Bittman’s blog gets it right this time when it comes to botulism risks

Last year renwoned New York Times food dude Mark Bittman posted a recipe for a botulism surprise (disguised as a garlic-in-oil product) that was ammended after a few letters about safety. Today, one of Bittman’s colleagues and contributors to his blog, Kerri Conan writes about a way to make "quick pickles" apparently the wrong way.

According to Conan, to make the skillet pickles:

Start with trimmed whole or sliced vegetables (in this case green beans but I later made a batch with beets) and a hot skillet filmed with olive oil. Add some aromatics (the first garlic from the garden for the first; the other got a mixture of sesame and grape seed oils with scallions). When the seasoning just starts to sputter, toss in the veg. Move them around in the pan a bit so the color brightens evenly, then stir in a splash each of water and vinegar (I used sherry v. for the beans and rice v. for the beets, but your call).

Bring the whole lot to a boil and cook until the vegetables are about two clicks less tender than you eventually want them. Remove the pan from the heat to cool. Empty everything into a jar and chill, shaking the contents often. Polish them off in a few days.

Conan’s recipe sounds a bit more like a salad, but included in this post (unlike Mark’s last year) is the addition of a refrigeration step for preserving the product, and the mention of eating it within a couple of days. Chilling is a good tip, green beans with the addition of a "splash" of vinegar with a bunch of oil left on the counter for a few days could result in a serious public health issue. The pathogen of concern, Clostridium botulinum, could exist as spores on the suggested ingredients. Heating the foods may activate the spores and placing the flavor-making components into certain oils can create the perfect environment (oxygen-free and low acid) for cell growth and botulinum toxin formation.

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About Ben Chapman

Dr. Ben Chapman is a professor and food safety extension specialist at North Carolina State University. As a teenager, a Saturday afternoon viewing of the classic cable movie, Outbreak, sparked his interest in pathogens and public health. With the goal of less foodborne illness, his group designs, implements, and evaluates food safety strategies, messages, and media from farm-to-fork. Through reality-based research, Chapman investigates behaviors and creates interventions aimed at amateur and professional food handlers, managers, and organizational decision-makers; the gate keepers of safe food. Ben co-hosts a biweekly podcast called Food Safety Talk and tries to further engage folks online through Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and, maybe not surprisingly, Pinterest. Follow on Twitter @benjaminchapman.