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Stuffed Cucumhers

A dish of cucumber rings stuffed with veal force‑meat, wrapped in bacon, baked in stock.

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 Cucumhers

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 and remove the ends, seeds, and peel.

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

  3. Line a fireproof dish with thin slices of scalded bacon.

  4. Fill the center holes of the cucumber rings with veal force‑meat until level.

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

Bake and serve

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

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

  3. Serve on a dish with Robert 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 main body, holding the stuffing in their hollow centers.
Unsmoked bacon
Wraps the cucumbers, adding fat and savoury flavour as it cooks.
Veal force-meat
Fills the centers, providing a firm, savoury stuffing that sets as it cooks.
Strong stock
Bakes with the dish, adding moisture and savoury flavour to the cucumbers.

The step that matters

Carefully remove the cucumbers and take off the bacon. The stuffing is only lightly set after baking, so lifting and peeling off the bacon too roughly can break the cucumber rings and disturb the force-meat.

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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