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Cucumbers Stuffed with Mushrooms

Cucumbers stuffed with a mushroom, breadcrumb, and egg mixture, steamed and served with a mushroom-based sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Henrietta Latham Dwight · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Cucumbers Stuffed with Mushrooms

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Peel two large, firm cucumbers and cut them in half lengthwise; remove the seeds.

  2. Skin and stem a quarter of a pound of fresh mushrooms. Chop the mushroom flesh very finely.

  3. Place the chopped mushrooms in a saucepan with four tablespoonfuls of melted butter and a little water; cover and cook until tender.

  4. Remove from heat, stir in four heaping tablespoonfuls of grated bread crumbs, salt, pepper, a few drops of onion juice, and the yolk of one egg.

Stuff and steam

  1. Stuff the cucumber halves with the mushroom mixture, put the halves together, and fasten with wooden toothpicks or tie with string.

  2. Place the stuffed cucumbers in a small dish that will fit in the steamer, cover closely, and steam until tender (about three-quarters of an hour).

Make the sauce

  1. While the cucumbers steam, prepare the sauce: put the skins and stems of the mushrooms in boiling water.

  2. Fry a few slices each of carrot, celery top, green pepper, onion, and turnip in butter.

  3. Strain the water from the mushroom stems into the frying pan and stew until all vegetables are tender.

  4. Strain the mixture, add a generous tablespoonful of butter and enough flour to thicken the sauce, and season with salt and pepper.

  5. Place the cucumbers in a shallow vegetable dish, remove the strings, and pour the sauce around them.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

656Calories
22 gProtein
18 gFat
99 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Mushrooms1/2 cup sliced (35g)15
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)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 Henrietta Latham Dwight. 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. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  3. Mushroom + breadtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

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

  4. Mushroom + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,580 recipes

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

  5. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Cucumbers (in the method)
Forms the shell that holds the filling and becomes tender when steamed.
Mushrooms
Provide the main savory filling and flavorful liquid for the sauce.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture from the mushrooms so the filling holds together.
Egg
Binds the filling so it sets firm when heated.
Butter
Adds richness and carries the flavor of the mushrooms and vegetables.
Flour (in the method)
Thickens the strained vegetable liquid into the sauce.

The step that matters

Covering and steaming the stuffed cucumbers. Cucumbers are mostly water and go soft quickly, so they need gentle, enclosed steam to become tender without falling apart. Covering the dish closely keeps steam around the halves so the egg-bound filling sets evenly.

“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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