Buzz
I may not have my own garden, but I'm lucky to have many friends who are gardeners. This means I get to enjoy fresh produce during the summer. While I’m thrilled to receive gifts like two pounds of blackberries or baskets of ripe tomatoes, one recent gift—a single zucchini—had some strange, almost mischievous vibes.
As shown in the Instagram post above—which I’m sharing to give you an idea of its sheer size—you can see just how massive this zucchini was. (And yes, notice how calm and composed I’m being about the whole situation, which everyone should appreciate.)
My friend’s reason for gifting me this giant zucchini made sense. “I just want to see what you come up with,” she said, her voice almost playful. These enormous zucchinis tend to lack flavor and are mostly watery, with tough seeds and fibrous flesh. They’re rarely the kind of vegetable you sauté and enjoy as is. Initially, I thought about treating it like eggplant—maybe making a parm or something—but then I remembered Hamburger Stackers.
The idea behind Hamburger Stackers is pretty straightforward, and the commercial above gets the point across in 15 seconds with just one word (“duh”). If your pickle is too small for your burger, just choose a larger one. This is the complete opposite of my usual method, which is to shrink everything down, but something about covering a whole burger or sandwich with a single, big pickle slice feels satisfying to me.
By chance—or perhaps fate—a slice of this zucchini turned out to be the ideal size for this style of pickle. However, because it was so large and flavorless, pickling it required two stages, starting with a basic salting process. I sprinkled a few pinches of salt on each slice and let them rest for about half an hour, which helped pull out some of the extra moisture, softened the flesh (and seeds), and added some flavor. After that, I used a bread-and-butter brine because I’d been craving ham sandwiches lately, and bread-and-butter pickles pair beautifully with salty ham. (Feel free to use any brine recipe you prefer, but remember to pre-salt as described.) The pickles I pulled from the fridge were flexible yet crisp, well-seasoned but not overly salty, and big enough to top any sandwich or burger. To make these ultimate stackers at home, you’ll need:
About 2 pounds of zucchini
Salt (roughly 1/4 teaspoon per slice)
One head of garlic, cloves peeled and smashed
2 cups apple cider vinegar
2 cups white sugar
3 teaspoons mustard powder
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
Cut the zucchini into 1/8-inch thick slices, then sprinkle each slice on both sides with about 1/8 teaspoon of salt. Place all the slices into a bowl and let them rest for half an hour. After about 15 minutes, give the slices a stir to flip the top slices to the bottom. Once the zucchini becomes soft and loses its firmness, drain the salted water and transfer the slices to a large jar, adding the garlic as well.
Combine the remaining ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir to ensure the sugar dissolves completely, then pour the hot brine over the zucchini. Cover the jar loosely, let everything cool to room temperature, then seal the jar and refrigerate overnight to chill.
