Chef Jack's Pickledillies
Chef Jack's Favorite Snack
*Editor’s note: this blog was produced prior to the restaurant and bar shut down implemented in recent weeks. However, since the recipe featured is so simple, we figured it was still worth sharing as so many of us learn how to get creative with our pantry staples, seeking comfort in shared meals. We hope you’ll give this recipe a try and tag us in your results. Until we can serve you pickledillies again at Watershed Kitchen & Bar, we hope you’ll enjoy at home.
“Everyone has their staples at family gatherings. These were simple but they were mamaws, so no one ever tried to make them. The tradition, unfortunately, died with her. They hadn’t really been made since.”
Executive Chef Jack Moore’s first interaction with a Pickledillie (pronounced: pick-uh-dilly) was at a holiday function surrounded by family. It was the salty, briny, pink, white, and green bite that quickly earned the rank as “Chef’s favorite snack.” Served at Watershed Kitchen & Bar as country ham smeared with cream cheese, rolled, and cut into a pinwheel, the pickledillie is easily one of the house favorites, as more than 4,300 orders (!) were served in 2019. Among staff, it often goes by its nickname, “hillbilly sushi.”
Chef Jack was a child of Appalachia, and instead of an upturned nose to the types of food he was raised on, he carried these moments, these taste memories, into his menu at Watershed Kitchen & Bar. The salty snacks Jack was raised on called for dried beef; the switch to country ham he made as a chef.
“I think of the things I’m interested in as a chef, including techniques and ingredients of Appalachia. Both are present in that culture, but salted (country) ham is sought after -- people travel to get that. Outside of pickledillies and cheese balls, you’d be hard-pressed to find a use for dried beef,” he says.
If making pickliedillies on your own, Chef Jack recommends taking creative liberties. Much like how the snacks from his memory grew into their own interpretations, so too can your changes create the snacks that become staples at your family gatherings.
As far as how to do that, Chef Jack says, “Start a conversation with your local butcher.” He recommends asking questions about where the cured meats that line the cases came from, about the flavor profile, and what flavors each pair well with. Jack’s switch from dried beef to country ham came down to preference.
“I like country ham better. The art of preserving country ham is a little better than the jar of dried beef, including fewer preservatives. The role of the beef was to bring salty umami flavor that matched fatty cheese and acidic vegetables. It doesn’t matter if it’s salty dried pork or salty dried beef as far as the flavor profiles coincide.”
If it’s a flavor you’re into, Jack says go for it.
“If you wanted to get crazy, you could change the profile of the pickle. Use a spicy pickle, or add hot sauce to your cream cheese. I’ve never had a spicy pickledillie -- I’d like to see that. If you want to get wild, you could batter it like chicken and deep fry it. Make sure you do that as a pickle log, not as coins. That makes a difference.”
After Jack was first turned onto these little delectable bites, it was a craving he couldn’t shake. They get lumped into the types of snacks that you eat standing up, that never make it back to your table. Think of standing in conversation with a palmful of shrimp shells, or how your mouth invariably becomes a flume for deviled eggs; pickledillies were always the first snack to go at events.
Their popularity created concern for a young Jack, so he did what any snack-loving youth would do: he went to the source.
“All I want is a Tupperware of pickledillies of my own for Christmas, I don’t want to share with anyone,” Jack told his grandma at the time, and a Tupperware full of them is what he got. In fact, there was one Christmas where someone asked him for one, and that’s exactly what they got. “I opened the lid and gave them just one, because this is my Christmas present.”
When Jack decided he was going to place pickledilles at the top of the Watershed Kitchen and Bar menu, it wasn’t because he needed a way to keep consuming them. It was because he wanted that memory of Appalachia, and more specifically of “mamaw” to live on. When asked about the first time he made pickledillies for someone else, his answer was simple.
“The day we opened Watershed Kitchen & Bar, it was something I wanted to share with people when I had the opportunity to put my personality on a menu. I went my whole life eating them without having to make them and opening Watershed proved it was my time.”
It’s anyone’s hope that they stumble upon a recipe that becomes such a coveted family favorite, it becomes synonymous with the maker. We’ve included the recipe served just the way it is at Watershed Kitchen & Bar so you can take a stab at attaining such pickledillie power. And, as we’ve learned, while you can add your own expression of inspiration to these crowd favorites, there is one thing you shouldn’t do: “Don’t eat it with silverware and don’t unroll it. It’s intended to be a one-biter.”
Recipe for Pickledillies
Ingredients:
12-15 ea thin sliced country ham or prosciutto (really, any thinly sliced, salty deli meat would work)
4-5 oz Cream cheese, room temp
4 dill pickle spears
1 tsp fresh parsley, chopped
1 ea lemon
Things you’ll need:
Microplane or zester
Deep fryer (for optional garnish)
Knife
Tips to make this recipe great:
Room temperature cream cheese. You want to be able to spread the cheese around evenly without tearing the meat.
Good quality pickles. If your pickles kinda suck, your pickledilles are also gonna suck. Look for refrigerated pickles.
Deli-sliced thinness for the meat. Don’t try to cut thin pieces of county ham or prosciutto by hand. It will be too thick and chewy.
Eat pickledillies in one bite. No silverware.
From Chef Jack: “This recipe is about having fun. It’s not exact. If you want more cheese, put more cheese on it. If you want it spicy, use a spicy pickle. I suggest you play with your food!”
Instructions
Lay 3-4 slices of meat, slightly overlapping, on a plate or cutting board, equal in length to a pickle spear.
Smear cream cheese from edge to edge on the meat, just like you would peanut butter on your pb&j.
Place one of your pickle spears near the bottom of the meat slices and roll everything up like a pinwheel.
At this point you are free to eat the beautiful pickle log you just created but, be careful, it's an easy way to over-consume before dinner even starts.
Slice the pickle roll into 3-4 pieces so you can present it and eat it like sushi!
Using a Microplane or zester, zest fresh lemon directly onto the rolls and sprinkle with parsley.
If you have a deep fryer available, you can fry a couple of pieces of prosciutto or ham until crispy like bacon, and crumble over the rolls as an added delicious crunch.