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Cucumber Salad
2 young cucumbers ¼ teaspoonful of black pepper 4 tablespoonfuls of vinegar ½ teaspoonful of salt Pare and slice the cucumbers very thin, soak them in cold water one hour, then drain and dry. Put them in the salad bowl, sprinkle them with the salt and pepper, and pour over the vinegar. Serve immediately
A plain vinegar-dressed cucumber salad of the kind that appeared on late-Victorian summer tables. It is quick, but the hour-long soak and the immediate service are both deliberate.
- Serve at onceSalted cucumber begins weeping within minutes and the slices slump into the vinegar. Dress only when the bowl is going to the table.
- The cold-water soakAn hour in cold water crisps thin slices. With modern thin-skinned varieties, 20-30 minutes in ice water is enough, and slices from a very fresh cucumber need no soak at all.
- Dry thoroughlyAny water clinging to the slices dilutes four tablespoons of vinegar into nothing. Spin them in a salad spinner or press between towels.
- The salt quantityAs printed the salt reads as 1½ teaspoons for two cucumbers, which is heavy for a dressing meant to be eaten immediately rather than a brine. Start with ½ teaspoon and add to taste.
- The pepper quantityThe pepper measure has lost its fraction in printing; a quarter teaspoon of black pepper suits this amount of cucumber.
- VinegarCider or white wine vinegar suits this. Four tablespoons undiluted is sharp by current taste and can be cut with a spoonful of water or a little oil, though the original is deliberately lean.
- Slicing"Very thin" means nearly translucent, which is far easier on a mandoline or the slicing side of a box grater than with a knife.
- YieldTwo cucumbers will dress roughly four small side servings.
Cucumbers had a long reputation as cooling but indigestible, which is why nineteenth-century cookbooks nearly always soak, salt and acidify them rather than serving them plain; vinegar was believed to correct their "rawness." The technique is essentially the same as the German Gurkensalat and the English "cucumber and vinegar" of the previous century, minus the oil that later dressings would often add.