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Baked Cucumbers

Baked cucumbers are sliced cucumber pieces parboiled, seasoned, topped with Parmesan, pepper, salt, breadcrumbs, and baked.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and butter 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 ↓

Baked Cucumbers

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Cut off the ends of the cucumber and peel it.

  2. Cut the cucumber in half, then cut each half lengthwise.

  3. Parboil the cucumber pieces in salted water.

  4. Drain the pieces on a cloth and place them in a well-buttered dish.

Assemble and bake

  1. Sprinkle plenty of Parmesan cheese, a little pepper, and salt over the cucumber.

  2. Top with a few baked bread crumbs.

  3. Bake at 400°F (200°C) for 15 minutes and serve in a sauce dish.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

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. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  2. Parmesan cheese + buttertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,163 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Cucumber + peppertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,991 recipes

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

  4. Parmesan cheese + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,322 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  5. Parmesan cheese + breadtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together577 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Cucumber
Forms the bulk of the dish and gives it a mild, moist, tender texture.
Parmesan cheese
Melts and browns during baking, adding savory flavor and a golden crust.
Baked bread crumbs
Adds a crisp, golden topping that contrasts with the soft cucumber.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the dish brown and keeps the cucumber from sticking.

The step that matters

Drain the parboiled cucumber on a cloth. Cucumber holds a lot of water, and any left on the pieces will leak into the dish during baking, making it soggy and thinning the cheese and crumb topping. Letting the pieces drain well keeps the topping crisp and the texture firm.

Swap the cucumber

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (parmesan cheese, pepper, bread, butter):

  1. Tomatofits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Cucumberthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against parmesan cheese, pepper, bread, butter. 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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