Burgoyne has produced more than 150 intricate, hand-drawn illustrations for Cook’s Illustrated magazine. Now, for the first time ever, America’s Test Kitchen is proud to partner with Mr. Burgoyne and offer a select number of fine art prints featuring this iconic artwork.

For centuries, vegetables were pickled in seasoned brine as a means of preservation; nowadays, the flavor itself is the allure. Cucumbers, the most commonly pickled vegetable, run the gamut from mild-tasting, garlicky dill pickles to piquant, vinegary half- or full-sours. Sweet bread-and-butter pickles are brined in a sugary mix often containing onion, mustard and celery seeds, and turmeric (the source of their characteristic yellow color). Another sweet pickle is the gherkin, made from the same small cucumber as the French cornichon (which tends to be even smaller). Either brined or cured in salt, capers are the pickled flower bud of a thorny Mediterranean bush; caperberries, the fruit of the same plant, are about the size of a cocktail olive and can be used in the same fashion. A more familiar garnish—which turns a martini into a Gibson—is the delicately pickled pearl onion. Italian pepperoncini, also known as Tuscan peppers, often appear as part of an antipasto platter, offering mild heat along with tanginess.