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Cucumbers, a LA Roulette

A cucumber dish simmered in butter, nutmeg, sugar, Velouté sauce, and egg yolks.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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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 ↓

Cucumbers, a LA Roulette

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cucumbers

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

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

  3. Drain the moisture from the cucumbers and place them in a saucepan with butter, nutmeg, and sugar.

Cook and finish

  1. Simmer gently over low heat until tender, about 30 minutes.

  2. Pour off the butter, add Velouté sauce, and simmer for a few more minutes.

  3. Incorporate the egg yolks into the mixture 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.

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

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Sugar + saucetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,147 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Cucumbers
Provide the main body of the dish, becoming tender when simmered gently.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, carrying flavor while the cucumbers cook.
Egg yolks
Added at the end to enrich and thicken the sauce.
Velouté sauce
Adds body and a savory, creamy base to the cucumbers.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the cucumbers during steeping.

The step that matters

Incorporate the egg yolks. Egg yolks thicken when heated gently, but if the mixture is too hot they can scramble and curdle. Keep the heat low and stir steadily so the sauce becomes smooth and lightly thickened.

Swap the nutmeg

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

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Cinnamonfits about as well
  4. Nutmegthe original

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