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Stuffed Cucumbers

A savory dish of cucumbers filled with a mixture of apple, gherkin, butter, breadcrumbs, and egg, baked until golden.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Stuffed Cucumbers

Why it works: Cucumber and capers match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 303 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. 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 filling

  1. Peel the cucumbers, cut in half lengthwise, and remove the seeds.

  2. Scrape out the soft part into a saucepan.

  3. Peel and core the apple.

  4. Chop the apple finely with the gherkin.

  5. Reserve 1 tablespoon for the sauce.

  6. Add the remaining mixture to the soft cucumber part in the saucepan.

  7. Simmer until tender.

  8. Stir in the butter, pepper, salt, onion juice, bread crumbs, and beaten egg.

  9. Remove from heat.

Cook the cucumber shells

  1. Cover the cucumbers with boiling water in another saucepan.

  2. Cook gently for 10-15 minutes.

  3. Add 1 tablespoon of salt near the end.

  4. Drain the cucumbers.

  5. Cool slightly.

Stuff and bake

  1. Stuff them with the prepared mixture, pressing into shape.

  2. Brush with egg.

  3. Sprinkle with bread crumbs.

  4. Dot with tiny lumps of butter.

  5. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) until golden brown.

Make the sauce and serve

  1. Combine the reserved apple and gherkin with capers, chop finely, and mix into a cream sauce.

  2. Heat thoroughly.

  3. Serve the stuffed cucumbers on a platter with the sauce poured around them.

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. Cucumber + caperstop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together303 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  3. Onion + caperstop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,381 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

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

  5. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Cucumbers
Hollowed halves form the edible shell that holds the filling.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the filling and browns the top while baking.
Egg
Binds the filling and, brushed on top, helps the crust turn golden.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture in the filling and form a crisp, browned topping.
Apple
Adds tartness and moisture that balances the rich butter and egg.

The step that matters

Cook the cucumbers gently. Boiling vigorously can break down the cucumber shells and make them mushy, so they may not hold the filling. Gentle heat keeps them tender but firm enough to stuff and bake.

Swap the apple

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

  1. Avocadofits better
  2. Lemonfits better
  3. Limefits better
  4. Applethe original

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