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Salad

Dressed Cucumbers

Thinly sliced cucumbers dressed with salt, pepper, oil, and chili vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Dressed Cucumbers

Why it works: Cucumber and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,734 recipes. Both carry 2-methylbutyl acetate, which smells fruit. The science ↓

Dressed Cucumbers

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Pare and slice the cucumbers very thin.

  2. Sprinkle a little coarse sea salt over them and let them sit for a few minutes.

  3. Drain off the water by tilting the dish.

Dress and serve

  1. Add more salt and a moderate amount of black pepper.

  2. Pour in 2 to 3 tablespoons of salad oil and toss the cucumbers to coat them.

  3. Add 1 to 3 teaspoons of chili vinegar and mix well.

  4. Transfer to a clean dish and serve.

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 + vinegartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,734 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

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

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

  3. Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Cucumbers
Their watery flesh forms the bulk of the dish, giving it a crisp, fresh texture.
Salad oil
Coats the cucumber slices, adding fat that carries flavour and gives a smooth mouthfeel.
Chili vinegar
Adds acidity and heat, brightening the cucumbers and balancing the oil.

The step that matters

Draining the water after salting. Salt draws water out of the cucumber slices. If the liquid is not poured off, it dilutes the oil and vinegar dressing and leaves the dish soggy and watery.

Swap the cucumber

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, vinegar):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Mustardfits better
  3. Cabbagefits better
  4. Cucumberthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, vinegar. 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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