Pickled fennel

Make one jar

• 2 fennel bulbs
• Peel of 1 satsuma, in wide strips
• 1 cup white wine vinegar
• 1 cup water
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• ½ tsp chile flakes

Trim the fennel, keep a few fronds, and slice the bulbs as thin as you can — a sharp knife is fine; a mandoline is faster. Pack the slices into a quart jar with the satsuma peel and chile flakes. Bring the vinegar, water, salt, and sugar to a boil, stirring until they dissolve, and pour it over the fennel while it's hot, pressing the slices under. Let it cool on the counter, then lid it and refrigerate. It's good in a few hours and better the next day. This is September's brine — one cup vinegar, one cup water, a tablespoon of salt, a teaspoon of sugar — and it works on anything crisp. The reason it belongs to November: a month of braises and soups is a month of rich, soft food, and every one of those plates wants something cold, crunchy, and sharp beside it.

Keeps about three weeks in the refrigerator, kept under the brine. It softens as it goes and is crispest in the first two.

Use it this week