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Cucumbers Stewed with Onions
A moderate-sized cucumber 1/2 the cucumber's weight in onions 1/2 pint milk A dessertspoon of white roux or a teaspoon of cornflour 1 ounce of butter Pepper and salt Peel the cucumber and cut it into halves lengthwise, and again into pieces about two inches long. Peel, and slice the onions, and throw them into cold water, bring them quickly to the boiling point; boil for one minute; then drain. Now put the cucumber with the scalded onions, and in a saucepan with the milk and a little pepper, and let them boil, and then stew gently for half an hour. Thicken with either the white roux or the cornflour. Serve very hot with croutons or pieces of toast.
A simple milk-stewed vegetable dish that depends entirely on how much you cook the cucumber. The instructions are compressed and one line is garbled, so read the points before starting.
- Quantities in plain terms"Moderate-sized" is unspecified; assume a cucumber of roughly 12 oz, which gives about 6 oz onions. The 1/2 pint of milk is 10 fl oz in British measure (a little over a US cup). In a wide pan the milk will reduce quickly, so watch it.
- White rouxA dessertspoon is about 2 teaspoons. White roux here means equal butter and flour cooked together without colouring, made in advance and kept in the larder; make a scant tablespoon fresh instead, or use the cornflour slaked in cold milk.
- The butter is unassignedThe ounce of butter is listed but never mentioned in the method. Either use it to make the roux, or stir it in at the end off the heat for gloss.
- The garbled sentence"Now put the cucumber with the scalded onions, and in a saucepan with the milk" is a printer's tangle. Put cucumber, onions, milk and seasoning in the pan together.
- Blanching the onionsStarting them in cold water and boiling one minute takes off the raw sulphurous edge and stops the milk tasting sharp. It is worth doing rather than skipping.
- Half an hour is a long timeThirty minutes of gentle stewing gives soft, translucent cucumber in the Victorian manner. If you want the pieces to hold shape, 12-15 minutes at a bare simmer is enough; test with a knife tip.
- Keep the milk below a boilOnce the vegetables are in, hold it at a shiver. A rolling boil will catch on the pan base and can split the milk over half an hour's cooking.
- Salt at the endCucumber releases a good deal of water as it stews, so the sauce concentrates unpredictably. Season after thickening.
- YieldTwo modest portions as a supper dish on toast, or four as a side. Serve it the moment it is thickened.
A vegetable stewed in milk, bound with roux, and served on toast or with croutons could occupy the position a cutlet would have occupied. Cooking cucumber rather than eating it raw was ordinary British practice well into the twentieth century, and cucumbers appeared stewed, fried, stuffed and in soup as well as in salad. The pairing with onion and milk follows the same pattern as stewed celery, stewed lettuce and stewed marrow from the same period. The croutons or toast are structural rather than decorative, since a dish this wet needs something to sit on.