Hot Dog Relish

 

 When I decided to do a recipe for Hamburger Relish, I figured it's only fair to make a hot dog relish as well, dontcha think?? So here it is! This is basically a version of a recipe I found on a website called Our Country Life. Yes, it's the perfect condiment for grilled hot dogs, but it's great for other things too! Serve on grilled hamburgers, sausages, or anywhere you’d like a sweet tangy hit of mustard. It's also really great added to deviled eggs or potato salad. I also like it served with a thick juicy ham steak. SO good! 

 So if you're a mustard person, you need to add this to your pantry! Yum!

 

 

 

3 lbs cucumbers
1 lb onions
1 cup bell peppers, green and red

2 tbs mustard powder
1/2 cup prepared yellow mustard
1 tbs ginger powder
2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp yellow mustard seeds
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp celery seed
1 cup sugar
1 cup water 
2 cups white vinegar

2 tbs Clear Jel or regular corn starch, optional




Finely chop all veggies. Add to a large pot with all remaining ingredients.
Bring it up to heat, reduce to a simmer. 
Let it simmer for at least 30-45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the veggies cook down a bit. 
Be sure to stir from the bottom to make sure it doesn’t burn. 
If it gets too thick, just add some water until you reach your desired consistency. 

Store in the fridge or freeze in ziploc bags. 

For canning:
For 1/2 pint or pint jars, leave 1/2 inch head space, process in a water bath for 10 minutes. 

Reminder.. when canning, you must use clear gel instead of regular corn starch, if using.


Tips:
Before storing or canning, be sure to taste it and make adjustments. Would you like it to be sweeter? Add more sugar. Would you like to it be more tangy? Add more vinegar. Would you like a stronger mustard hit? Add more yellow mustard. You could also add other kinds of prepared mustard.. ground, Dijon, spicy brown, it all works!  Would you like some heat? Add some minced jalapeños or other hot peppers.
One other thing…
Many pickling recipes say to salt your vegetables for several hours and then rinse them before pickling. This is mainly to extract some of the moisture and preserve a crunchy texture for your pickles or vegetables. I don’t like a crunchy relish, so I just threw everything into a pot and let it cook. Any moisture that the salt would have extracted will evaporate during the cooking time anyway, so I just skip the salty step. But if you do a lot of pickling and you’d prefer to salt everything, who am I to stop you???!! :)

Hamburger Relish

 

 How do you like your burger? Just cheese? No cheese? Lots of fixins? Or just plain?

When you think of it, there's literally no limit to the way you could fix a burger, but for some reason, we always go back to our tried and true favorites. For me, I'm a fan of lots of cheese, ketchup, and some sweet pickle relish. Occasionally, I'll add a slice of tomato and some lettuce, but that's about it.  

 So when I saw this recipe for hamburger relish, I was all over it. I make TONS of different relishes, so this one needed to be included on my wall 'o jars. It's my version of a recipe I found on a website called Shifting Roots, and it's exactly what you want in a hamburger relish. It's kind of like adding ketchup to regular pickle relish, but it's SO much more. It's light and fresh and definitely worth the effort. Perfect for burgers ! (It's great on hot dogs too!) Especially if you like ketchup and relish. 

 Are you a burger person? if so, you need to make this! So good! 

 

4 cups finely chopped cucumbers (unpeeled)

2 cups finely chopped bell peppers (red, yellow, orange, and/or green)

1 cup finely chopped onion

2 28oz cans crushed tomatoes

2 cups sugar 

3 cups white vinegar

1 tbs yellow mustard seeds

1 tbs turmeric

1 tbs cinnamon

1 tbs allspice

1 tbs ground cloves

 

 Add all ingredients to a large pot over medium heat. Bring it to a boil, then reduce the heat to simmer.  Let it continue to simmer for an hour, stirring occasionally. Be sure to stir from the bottom to make sure it doesn't burn. Let it cook down until you reach your desired consistency. Serve on burgers, hot dogs, or meatloaf.

 

For canning:

Always remember- hot jars, hot filling, hot water.

Fill your jars, leave a half inch head space, wipe rims, place your two piece lids, then process in a water bath for 15 minutes. 

 

Tips:

Most pickle and relish recipes start by salting your chopped vegetables and letting them sit for 8 hours or overnight. Then you rinse and drain them and continue with your recipe. This extracts a lot of excess water from the veggies making them more crisp, which is definitely what you want in a dill or sweet pickle. I decided to skip that entire step. Call me a rebel, but I just didn't see the point of it, since I would be cooking it down anyway. 

This makes a big batch, which is great for canning, but go ahead and cut this recipe in half if you don't need to as much.