How To Make Pickle Relish At Home

What's one of the main ingredients that a hot dog shouldn't be without?

If you're like most editors here at The Daily Meal, then you've probably just answered pickle relish. For some reason, it's the perfect complement to a juicy dog: its sour, mustardy components balance out the fatty, tender dog, and with a drizzle of mustard and ketchup and a bun for a blanket, it's the perfect harmony of tastes and flavors.

Click here to see How to Make Pickle Relish at Home

We know, our mouths are watering too, but so are our imaginations. We love many store-bought varieties of pickle relish, but sometimes we can't help but think of all of the possibilities out there for our dog-topping relishes. Like what if you like your pickles small-diced and the sauce with a lot of mustard? Or what if you wanted to add spice with jalapeños, or sweetness with apple cider vinegar?

There's a world of possibilities when it comes to pickling — whether it's peppers, pearl onions, or string beans you're working with — so it's no surprise that pickle relishes can be flexible, too. We're looking to explore all of the possibilities for our pickle relish for the summer, and we want to brush up on our traditional recipes as well.

Thankfully, we found Seattle-based Erin Coopey, chef, writer, and food photographer, who is an expert with pickling and relishes. In an entire chapter of her book The Kitchen Pantry Cookbook, Coopey explores all of the avenues of pickling and offers her best-kept secrets for how to master the task

To help us with our culinary experiment, she's drafted a list of tips that not only pertain to pickling but specifically to pickle relish — the hot dog relish of choice — so that we can top our dogs with a perfectly delicious relish all summer long. Whether it's her sweet pickle relish you choose to create, or a traditional hot dog relish, Coopey spells out the basics that you need to know, and her recipes make it easier than ever for you to get pickling.

So now, can you pass the mustard? 

Anne Dolce is the Cook editor at The Daily Meal. Follow her on Twitter @anniecdolce