Skip to main content
Main

Cucumbers a LA Poulette

Cucumbers à la Poulette is a French dish of cucumbers simmered in a butter and veal stock sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 Poulette

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Peel and quarter the cucumbers, removing the seeds, and cut them into half‑inch lengths.

  2. Soak the cucumbers in vinegar and sprinkle with salt for 30 minutes.

  3. Drain and dry the cucumbers with a soft cloth.

  4. Dredge the cucumbers in flour.

Cook

  1. In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat until it begins to boil.

  2. Add the cucumbers and shake gently for 10 minutes, ensuring they do not color.

  3. Gradually pour in the veal stock or gravy until the cucumbers are nearly covered.

  4. Once boiling, skim off any foam and cook until the cucumbers are tender.

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. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Cucumber + flourtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  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).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
Form the main body of the dish, becoming tender as they simmer in the stock.
Flour
Coats the cucumbers and thickens the butter and stock into a light sauce.
Butter
Adds richness and carries flavor while the cucumbers cook gently.
Veal stock or gravy
Supplies the liquid and savory body of the sauce around the cucumbers.
Vinegar
Its acidity sharpens the cucumbers' mild flavor during the soak.

The step that matters

Shaking the cucumbers without browning. Cucumbers are dried and floured so they cook in butter without coloring. Keeping the heat moderate and the shaking gentle prevents browning, which would change the pale, delicate look and flavor of this sauce.

Swap the cucumber

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

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Chivefits about as well
  3. Leekfits about as well
  4. Cucumberthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, flour, butter, 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.

You might also like

Veal PattiesVeal Patties50 recipesBeef, Mutton, or Veal BrothBeef, Mutton, or Veal Broth6 recipesTomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesBrown BreadBrown Bread461 recipes