Fullbacks and picklebacks

- and a recipe for Deep-Fried Dill Pickles

If I ever find myself at a dinner party sitting next to England’s footballing fullback Kieran Trippier I’m relieved to know the conversational common ground we’ll find ourselves chatting over: vinegar.

There we’d sit with our shots of picklebacks, reminiscing about the summer of 2024 when a peculiar combination of the general election, Euro championships and bizarre weather gifted us a silly season that saw sportspeople necking vinegar become headline news.

In reality, vinegar heads of neither the sporting nor cooking variety would give a second glance to Trippier taking a hit of pickle juice mid-game. Sports specialists are no strangers to the cramp-relieving properties that vinegar is hailed for; and I have never in my life thrown away the brine from having made a jar of pickled baby onions, beetroots, or – most particularly – cucumbers.  I like to think Kieran would be impressed with the calibre of my cucumber pickle juice.