Cucumbers (à la roulette)

Ingredients

• two small, young cucumbers
• one ounce of butter
• three-quarters of an ounce of flour
• one pint of nicely-flavoured stock
• two table-spoonfuls of cream
• the yolks of two eggs
• the juice of half a lemon
• a seasoning of salt and pepper

Method

1. 1

   Peel the cucumbers, remove the seeds, and cut the fruit into pieces about one inch thick and two inches long.

2. 2

   Stew these till tender in water with a little salt and vinegar in it; drain them.

3. 3

   In a stewpan, mix the butter and flour well, and let them remain about three minutes.

4. 4

   Add gradually the stock and simmer gently for fifteen minutes.

5. 5

   Put in the cucumbers, season with salt and pepper, and add the cream.

6. 6

   Just before serving, add the well-beaten yolks of the eggs and the lemon juice.

As published

This recipe was extracted from Cassell's dictionary of cookery (1892) by Cassell & Company, page 434. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

Cucumbers (a la roulette).— Peel two small, y«jung cucumbers. Kemove the seeds. Cut the fruit into pieces about one inch thick and two inclies long, stew these till tender in water with a little salt and vinegar in it; di-ain them. Put into a stewpan one ounce of butter and three-quarters of an ounce of Hour ; mix the butter and Hour well, and let them remain about three minutes. Add gradually one pint of nicely-ilavoured stock. Simmer gently for fifteen minutes. Put in the cucumbers, with a seasoning of salt and pepper, and in a minute or two two table-spoonfuls of cream. Draw the sauce from the hre, and, just before serving it, add the well-beaten yolks of two eggs and the juice of half a lemon. Time, one hour. Pro- bable cost, Is. 6d. Sufficient for one pint and a half. Cucumbers, Fried.— Take the rind from the cucumbers, slice them, dredge over them a little pepper, and lay them in flour. Make some butter vcri/ hot, put in the slices, and when they are tender and lightly browned, strew a very little salt over them ; drain them, and place them on a hot dish under the steak or hash with which tlioy are to be served. Time, ten minutes. Probable cost of cucumbers, 6d. each. Sufficient, one small cucumber for one pound of rump steak. Cucumbers, Pickled. — If the cucumbers are very young and small they may be pickled whole, if not, they are better cut into thick .slices. Sprinkle salt rather plentifully over them, and let them remain twenty-four hours. Drain them from the juice, dry them in a cloth, and pour over them boiling vinegar, with half an ounce of mustard-seed, one ounce of salt, one ounce of long popper, half a bruised nutmeg, and a pinch of cayenne to every quart of ^dnegar. Cover them closely, and let them re- main until next day, when the vinegar must again be boiled and poured over the cucumbers, and this process repeated each day for four days. They should then be covered closelj^, and care should be taken with these, as with all pickles, that they are thoroughly covered ■ivith vinegar. It is best to pickle cucumbers by themselves, as they are apt to become mouldy. If any sign of this appears (and they should be looked iit every three or four weeks to ascertain it, and on this account should be kept in a widc-moulhed glass bottle instead of an earthen jar), put them into a fresh dry bottle, boil the vinegar up again, and pour it over them. Time to piclcle, one week. Pro- bable cost of cucumbers, 4d. to 6d. each. Cucumbers, Preserved (An excellent sweetmeat for dessert). — Choose cucumbers that ai-e young, fresh, and nearly free from seeds, split them, cut the pieces across, take out the seeds, and lay them for three days in brine strong enough to bear an egg. Put over them a cabbage-le;if or vine-leaves to keep them down, and jjlace a cover over the pan. At the end of that time take them out, wash them in cold water, and set them on the fire with cold water, and a tiny lump of alum. As the water heats, keep adding a little more, until the cucumbers are a blight green, which they ought to be in a short time, and if they are not, change the water again and let them heat as before, but they must not boil. Drain them, and when cool pour o\-er them a syrup, made by boiling a quart of water, a stick of cinnamon, one ounce of ground ginger, and one pound of loaf sugar for every pound of cucumber. Boil the cinnamon and ginger in the water for an hour, then drain it and add the sugar, and boil to a thick syrup. Let the cucumbers lie in this for two days, when the syrup mu^st bo boiled for ten minutes with them. Put the preparation into jars and leave it until next day, when it must be covered closely. These dii-ec- tions must be minutely attended to, or the sweetmeat will not be a success. Tinie, six days. Cucumbers, Stewed.— Take two or three young fresh cucumbers. Peel them, and cut them into quarters lengthwise, remove the seeds, dry them, dip them in flour and fry them in hot butter till they ai-e lightly browned. Lift them out with an egg-slice, drain them, and put them into a saucepan with a tea-cupful of good brown gravy. Season with pepper and salt, and stew them gently until tender. Just before serving add a dessert- spoonful of Chilly ^•inegar and a small lump of sugar. Tinio, half an hour. Probable cost, Is. 2d. Sufficient for ;i moderate-sized dish. Cucumbers Stewed with Onions.— Prepare the cucumbers as in the last recipe, and fry with them an equal number of slices of onion, being very careful that they do not burn. Stew these in the gravy with the cucumbers. If it would be prefei-red a little richer, the yolks of two eggs

Cook this with the app: pantry check, scaling, and the assistant.