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Stuffed Cucwiibers

A dish of cucumber rings filled with veal forcemeat, wrapped in bacon, baked in stock, served with Tlobert sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Veal and meat are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,890 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Stuffed Cucwiibers

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Cut cucumbers into 2‑inch thick slices, peel, and remove seeds.

  2. Scald the slices for 10 minutes, then plunge into cold water and drain.

  3. Line a fire‑proof dish with thin slices of scalded bacon.

Stuff and bake

  1. Fill the center holes of cucumber rings with veal forcemeat until level.

  2. Wrap each cucumber slice in bacon and tie with string.

  3. Pour 2 cups of strong stock into the dish and bake at 300°F (150°C) for 20 minutes.

Serve

  1. Carefully remove the cucumbers, drain, and take off the bacon without disturbing the stuffing.

  2. Serve on a dish with Tlobert sauce.

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. Veal + meattop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,890 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Cucumber + vealtop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together439 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  3. Cucumber + meattop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together323 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

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

What each ingredient does

Large young cucumbers
Form the edible shell that holds the stuffing while cooking.
Unsmoked bacon
Wraps the cucumbers, adding fat and savoury flavour as it bastes them.
Veal forcemeat
Forms the savoury filling that sets as it bakes inside the cucumber rings.
Strong stock
Provides liquid in the dish that adds moisture and savoury depth during baking.

The step that matters

Scald the slices, then plunge into cold water. Scalding softens the cucumber enough to bake tender while the cold plunge stops the cooking, so the rings keep their shape and do not turn mushy.

Swap the cucumber

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, meat):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Cucumberthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, meat. 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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