Baked Cucumbers
Peel good-sized cucumbers, cut them in two lengthwise and remove the seeds and soft part, keeping the shape perfect. To three cucumbers take three-quarters of a cup of fine soft bread crumbs and rub into them a piece of butter the size of an egg, and a little finely chopped onion; season this with pepper and salt and a dash of cayenne. When thoroughly mixed, fill each half of the cucumber, heaping it; sprinkle browned crumbs over the top with some tiny bits of butter and place them in a baking pan with a little water and bake in a moderate oven about three-quarters of an hour or until they are tender and a nice brown. Garnish the dish with parsley.
A straightforward stuffed vegetable, though the quantities are given in the old kitchen shorthand and the timing assumes a cooler, slower range than a modern oven.
- Butter the size of an eggRoughly 2 ounces, or 4 tablespoons. It is a generous amount for three-quarters of a cup of crumbs and gives a rich, almost paste-like stuffing.
- A moderate ovenRoughly 350-375F. Depending on the size of the cucumbers they may be tender before the full three-quarters of an hour, so check by whether a knife slips easily into the shell.
- Fine soft crumbs vs. browned crumbsTwo different things in this recipe. The filling uses fresh crumbs from the interior of a loaf; the topping uses crumbs dried and toasted to a light brown, which is what gives the finished dish its colour.
- Choose the cucumbers carefullyA large, thick-fleshed cucumber gives a shell sturdy enough to hold a heaped filling once the seeds and soft part are removed. A modern waxed slicing cucumber wants peeling in any case, as the recipe directs.
- Salt and drain firstNot in the original, but worth doing. Cucumbers are mostly water, and twenty minutes salted and drained cut side down keeps the baking pan from flooding and the stuffing from going sodden.
- The water in the panA shallow film only, perhaps a quarter inch. It steams the shells tender from below while the top browns; too much and the cucumbers poach and collapse.
- YieldThree cucumbers give six halves, enough for three as a side dish or two as a light supper.
Filling hollowed vegetables with buttered crumbs and onion was a standard method in American cookery of the period, applied more or less identically to cucumbers, summer squash, tomatoes and green peppers — the stuffing recipe stays put while the vessel changes with the season. The cooked cucumber, now largely unfamiliar in English-speaking kitchens outside of soups, was ordinary enough then to be baked, stewed, fried in slices or served in cream. Cayenne appearing as a routine seasoning alongside pepper and salt is likewise characteristic of the period.