I’ve been asked a million times to do a pickle wrap tutorial, and I’m finally making it happen!

Necessary Items:

Please, people, STOP buying full size pickles, wrapping them, and slicing them. Baby dills are the only way to go! As you can see, I have no qualms about buying off brand pickles and cream cheese, but I would NEVER buy anything but Carl Buddig corned beef. I made that mistake one time, and I had to go back to the store for Buddig.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I lay slices of corned beef on my cutting board, and drain the pickles into a colander. This process is quicker, and I can sift through the pickles more easily to get “just the right one.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

I use the back of a spoon to add a tablespoon or two of cream cheese to each slice of corned beef.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don’t bother trying to spread the cream cheese out entirely. The corned beef will just rip, and you will be annoyed. An oval of cream cheese in the center will do just fine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

See how perfect a baby dill is for this redneck appetizer? The shorter the pickle the better (I’ve even been known to cut a pickle in half now and again).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fold the corned beef over the pickle…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

…and then fold in the sides and gently press into the cream cheese. (I should have taken a better picture of this step, but I hope you get the idea.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finish rolling the pickle all the way to the end of the corned beef, keeping the sides tucked in as you go. I find it is easiest, and most successful, to roll away from myself. I often add a little spot of cream cheese on the edge of the beef to keep the roll sealed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think these are best made the night before. They stay shut better, and everybody is nice and chilled from being in the fridge all night. A big THANK YOU to Aunt Rachel for teaching me how to do this in junior high!