[Sca-cooks] Probably OOP cucumber questions

[Barbara Benson]

On Tue, Jul 7, 2009 at 8:19 AM, <Bronwynmgn at aol.com> wrote:
> My cucumber plants are going gang-busters - 9 cucumbers growing already,
> and they only just started flowering.
> Are there any period cucumber recipes?  I can't think of any in the
> European stuff I'm familiar with, but I focus mostly on northern European 15th
> century and earlier, so that leaves out a lot of sources.  Is there anything in
> later or more southern sources?
>
> How about modern recipes for cucumbers?  Most of what I know to do is slice
> or chunk them into salads and sandwiches, and various variation on salads
> with vinegar, onions, and possibly yogurt or sour cream.
>
> Can regular cucumbers be made into pickles?  I know there are brands sold
> as "pickling cucumbers" but I don't know what the difference is.
>
Saluti!

Here is a recipe from Rumpolt:
Cucummern
20. Schel die Murcken/ vnd schneidt sie breit vnnd duenn/ mach sie an
mit Oel/ Pfeffer vnd Saltz. Seind sie aber eyngesaltzen/ so seind sie
auch nit boeß/ seind besser als roh/ denn man kans eynsaltzen mit
Fenchel vnd mit Kuemel/ daß man sie vber ein Jar kan behalten. Vnnd am
Rheinstrom nennet man es Cucummern.

20. Peel the Cucumbers/ and cut them broad and thin/ season them with
oil/ pepper and salt. But if they are salt-preserved/ they are also
not bad/ are better than raw/ because one can salt it with Fennel and
with caraway/ that both can be kept over one year. And near the
Rhine-stream one calls it Cucummern.

and from "Delights for Ladies" by Sir Hugh Platt, 1609
"To preserve cowcumbers all the yeere: Take a gallon of faire water
and a pottle of verjuice, and a pint of bay salt, and a handful of
greene fennel or Dill; boile it a little, and when it is cold put it
into a barrel, and then put your cowcumbers into that pickle, and you
shall keep all the yeere."

I have recently been eyeballing a recipe for cold cucumber and avocado
soup that looks tasty (just google it). Another classic cucumber
application is Taziki. I like taking my cukes, slicing them thinly,
and tossing them with a mixture of soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and
fresh ginger - let them sit in the 'fridge for at least 15 minutes and
you have a lovely quick Japanese pickle.

Pickling cucumbers differ from regular cucumbers in that their
structure is more suited to hold up to the pickling process and remain
crisp. Eating cucumbers are less dense and can have a tendency to go a
bit limp after awhile in the pickle. Whatever type of pickle you are
making, weather slicing or pickling whole it is necessary to remove
the blossom end of the pickle or it can cause your entire batch to go
soft. It is always good to use a tried and true recipe if you are
attempting to make a "putting up" pickle, less so if you are doing a
refrigerator pickle.

--
Serena da Riva