Cucumbers, To Dress

Ingredients

• the cucumber
• a little salt
• a little oil
• a little vinegar
• a little pepper
• a few slices of onion

Method

1. 1

   Pare the cucumber and cut it into thin slices, or pare it round into ribands, leaving out the watery part.

2. 2

   Sprinkle a little salt over, and in a few minutes drain off the water which exudes.

3. 3

   Put the slices on a clean dish, and pour a little oil and vinegar over them, adding more salt and pepper if necessary.

Nutrition per serving

Estimated from matched ingredients across 2 servings.

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.

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 might be added to the sauce, but of course if this were do->Q the sauce must not be allowed to boil fii .-r the addition. Time, half an hour. Probable cost, Is. 5d. Sufficient for a moderate-sized dish. Cucumbers, To Dress. — Pare the cu- cumber and cut it into thin slices, or pare it round and round into ribands, leaving out the watery part. Sprinkle a little salt over, and in a few minutes drain off the water which exudes. Put the slices on a clean dish, and pour a little oil and vinegar over them, and if neces- sary add a little more salt and pepper. Many persons like a few slices of onion served with the cucumber

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