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Stewed Cucumbers with Onions

A stew of cucumbers and onions cooked in white stock with egg yolks, cayenne, salt, and nutmeg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Isabella Beeton · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Cucumber and onion match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,050 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Stewed Cucumbers with Onions

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Pare and slice the cucumbers, take out the seeds, and cut the onions into thin slices.

Stew and thicken

  1. Put the cucumbers and onions into a stewpan with the stock, and let them boil for 1/4 hour or longer, if the cucumbers are very large.

  2. Beat up the yolks of 2 eggs.

  3. Stir the beaten yolks into the sauce.

  4. Add the cayenne, salt, and grated nutmeg.

  5. Bring the mixture to the point of boiling, and serve.

  6. Do not allow the sauce to boil, or it will curdle.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

156Calories
8 gProtein
7 gFat
16 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Cucumber1/2 cup sliced (52g)16
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Cayenne1 tsp (1.8g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Isabella Beeton. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Cucumber + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,050 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Cucumber + nutmegtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together432 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Onion + nutmegtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,371 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  4. Egg + nutmegtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together24,744 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Cucumber + eggtop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,346 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Egg and nutmeg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 24,744 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Yolks thicken the sauce and give it a smooth, creamy body when gently heated.
Cucumbers
Form the main body of the dish, softening into a tender, mild vegetable base as they stew.
Onions
Add savory depth and sweetness as they soften in the stock.

The step that matters

Do not allow the sauce to boil. Egg yolks are proteins that set when overheated. Boiling the sauce after the yolks are added makes them curdle, leaving a grainy texture instead of a smooth, thickened sauce.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cucumber, egg, nutmeg):

  1. Chivefits better
  2. Spinachfits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, egg, nutmeg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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