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Stewed Cucumbers
Peel some cucumbers, split them lengthwise in four pieces each, scoop out the seeds, and wash; cut into smaller pieces and place in a saucepan of boiling water with a lump of salt, and boil till tender; drain and dry on a cloth. Into a stewpan put two ounces of butter with two tablespoonfuls of flour, stir over the fire until well mixed; then put in the pieces of cucumber, moisten nearly to height with broth, season with salt, pepper and a small quantity of grated nutmeg, and stir the whole over the fire until the liquor has reduced to the required thickness. When ready, take the saucepan off the fire, place it at the side, and stir in the beaten yolks of two eggs and a few drops of vinegar.
A French-style velouté of cucumber, finished with an egg-yolk liaison. The technique is straightforward; the pitfalls are the vague quantities and the moment the yolks go in.
- The hinge: no boiling after the yolksOnce the beaten yolks go in, the pan must stay off direct heat. A sauce brought back to the boil with yolks in it curdles into grainy threads within seconds; hold it below about 180F and stir until it thickens.
- Quantities and yieldTwo ounces of butter and two tablespoons of flour make a modest amount of sauce; the recipe gives no cucumber quantity, yield or serving count, so judge by eye. Scale the butter and flour together if you use more.
- "A lump of salt"An imprecise direction rather than a measured amount; a lump likely means a piece broken from block or rock salt, or simply a rough handful. Salt the blanching water generously, since the cucumbers are drained and seasoned again later.
- "Moisten nearly to height"Add broth until it comes just short of covering the cucumber pieces, not to a set volume. Add more only if the sauce tightens too far while reducing.
- Cucumbers have changedThe field cucumbers of the period were generally seedier and thicker-skinned, which is why the recipe peels and scoops. English or Persian cucumbers have negligible seeds and thin skin; peel them, but the scooping step is largely unnecessary.
- Drying on a cloth mattersBoiled cucumber holds a surprising amount of water, which will thin the sauce and dull the flavour. Drain well and pat dry before it meets the roux.
- Don't overboil the cucumber"Till tender" means just tender to a knife point; test rather than time it. Longer and the pieces collapse into pulp once they are stirred through the sauce.
- BrothThe recipe says only "broth", meaning the kitchen's own stock, most likely veal or chicken. A light unsalted chicken stock is the closest modern equivalent; commercial stock is usually salty, so season at the end rather than the start.
- The vinegarA few drops of white wine vinegar, added off the heat, is there to cut the butter and the nutmeg. Lemon juice works the same way if that is what is open.
Stewed and creamed cucumbers were standard vegetable cookery in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when the cucumber was as often served hot as raw; English and French cookbooks of the period stew, fry and stuff them freely, and the raw salad cucumber only became the dominant form later. The method here is textbook French: a white roux, stock, reduction, and a finish with egg yolks and acid, the same liaison used for a blanquette or a poulette sauce. Oscar Tschirky, the Waldorf's celebrated maître d'hôtel, compiled this book in 1896 from the hotel's kitchen practice, and the vegetable chapters are full of these small classical preparations that a large brigade could turn out to order. The nutmeg is a period marker in itself, standard seasoning for cream and white sauces in a way it no longer is.