I've been sitting on this sweet and spicy grilled pickles for years now, ever since I interviewed pitmaster Chris Lilly from Big Bob Gibson and he gave me a jar of these fantastic pickles with a recipe.

I don't know what took me so long. I guess I was waiting for the proper canning tools but these can really be made from quick pickles, so no excuses.

Grilling the pickles prior to canning is an interesting prospect. It adds a bit of grilled flavor, but mainly creates a spear that is both crisp and soft—great middle ground to settle any dispute between people at opposite ends of that pickle debate.

The pickling liquid here strikes a nice balance between sweet and spicy, with dill and garlic playing more minor roles in flavor. In the end, you have a lot of contrast of flavor and texture packed into these incredibly delicious little spears.