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Puree of Cucumbers

A smooth puree made from cucumbers, ham, butter, spices, white sauce, cream, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Puree of Cucumbers

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a stewpan, combine chopped ham, butter, peppercorns, and nutmeg.

  2. Add the cucumbers and cook slowly over low heat for 20 minutes.

  3. Stir in the white sauce and reduce the mixture over medium-high heat until it reaches a paste-like consistency.

  4. Add the cream and sugar, then reduce for another 5-6 minutes.

  5. Pass the mixture through a sieve and transfer to a pan for use.

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. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  2. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Sauce + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,787 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Nutmeg + cucumbertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together432 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Nutmeg + creamtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,920 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

What each ingredient does

Cucumbers
Form the bulk of the puree and give it its fresh, mild flavour once cooked down.
Butter
Adds richness and carries flavour while the ham and cucumbers cook gently.
White sauce
Thickens the mixture so it reduces to a smooth, paste-like texture.
Cream
Adds richness and a silky body to the finished puree.

The step that matters

Reducing to a paste-like consistency. Cucumber releases a lot of water as it cooks. Reducing over medium-high heat evaporates that moisture so the puree thickens. Stopping too early leaves it loose, while over-reducing after the cream is added can make it stiff or catch on the base of the pan.

Swap the cucumber

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, butter, nutmeg, sauce, cream, sugar):

  1. Mustardfits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Cucumberthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, butter, nutmeg, sauce, cream, sugar. 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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