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Stuffed Cucumbers

Cucumbers are halved, filled with a mixture of cucumber pulp, meat, onions, egg white, and seasonings, then baked with buttered breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Stuffed Cucumbers

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 ↓

Stuffed Cucumbers

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the cucumbers

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Pare and halve the cucumbers lengthwise.

  3. Simmer the cucumber halves in boiling water until tender.

  4. Remove the cucumber halves from the water.

  5. Scoop out the pulp.

Fill and bake

  1. Place the cucumber shells in a baking dish.

  2. In a bowl, mix the cucumber pulp, chopped meat, onions, beaten egg white, salt, and pepper.

  3. Fill the cucumber shells with the mixture.

  4. Cover with buttered bread crumbs.

  5. Bake until golden brown.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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

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

  3. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

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

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

  5. Egg + breadtop 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
Hold the filling as shells, softened by simmering until tender.
Chopped meat
Provides the main savory body of the filling.
Egg white
Binds the filling so it holds its shape when baked.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden-browning topping over the filling.

The step that matters

Simmer the cucumber halves until tender. Undercooked shells stay firm and bitter, while overcooked shells turn soft and collapse under the filling. Simmering only until tender gives shells that hold their shape while baking.

Swap the cucumber

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, onion, egg, pepper, butter, bread):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, onion, egg, pepper, butter, bread. 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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