Unfortunately most of us are stuck with cukes obliterated with vinegar based brine. We don’t know a good full sour fermented pickle like at a good deli with a barrel of naturally fermented pickles. I loved them so much after living in Poland I learned how to make them myself and it is so easy I just make my own now.
I’ve had Polish fermented pickles, and they’re great!
Why do I have a feeling your homemade pickles let too much of the cucumber flavor through? I have had several people give me their homemade pickles, as you describe them, and they all tasted like a cucumber. Cucumbers are nasty. They need the dill pickling process with tons of vinegar, garlic, and salt to cover up their “cucumberness”. Blech.
Duke Ziebert was famous for his pickles - his restaurant was a favorite pol/celebrity watering hole in DC:
I would love your home made fermented pickle recipe....I’ve had some that turned out fantastic and some that didn’t.....
The best, those big soft homemade fermented pickles.
I even like them made with large full-size cucumbers.