Using leftover brine to make salad dressing

[kimchiguy]

One of those "can't believe I didn't think of this sooner" things. Had plenty of leftover brine in the fridge, was about out of salad dressing. And trying to do more homemade stuff both to economize and to minimize trips to the store (Covid-19, you know?). Looked online for recipes for dressing made with leftover brine. Found lots of stuff. Took a very simple one and modified it a bit and was amazed how good it was. Has everyone else already done this?

[irie1029]

No but that is a great idea. In particular kimchi.

[kimchiguy]

The brine was about 75% stuff from a jar of cukes pickled with lots of dill, garlic and gochugaru, with later a few hard boiled eggs added, and the rest from some sauerkraut. I threw in some pressed garlic and some nutritional yeast flakes (not in the original dressing recipe) and some ground flax seeds to thicken it.

[kimchiguy]

If anyone wants to see the really simple recipe I used, you could search "sinful nutrition dill pickle vinaigrette." Or you could search more broadly for something like "salad dressing made from pickle brine," to see a variety of approaches and recipes. That dressing was so good I'm motivated to make more pickles very soon just so I have lots of brine. Side note: I've discovered recently that while eggs fermented in brine seem to last an awfully long time in the fridge, after enough time it can be difficult to see much difference in texture between white and yolk.