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Cucumbers Stewed in Butter

A dish of sliced cucumbers stewed in butter, veal gravy, rich cream, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 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 Stewed in Butter

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Slice the cucumbers.

  2. Melt the butter in a pan and add the cucumbers.

  3. Cook for 15 to 18 minutes without browning.

Finish and serve

  1. Add the veal gravy and bring to a simmer.

  2. Stir in the rich cream and sugar before serving.

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. Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Cucumber + vealtop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together439 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  5. Butter + vealtop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,381 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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 dish, softening as they stew in butter.
Butter
Carries the cucumbers' flavor and keeps them moist while they cook.
Veal gravy
Adds savory depth and liquid to the stewing cucumbers.
Rich cream
Adds richness and a smooth, creamy texture to the sauce.
Sugar
Adds a touch of sweetness that balances the savory gravy.

The step that matters

Cook without browning. Cucumbers are mostly water, so cooking them gently in butter lets them soften and release liquid. If the heat is too high and the pan browns them, the dish turns bitter and loses its delicate flavor.

Swap the cucumber

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

  1. Leekfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Onionfits better
  4. Cucumberthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, veal, 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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