Courtesy of Aunt Sammy’s Radio Recipes Revised, issued by the Bureau of Home Economics, U.S. Department of Agriculture, May 1931.

Courtesy of Molly Wizenberg, adapted from The Zuni Café Cookbook

“There’s no denying that the recipe has a lot of steps, but each of them is easy, so don’t be tempted to cut corners,” says Molly. “The process of repeatedly blanching and cooling ensures that the pickled onions are softened but still delectably crisp, as a good pickle should be.

A few picky notes about ingredients and procedure:

• Use round or flat red onions that feel firm. Do not use torpedo onions, whose layers are too thin to make for a properly crunchy pickle.
• Use a pot made of stainless steel or another nonreactive material, such as anodized aluminum.
• Use wooden spoons. Aluminum would, warns The Zuni Café Cookbook–author Judy Rodgers, turn the onions an ‘unappetizing bluish mauve.’ Nobody wants to eat a pickle that’s the same color as your grandmother’s bath towels.
• Serve them with a drizzle of good olive oil, which tames their vinegar tang with a lovely, rich finish. We like to eat them as an hors d’oeuvre, with fresh goat cheese or slices of sharp cheddar and crackers. They’re delicious with grilled meats—hamburgers, flank steak, chicken, etc.—and also, I’ll bet, with chicken liver paté.”