Shelf Preservation

 

Summer may be Chef Brian Riggenbach’s favorite time of year. Not for the warm weather or long days, but for the bounty of produce he gets to pickle. Pickling and preserving allows Brian to not only extend the shelf-life of hyper-seasonal products, but honor a custom that’s deeply rooted in his family’s history.

 

Born in 1920 and raised on a farm in upstate Illinois, Brian’s grandmother employed a basement root cellar and pickle room to can as many things as she could to get the family through the winter. “For them, [pickling] was about survival,” recalls Brian. “They had no waste; There wasn’t any room for it. And they didn’t have a lot of money. So, I’m diligent in the kitchen about food waste and recycling. We use food scraps for our stocks, and we pickle and preserve as much as we can.”

 

Brian says he likes making pickles because of the acidity and balance they offer. “I like to compose a dish that’s colorful and has a balance of texture and flavor, heat and acid and fat, so that it all works well together.” Pickles are a fabulous counterpart to fat in a dish- like the chicken fried chicken dish on the menu with pickled fried onions that offer a breath of fresh air to the amount of richness on the plate.

Corn is here and he’s creating a mixed salad of grilled, smoked, and pickled corn using a combination of apple cider and champagne vinegars. “Right now, we’re coming up with a farro salad with grilled and pickled peaches to go with duck, finished off with preserved blackberries and pickled ginger. It’s fun!” Brian gets his produce from Southland Farms, a husband and wife duo that own 100 acres out by Chattanooga (the tomatoes he receives from them are his favorite.) “They’re such simple ingredients, you don’t really have to do much to them. It’s how you prepare them and taking the time to do it right.”

 

From continuous experiments like sweet and sour beets to menu staples like bourbon pickled jalapenos on the house-made pastrami sandwich and ever-rotating jams for brunch, Brian is pushing preservation to the next level without losing its humble beginnings.