No. 783

Cucumbers, Fresh Sliced, in Fillets or Salted Russian Style

Concombres Frais en Tranches, en Filets ou Sales a la Russe

Sliced Fresh Cucumbers.—If the cucumbers be green, small and seedless, peel and cut off the ends; then pare the inside into thin slices. If large divide them into two or four parts lengthwise before slicing; in either case they should macerate for fifteen minutes, sprinkled over with salt; when they have thrown off the water, drain and season with pepper or mignonette, vinegar, oil and chopped parsley; the same quantity of finely chopped onions may also be added.

Another way of preparing them is to peel and slice them simply, then season with salt, pepper, oil and vinegar, and serve on side dishes.

Cucumbers in Fillets.—Peel a cucumber and cut it crosswise into quarter inch lengths, roll each piece separately to form a long, thin ribbon and season all of these with salt, mignonette, pepper, oil and vinegar. Roll them up into cork-shaped pieces and mince them across so as to obtain long fillets, then serve on a side dish, pouring more oil and vinegar over.

Salted Russian Style.—(Agoursis). Dress them on side dishes in their own brine.

← No. 782 Crawfish a la Vinaigrette Cold Side Dishes No. 784 Eggs, Bustard, Plover and Sea-Gull →

For the Modern Kitchen

Three short preparations from a single entry: a salted-and-dressed cucumber salad, a decorative ribbon cut, and a note on serving Russian brined cucumbers. The salting step is the one that matters.

Salt and drain, don't skip itFifteen minutes under salt draws out the water that otherwise dilutes the dressing into a thin puddle. Drain well, and press lightly in a towel if the cucumbers are watery; taste before adding more salt to the dressing.
Mignonette pepperRanhofer's "mignonette" is coarsely cracked white pepper. Crush peppercorns under a pan bottom rather than grinding fine. Note that the first version offers "pepper or mignonette" as alternatives, while the fillet version lists both together.
Which cucumbers"Green, small and seedless" points to a thin-skinned, barely-seeded cucumber; a modern English hothouse cucumber is a reasonable substitute. Large cucumbers, the recipe says, should be halved or quartered lengthwise before slicing.
"Pare the inside into thin slices"Most likely awkward nineteenth-century phrasing for slicing the peeled flesh thinly and evenly, rather than an instruction to remove a core. No thickness is specified; a mandoline or a steady knife will give thin, even slices.
The fillet cut, decodedThe peeled cucumber is cut crosswise into quarter-inch cylinders, each of which is somehow worked into a long, thin ribbon -- most plausibly pared round in a continuous spiral, though the text says only "roll". The ribbons are seasoned, rolled into cork shapes, and cut across into fine threads. It is knifework for effect.
Dressing proportionsNone are given; the recipe just lists oil and vinegar. Around three parts oil to one of vinegar is a common working ratio, and wine vinegar with a mild olive oil suits it better than a modern peppery oil.
AgoursisA transliteration of the Russian ogurtsy, salt-brined (not vinegar-pickled) cucumbers. They are sold today as barrel or half-sour cucumbers, and the instruction is simply to serve them in their brine, undressed.
Yield and serviceNo quantity is given. All three versions are meant cold, in small dishes set on the table alongside other cold items, not composed as a plated salad.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's record of his decades as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and its "Cold Side Dishes" chapter is a catalogue of small salted, pickled and dressed things. Service a la russe -- courses brought in sequence from the kitchen, with the table furnished instead with relishes and small cold dishes -- was well established in American fine dining by this period, and a brined cucumber served in its own brine sits comfortably in that setting. Salting cucumbers before dressing them is far older than the book and appears across European kitchens; the ribbon-and-fillet cut is the kind of decorative knifework a large professional kitchen could afford to spend time on.