Pam Anderson knocks it out of the gourmet park with Pamela’s Pickles

I have to admit, I’m a little embarrassed to have never heard of Flamingo Estate. Apparently, it’s kind of a co-op of Los Angeles produced and coordinated foods and crafts that’s super elite. The company has really come into public awareness lately with Pam Anderson creating Pamela’s Pickles. The word out is that the insufferable and delulu Montecito Dairy Queen, Meghan Markle, was super jealous of not being able to sell her generic label crap there. Some people hate the Steelers. Others hate the Beatles. Meghan Markle is my ick.

But I’m intrigued when a food has a genuine-sounding story to it and as a lawyer, I can smell a fake one a mile away. Pam Anderson has been talked about recently for her refreshing strip down of her heavy makeup look. I do have the late Alexis Vogel makeup kit, for which she was a spokeswoman. But there’s a time and place, y’know? Anderson, who grew up in Western Canada, has put her own stamp on a pickle recipe from her great-aunt Vie. Lots of cold weather areas place an emphasis on pickling veggies, to get good vitamins when there are no crops to be had: Canada, Russia, Poland, Scandinavia — the list goes on.

Anderson was a lifelong vegetarian and now is full-on vegan. So, it makes sense to me that tasty flavored veggies would be extremely important to her.

Now, make no mistake: elite comes at a cost. By the time you pay for shipping, these are $50 pickles. But it was my birthday and I figured you would like to know more about this product, as it is quite the investment.

Great Aunt Vie used dill, mustard and garlic as a base. I use all that for my marinated mushrooms, a riff off the original recipe in the Yul Brynner Cookbook. Anderson adds rose! I love rose water in cooking, but I’ve always used it just in sweet recipes, like charoset. The pickles have actual rose petals for a flavor direction people won’t be able to put their finger on.

Flamingo Estate being a sort of incubator, has a signature seasoning: pink peppercorns, guajillo chile, and smoky sea salt.

So, what are they like? They are brighter and more vinegary than typical deli pickles. You can taste the pink peppercorns and a hint of rose. Then comes the dill, spicy heat and garlic.

They aren’t artificially colored, so they may not look like they’re crunchy in my photo, but they’re actually very, very crunchy.

What to do with your fancy pickles? Clearly, they’d be great at a little cocktail party chez vous, because the story behind it is a conversational ice breaker.

Out of respect for Anderson’s concern for animal welfare, I’m not going to suggest how you can use the pickles with meaties, but you can figure it out.

You could do a cheese plate with more savory, full-flavored cheeses: rustic blues, Epoisse, 12-month Manchego, Double Gloucester with Chives. I wouldn’t pair them with a sweet, caramel-y cheese like Gjost.

Though traditional Polish pickle soup is one of those clever recipes for a zero budget, why not make a bougie version?

Think about making a vegetarian Russian Salad Olivier. To diced lightly cooked potatoes and carrots, add peas, Pamela’s Pickles, mayo and maybe some diced tofu or Provolone cheese.

You could start cocktail hour with a gin Pickletini or a perhaps a Gibson.

Think of little passed canapes with good sesame crackers, a dab of mayo and slices of pickles.

“100% of proceeds go to Return to Freedom, a non-profit near and dear to Pamela’s heart, preserving the freedom, diversity, and habitat of America’s wild horses and burros. Each jar you bring home helps their conservation efforts to ensure wild horse herds, and the vast western landscape that serves as their habitat, survive.”