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Cucumbers, a LA Poulette

A cucumber salad with butter, Veloute sauce, egg yolks, cream, parsley, and lemon.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 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 ↓

Cucumbers, a LA Poulette

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cucumbers

  1. Cut the cucumbers into scallops about 1 inch in diameter.

  2. In a bowl, combine cucumbers with salt and vinegar; let steep for several hours.

Cook

  1. Drain the cucumbers and place them in a saucepan with butter, nutmeg, and sugar.

  2. Simmer gently over low heat for about 30 minutes until tender.

  3. Pour off the butter and add Veloute sauce; simmer for a few minutes.

Finish and serve

  1. In a bowl, mix egg yolks, cream, parsley, and lemon juice; incorporate into the cucumbers.

  2. Serve with a border of fleurons.

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

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  3. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Cucumber + nutmegtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together432 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Cucumbers
Form the main body of the dish, softening into tender pieces during gentle simmering.
Egg yolks
Thicken the sauce when gently heated, giving it a smooth, creamy texture.
Cream
Adds richness and moisture, softening the texture of the finished sauce.
Butter
Carries flavour and adds richness while the cucumbers simmer.
Veloute sauce
Provides a savoury base that gives the cucumbers body and a sauce consistency.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the flavour of the cucumbers during steeping.

The step that matters

Incorporating the egg yolk mixture. Egg yolks thicken when heated, but if the cucumbers are too hot or boiling, the yolks can scramble and curdle. Keep the heat low and stir gently so the sauce turns smooth and creamy.

Swap the cucumber

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

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

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