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Baked Stuffed Cucumbers

Cucumbers are halved, seeded, and filled with a tomato, chile, and breadcrumb mixture, then baked with butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Cucumber and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,405 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Baked Stuffed Cucumbers

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Cut the cucumbers in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds and pulp, leaving the outer shell intact.

Stuff and bake

  1. In a bowl, combine the seeds and pulp with salt, pepper, chopped chile peppers, tomato, and bread crumbs. Mix well.

  2. Fill each cucumber half with the stuffing and top with plenty of butter.

  3. Bake for 1 hour until the stuffing is hot and browned.

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 + tomatotop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,405 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Tomato + breadtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,013 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Cucumber + peppertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,991 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Cucumbers
Form the edible shell that holds the stuffing while it bakes.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture from the pulp and help the stuffing hold together and brown.
Butter
Adds fat that promotes browning and a rich flavor on the stuffing surface.
Tomato
Adds moisture and acidity to the stuffing.

The step that matters

Scoop out the seeds and pulp without breaking the shell. The outer shell must stay intact to hold the stuffing. Cucumber is mostly water, so the shell softens and can collapse during baking if it is torn or cut too thin.

Swap the cucumber

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, tomato, bread, butter):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Carrotfits about as well
  4. Cucumberthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, tomato, bread, butter. 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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