No self-respecting lover of refined brine or fan of the fermented is going to be anywhere but New Amsterdam Market tomorrow, when the first annual Peck Slip Pickle Festival brings nearly two dozen producers of pickled and fermented foods to South Street Seaport between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. (That’s just over the East River, people: You can leave the borough for just one day, especially if it’s to eat). The event also includes a competition for amateur picklers–judging at 4:30–and as luck would have it, we happened to stumble into a sneak peek of the entries as they were laid out at Brooklyn Kitchen for tasting by a special panel of judges that included Rick Field of Rick’s Picks (the city’s prince of new pickling) Harry Rosenblum of The Brooklyn Kitchen (where you can take a class taught by Field and then buy everything you need to practice what you learn at home) and Robert LaValva, who spearheads New Amsterdam Market and the blossoming food, farm and market scene near South Street Seaport.
