STEWED CUCUMBERS
English mode
Modern Cookery For Private Families, Eliza Acton (1845)
Pare, and split into quarters, four or five full-grown but still young cucumbers; take out the seeds and cut each part in two; sprinkle them with white pepper or cayenne; flour and fry them lightly in a little butter, lift them from the pan, drain them on a sieve, then lay them into as much good brown gravy as will nearly cover them, and stew them gently from twenty-five to thirty minutes, or until they are quite tender.
Should the gravy require to be thickened or flavoured, dish the cucumbers and keep them hot while a little flour and butter, or any other of the usual ingredients, is stirred into it.
Some persons like a small portion of lemon-juice, or of chili vinegar added to the sauce; cucumber vinegar might be substituted for these with very good effect, as the vegetable loses much of its fine and peculiar flavour when cooked.
25 to 30 minutes.
Obs. — The cucumbers may be left in entire lengths, thrown into well-salted boiling water, and simmered for ten minutes, then thoroughly drained upon the back of a sieve, and afterwards stewed very quickly until tender in some highly-flavoured brown gravy.
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