Equipment
* optional
Ingredients
Vegetables and Aromatics
- 200 g serrano peppers, washed and stems removed
- 2 garlic, peeled and lightly crushed
- 2 g black peppercorns, whole
Pickling Brine
- 240 ml distilled white vinegar
- 240 ml water
- 15 g kosher salt
- 10 g granulated sugar
Nutrition (per serving)
Method
Wearing food-safe gloves, slice the serrano peppers into 3mm to 5mm thick rings. Discard the stems.
Pack the sliced serrano peppers, crushed garlic cloves, and whole black peppercorns tightly into a clean 500ml glass jar.
In a small saucepan, combine the white vinegar, water, kosher salt, and granulated sugar. Bring the mixture to a rolling boil over medium-high heat until the salt and sugar dissolve completely, reaching 100°C/212°F.
Carefully pour the boiling brine over the peppers in the jar, ensuring all ingredients are completely submerged. Leave about 1cm of headspace at the top.
Let the jar sit uncovered at room temperature for 2 hours until the glass is cool to the touch. Once cooled, seal tightly with the lid and transfer to the refrigerator.
Chef's Notes
- Handling capsaicin-rich peppers like serranos can leave invisible oils on your skin that burn for hours. Wearing nitrile gloves is highly recommended. If you work bare-handed, wash your hands immediately with a degreasing dish soap, not regular hand soap.
- The residual spicy vinegar left over after you eat all the peppers is culinary gold. Splash it into rich lentil soups, use it to deglaze a pan after searing pork chops, or whisk it into an acidic vinaigrette.
- For extra crunch, you can add 1/4 teaspoon of calcium chloride (commonly sold as pickle crisp) to the empty jar before adding your vegetables.
- You can customize this base recipe infinitely. Consider adding a few slices of raw carrot, a bay leaf, or some thinly sliced white onion to the jar for traditional taqueria-style escabeche.
Storage
Refrigerator: 3 months — Keep peppers completely submerged in the brine to prevent mold.
