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Forced Cucumbers

Cucumbers stuffed with forcemeat, simmered with vinegar, salt, veal broth, and cullis.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 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 ↓

Forced Cucumbers

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Peel the cucumbers and cut them in half.

  2. Remove the seeds and fill the cavity with forcemeat.

  3. Bind the two halves together with strong thread.

Cook

  1. Place them in a stewpan with vinegar, salt, and veal broth.

  2. Simmer over low heat until three-quarters cooked and reduce the liquid.

  3. Add strong cullis and stew gently until fully cooked.

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

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

  3. Vinegar + vealtop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together948 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

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

What each ingredient does

Fresh cucumbers
Form the vessel that holds the forcemeat and becomes tender as it cooks.
Forcemeat
Fills the cucumber cavity, providing a rich, savoury filling as it cooks through.
Veal broth
Provides liquid for gentle simmering and adds savoury body to the sauce.
Strong cullis
Adds concentrated meat flavour and body to the liquid during the final stewing.

The step that matters

Simmer over low heat until three-quarters cooked and reduce the liquid. Low, gentle heat keeps the cucumbers from breaking down while they soften. Reducing the liquid concentrates its flavour so the final sauce tastes rich rather than watery.

Swap the cucumber

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

  1. Cucumberthe original
  2. Capsicumfits about as well
  3. Shallotfits about as well
  4. Onionfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, veal. 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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