by Alicia Rudnicki, Library Mix

This issue’s (January 9, 2012) blue-plate special recreates the peanut butter and dill pickle sandwiches that are a staple of private investigator Kinsey Milhone in Sue Grafton’s bestselling alphabetically titled mystery series that currently stretches from A is for Alibi to V is for Vengeance.

Peanut butter and pickle sandwiches  “always make me swoon,” said mystery writer Sue Grafton In a 2004 interview with the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library (CML) of Charlotte, North Carolina.  Grafton means “swoon” in a positive way.

The sandwich topic arose when CML asked Grafton about characteristics the author shares with her central character. Kinsey’s prefers fast food, meals at the neighborhood dive — a Hungarian restaurant run by the culinary dominatrix Rosie — and being invited into the kitchen of her elderly yet dapper neighbor, Henry, for freshly baked bread. When she cooks at home, Kinsey's repertoire is limited to sandwiches filled either with pimento cheese spread or peanut butter and dill pickles.

I began reading Grafton when she wasn’t far into the alphabet. (She is the only author I have waited hours to meet, standing in line with hundreds of other readers at a bookstore.) Years later, during a pregnancy marked by a severe craving for pickles, I decided to test Kinsey’s PB&P special and discovered it was delectable.

What is that fancy word food writers use? Piquant? Yes, Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the sandwich was marked by “tang, zest, zing.” The sweet-tart combination sang to my taste buds! Here is a recipe I have contrived.

Kinsey Milhone's  PB and Pickle Special

2 slices white sandwich bread
2 heaping tablespoons of creamy peanut butter
6 dill pickle slices (hamburger-style slices that are round)

Spread peanut butter generously on each piece of bread. Place pickle slices in two rows of three each on one piece of the bread (not to imply that Kinsey is obsessive compulsive, but she likes order). Place other peanut-butter-slathered slice of bread on top. Never ever add marshmallow fluff or other sweet embellishments that would obscure the sweet-tart contrast of PB and dill pickle. For culinary flare, cut the sandwich in half diagonally.