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Cucumber Cream Sauce
Chop one cucumber fine, season with one-half teaspoon of salt, one-half teaspoon each of chopped parsley and onion, one tablespoon of plain or tarragon vinegar or lemon juice. Mix thoroughly and let drain in a colander one-half hour.
When ready to serve add three-fourths cup of cream beaten very stiff. Stella A. Downing.
A cold cucumber sauce for poached salmon or other cold fish, thickened with whipped cream rather than a roux. The whole recipe hinges on getting the water out of the cucumber first.
- Drain properlyThe half hour in the colander is not optional. Salted cucumber sheds a surprising amount of liquid, and any that remains will slacken the whipped cream into a puddle within minutes. Press the drained cucumber gently against the colander, or wring it in a clean towel, before combining.
- "Cream beaten very stiff"This means heavy or whipping cream (roughly 30 percent fat or more), whipped to firm peaks. Ultra-pasteurized cream whips more slowly and holds less well; light cream and half-and-half will not whip at all. Chill the bowl and beaters.
- Cucumber preparationThe recipe does not say, but peel and seed before chopping. Field cucumbers of the period were generally thicker-skinned and seedier than a modern English or Persian cucumber, which has thin skin and few seeds and can go in as is.
- Onion quantityHalf a teaspoon of chopped onion is a small amount and is meant to be. Grate it or mince it very fine so no raw pieces stand out against the cream, or substitute the white of a scallion.
- Combine at the last moment"When ready to serve" is a real instruction. Fold the cucumber into the cream with a spatula and take it to the table; it will begin to weep and separate as it stands.
- Vinegar or lemonThe recipe offers plain vinegar, tarragon vinegar or lemon juice as equals. Tarragon vinegar is worth seeking out, but plain white wine vinegar with a pinch of dried tarragon does the job. Lemon juice gives a cleaner, less herbal result.
- Yield and servingRoughly two cups once the whipped cream and drained cucumber are combined, enough for four to six servings alongside cold fish. Season again with salt after folding, since the cream mutes it.
Cold cucumber sauces were attached to cold boiled salmon in nineteenth-century Anglo-American cooking, and by the time this book appeared the pairing was familiar enough that a cook could serve one without explanation. What is notable in this version is the whipped cream: turn-of-the-century American cookery books contain many sauces, salad dressings and desserts lightened with stiffly beaten cream. The attribution to Stella A. Downing is consistent with a collection assembled from recipes sent in or contributed by readers and staff rather than issued anonymously from an editorial kitchen.