cucumbers stewed. - no. 135.
(from The Cook's Oracle: And Housekeeper's Manual, by William Kitchiner, 1822)
Ingredients:
Instructions:
(from The Cook's Oracle: And Housekeeper's Manual, by William Kitchiner, 1822)
Ingredients:
cucumbers
flour
fresh butter
pepper and salt
Instructions:
Peel and cut cucumbers in quarters, take out the seeds, and lay them on a cloth to drain off the water: when they are dry, flour and fry them in fresh butter; let the butter be quite hot before you put in the cucumbers; fry them till they are brown, then take them out with an egg-slice, and lay them on a sieve to drain the fat from them (some cooks fry sliced onions, or some small button onions, with them, till they are a delicate light-brown colour, drain them from the fat, and then put them into a stew-pan with as much gravy as will cover them): stew slowly till they are tender; take out the cucumbers with a slice, thicken the gravy with flour and butter, give it a boil up, season it with pepper and salt, and put in the cucumbers; as soon as they are warm, they are ready.
The above rubbed through a tamis, or fine sieve, will be entitled to be called "cucumber sauce." See No. 399, Cucumber Vinegar. This is a very favourite sauce with lamb or mutton cutlets, stewed rump-steaks, &c. &c. : when made for the latter, a third part of sliced onion is sometimes fried with the cucumber.*
* Cucumbers may be cut into quarters and boiled like asparagus, and served up with toasted bread and melted butter. This is a most delicate way of preparing cucumbers for the dinner-table, and they are a most luscious article, and so rich and savoury that a small quantity will suffice.
The ordinary method of cutting cucumbers into slices with raw onions, served up in vinegar, and seasoned with salt and pepper, is most vulgar and most unwholesome. In their season they are cheap and plenty; and as they are crude and unripe they require the stomach of an ostrich to digest them. They cause much sickness in their season, creating choleras, cramps, and dysenteries. If stewed or boiled as above directed, they would be more nutritious and wholesome. A.
Here is a GREAT vegetable dish!
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