I was intrigued by a recipe in a hundred-year-old cookbook for Cucumber Sauté, so decided to give it a try. Cucumber spears are briefly boiled, then rolled in flour and sautéed.
The Cucumber Sauté spears were slightly crunchy and very tasty.
Here’s the original recipe:
Except for the number of cucumbers, the amounts are not listed for any of the ingredients. When I updated the recipe, I added amounts for some of the ingredients.
Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:
Cucumber Sauté
water
4 small cucumbers (about 4 – 5 inches long)
butter or cooking oil (I used butter.)
1/3 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons minced parsley or chives (I used parsley)
Fill a saucepan about 2/3’s full of water; bring to a boil using high heat.
In the meantime, peel the cucumbers, and then quarter them lengthwise. Put the quartered cucumbers into the boiling water, reduce heat so the water simmers and cook the cucumbers 3 minutes. The drain the cucumbers and lay on a paper towel to eliminate any excess moisture.
In the meantime, combine the flour, salt, and pepper. Then roll the cooked cucumbers in the flour mixture.
In a skillet, heat enough butter or cooking oil to cover the bottom of the pan. When hot, add the floured cucumbers. Cook until they begin to lightly brown, then turn and lightly brown the other side. When the cucumbers are turned add the parsley or chives and evenly distribute over the cucumbers. When lightly browned on both slides remove from heat, drain on paper towels, and serve.
Looks delicious! Thanks for sharing 😍🥰👍
It’s tasty.
What an interesting way of preparing cucumbers! Will definitely give this a try.
I think that you’ll enjoy this recipe.
We tried this tonight and served it as a starter. Really tasteful! Next time we will serve it with pickled cucumber and/or borage flowers. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for letting me know that you tried the recipe. It’s nice to hear that you enjoyed it.
Not something I have ever come across it certainly sounds different 🙂
My sense is that it was more common to cook cucumbers a hundred years ago than what it is now. I’ve seen various recipes for cooked cucumbers in old cookbooks.
Interesting nowadays they are mostly pickled or gratined in a sandwich/roll/wrap or smashed in a salad…some things never change and others do 🙂
I’ve never quite been able to figure out food fads and trends, but I find it fascinating to think about possible reasons.
Cooking cucumbers! Who knew ….I wonder if people who have tummy issues with cucumbers raw could eat them cooked?
I wonder if you could get away with skipping the simmer and going straight to the sauté?
hmm. . . I have no idea whether cooked cucumbers would go easier on the stomach.
As far as whether you could skip the simmer, I think that you could, but that the cucumber spears would be firmer.
Daughter Lise is the one who loves cucumbers. I would love to try this recipe for her.
If you try this recipe for her, you’ll have to let me know what she thinks.
I have never heard of cooking cucumbers. Randy said it reminded him of fried pickles, which are definitely a thing in parts of Mississippi.
Fried pickles are also a thing up here – particularly at state and county fairs. They’re pretty good. The pickles are dipped into a batter and then fried, so they are heavily breaded. And, of course they have the sourness of a pickle.
I haven’t seen any old recipes for fried pickles, but I did do a post several years ago on Fried Cucumbers. The recipe was somewhat similar to this one – but the cucumber spears were dipped in a batter before frying (and they were not first put in boiling water).
I did try fried pickles once, just to be social. I love pickles…on my burger!
🙂 works for me.
Thank you for sharing a great cucumber recipe!
The first time I saw a recipe for cooked cumber other than relish, was Julia child’s baked cucumbers. A dear dear friend gave me too many from her garden so I made relish, and still had more to use..
You’re welcome. I think that you’d enjoy this recipe. I’m not sure why cucumbers are so seldom cooked. When I’ve made recipes using them, they’ve always been good.
So simple, and yet I don’t know why we don’t do this now! Such a good idea.
Sometimes simple recipes are the best. I tend to think that cucumbers are an under-utilized vegetable. I’ve definitley seen more recipes for cooked cucumbers in hundred-year-old cookbooks than in more modern ones. It seems like cooking cucumbers has become less popular across the years.
The same with radishes. I love them braised or roasted, but we tend to think of them as a salad garnish.
Agree – Radishes are good cooked, but that’s not a very popular way to serve them today, though I see recipes from time to time in hundred-year-old cookbooks for cooked radishes.
They were cheap, easy and quick to grow, and nutritious!
isn’t it funny how our brains work? If this was zucchini my brain would be going yay how fabulous but when it comes to cukes, my brain goes – mm maybe…
cheers
sherry
You should give it a try. In some ways cucumbers aren’t all that different than zucchini.
I have a very similar recipe for grilled cucumbers. My husband liked them but I wasn’t a fan…
Yes, this probably would be similar to grilled cucumbers. I may have to give grilled cucumbers a try (even if there were mixed reviews for grilled cucumbers at your house).
You know the other “veggi” I never thought about cooking is radishes… But I guess people do!
I have eaten cooked radishes. Several years ago I did a Creamed Radishes post. The radishes were tasty – though they lost their beautiful red color when I cooked them, and were a very dull pink.
While we tend to think of cucumbers as being for salads or pickles, they are not too different from zucchini. I’ll have to give this recipe a try.
I think that you’ll like this recipe. I agree that cucumbers aren’t that different from zucchini. My mother-in-law used to make zucchini bread and butter pickles when she had extra zucchini. They were good and tasted about the same as the bread and butter pickles that she made using cucumbers.
Facinated by this. I will try it out