Relish Tray

Heritage Serving Pieces
Instagram / @ericdiesel

Not many home entertaining practices are more charming than setting out a relish tray, nor more in danger of becoming a lost art. We think of relish as the green stuff we plunk on our hot dogs at a cookout, and that's not wrong, but there is more to relish about relish than its place of honor at the picnic table. To my grandmother and most homekeepers of her generation, relish and the dedicated serving piece for it represented tiny moments of good living, quaint but perfectly rendered, shimmering to accent special occasions from holiday gathering to church luncheon, from canning day to the state fair.

Relish is both humble and celebratory, placing it square in the democracy of the American kitchen. It borrows from world cooking including Indian, Chinese, middle European, German, British, French, and Caribbean, but American relish emerges as distinct. The meld of influences is the primary quality of American relishes, with some relishes retaining their history by an ingredient or two or by name only. In the dialogue of cultural appropriation, relish is an important subject. The condiment we know as chow chow is arguably racist, a corruption of a preparation from Asian cooking but so prevalent under the corruption that the Americanized iteration is the common standard for which blue ribbons are competed. But then the state fair traces back to community feast days which are historically common worldwide, and equally common worldwide is the practice of setting condiments on the table to accompany a meal.

Many still can honestly, and the practice has emerged amongst hipster ironies, but not that long ago, home canning was an expected aspect of a homekeeper's repertoire. Some of that was devoted to condiments. Your grandmother may not have made her own ketchup, but there's an even chance that someone in your family tree did – likewise mustard, mayonnaise, salsa, steak sauce, chili sauce, tomato sauce, compotes and so forth. Much of this effort went towards relishes, both to take advantage of produce while it was fresh and to preserve family history through heirloom recipes.

Concurrently, the American Table developed a protocol of serving practices and implements that could get really elaborate. While today many are content with a sixteen-piece boxed dinnerware set from the big box store, earlier generations didn't think that way. Home china services were important: they were registered, insured, seen as an investment both financially and in family history. From expensive to everyday, most services stretched far and wide to encompass specialty serving vessels. Most of them made sense and all of them are charming. Thus in one's pattern or in one that augmented it, one obtained sauce boats, cake stands, egg platters, celery dishes, aspic molds, olive trays, grease jars, and so forth.

Among these was certain to be a relishtray. A relish tray is a dish compartmentalized with wells from which one serves a variety of relishes. Relish trays are oblong with three to five wells, round with three or four pie-shaped wells, or sunburst with a central well from which additional wells radiate. They were a favorite item of depression glass, where they spoke of special times but were obtainable for minimal budgets, but they were available from most manufacturers, from high end china to dime store pressed glass.

I still have my grandmother's relish tray in her color and pattern of Amber Thumbprint, along with additional pieces from her stash. She filled her relish tray with dabs of handmade condiments – one or two relishes, and always pickled red onions. We all like to set out heirloom dishes for feasts, none more appropriately than the gathering of Thanksgiving. For as long as I have been hosting Thanksgiving, I have set out my grandmother's dishes in her memory. I don't like to serve heavy h'ors d'oeuvres for Thanksgiving – the meal is heavy enough itself. Her relish tray filled with old-fashioned nibbles sets the right mood as guests get situated. From that relish tray I have served giardiniera, red hots, fennel relish, fire and ice – all recipes memorialized at Urban Home Blog. But the most popular is always the aforementioned chow-chow. Here is my grandmother's recipe for chow chow, which was a cross between pepper relish and piccalilli. It is not meant to be an appropriation, but it is as true to the American kitchen as the glass jar in which it is preserved and the relish tray from which it is served.

Chow Chow

Some elements of this recipe have been upgraded for modern kitchens. Depending on how the chow chow cooked, you will have enough for 6 to 8 pints for canning; store any extra in the refrigerator for immediate use.

For the vegetables

4 medium green tomatoes

3 large white onions

2 cucumbers (see note below)

2 carrots

2 red bell peppers

2 green bell peppers

1 head cauliflower

1 bunch celery

1 small head green cabbage

1 small head garlic

For the brine

4 cups cider vinegar

2 cups granulated sugar

¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons table salt

For the spice mix

4 tablespoons ground turmeric

3 tablespoons dry mustard

3 tablespoons celery seed

1 tablespoon mustard seeds

1 tablespoon dill seed

1 tablespoon whole allspice

1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns

½ tablespoon whole cloves

2 whole bay leaves

Prepare the vegetables

1. Wash the cucumbers, bell peppers, green tomatoes, and celery with food safe vegetable cleaner. Rinse in cool water until they feel squeaky clean; set aside to dry.
2. Place a large heatproof bowl, the cutting board and knife, a scraps bowl, and a clean towel near each other. Prepare the vegetables as follows:

• Onions and carrots: Peel, remove stem and root ends. Coarsely chop and place into the bowl.
• Bell peppers: Once cleaned and rinsed (see above), remove stem end, white pith, and seeds. Coarsely chop and place into the bowl.
• Cucumbers (see note below) and tomatoes: Once cleaned and rinsed (see above), remove stem and blossom ends. Coarsely chop, leaving unpeeled, and place into the bowl.
• Cauliflower: Pick head clean of flowerlets, placing into bowl as you go.
• Celery: Cut off the calloused bottom and tops of celery, leaving stalks. Pick through stalks to choose the unleafy, pale green, or undersized ones; set aside for another use. Coarsely chop remaining stalks and place into a bowl.
• Cabbage: Remove tough outer leaves and inner core. Chop into half. Place one half into bowl; set remaining half aside for another use.
• Garlic: Peel 4 cloves of garlic. Cut each clove in half; remove green pith or shoot if any. Set aside.

1. Working in batches, transfer the vegetable mixture to a food processor or mini kitchen prep. Safely process the vegetables until they are finely chopped but not pulped. Return the finely chopped vegetable mixture to the heatproof bowl.
2. Once the vegetables have been processed, toss with 2 tablespoons salt. Gently pour hot (not boiling water) into the bowl just to the top of the vegetables.
3. Cover the bowl with its lid or a double-layer of aluminum foil. Let sit for 1 hour.

Make the brine

1. Place a large metal stock pot on the stovetop.
2. Combine the sugar and ¼ cup salt in the stock pot. Slowly pour the vinegar into the sugar-salt mixture, whisking together as you pour until you have added all of the vinegar and the sugar-salt mixture is thoroughly dissolved.
3. Measure all of the spices except the bay leaves into the pot.
4. Cover the pot to sit, unheated, until it is time to make the chow chow.

Make the chow chow

1. After 1 hour, drain the salted vegetables thoroughly (an in-sink colander works well).
2. Turn the heat the medium under the brine.
3. While the brine is heating, return the drained vegetables to the bowl.
4. Use a large spoon to transfer all the vegtetable mixture into the pot containing the heating brine.
5. Use the spoon to stir the chow-chow until the mixture is thoroughly combined. It should display lots of chunks of colorful vegetables in a yellowish brine.
6. Stirring occasionally to avoid scorching, bring the mixture to a full rolling boil.
7. Reduce heat to simmer. Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to avoid scorching, or until the vegetables are cooked through but not mushy. It is okay if it is a little undercooked.

Can the chow chow

Note: It is essential to follow safe canning practices. For instructions on safe canning, click here: http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publications/publications_usda.html or here http://www.freshpreserving.com/getting-started.aspx.

1. Sterlize and have ready 8 pint jars with rings and new lids.
2. Break each bay leaf into quarters and, being careful not to touch the sides or mouth of the jar, use kitchen tongs to place 1 quarter-piece of bay leaf in the bottom of each jar.
3. Being careful not to touch the sides or mouth of the jar, use kitchen tongs to place ½ garlic clove in the bottom of each jar.
4. Once the chow chow is cooked through (step 7 above), carefully ladle hot chow chow into each jar, leaving 1/8 inch head space.
5. Wipe the rim of each jar. Carefully position a clean, heated jar lid onto the rim of the jar. Screw a band onto each jar just until it stops turning in place.
6. Process the full jars of chow chow in a hot water canning bath for 10 minutes.
7. After 10 minutes processing, turn off the heat and place the lid on the canner. Let jars sit in lidded canner for 10 minutes.
8. After jars sit in lidded canner for 10 minutes, carefully use canning tongs to remove each jar and place it on a clean kitchen towel.
9. Allow jars to sit undisturbed for 24 hours. During that time you should hear the lids click as a vaccuum seal forms.
10. After 24 hours, wipe down each jar. Gently turn it upside down to confirm a vaccuum seal.
11. Store vaccuum sealed jars up to a year in a cool dark place such as pantry or basement.

Note

Cucumbers from the supermarket are often waxed; do not use waxed cucumbers for this recipe. Obtain unwaxed cucumbers from a farm stand or an organic grocery, or buy wrapped English cucumbers from the supermarket.

Resources
The Canning Pantry
Fennel Relish
Chili Sauce