Cucumber Salad

Straight to the recipe

A familiar recipe with a twist

One of the first modern recipes I published in the Dutch section of this website was a cucumber salad. That was back in 2002. In the following years I kept adding recipes to this page which eventually contained cucumber salads from all over the world. This is the first historical recipe for cucumber salad. In Dutch you can make a silly linguistic joke with the name of this dish: kwamkwammersloeg is the past tense of komkommersla (kom = come, sla = slap, past tense kwam = came and sloeg = slapped). In English this is absolutely meaningless.

The picture is from the German translation by Camerarius of a commentary by Petri Andreae Mattioli on the works of Dioscorides, the Krautterbuch (1563).

The Geoeffende Keuken-Meester

This historical cucumber salad was published in De geoeffende en ervaren Keuken-Meester, of de Verstandige Kok (‘the experienced kitchen-master, or sensible cook’) from 1701, in the chapter ‘Bereydinge van Salaaden’ (‘preparations of salads’). The book is a loose translation/adaptation of Le Cuisinier François by François Pierre La Varenne, first published in 1651. The author of the Keukenmeester does not mention La Varenne anywhere, nor does he provide us with his own name. He does describe himself as a ‘zeekere Hofbediende van een Hoog Aanzienelijke Personagie’ (a certain court servant of a high, distinguished personage’).
In 1653, the original Cuisinier François was printed for the first time in Amsterdam, followed by six more editions that were printed in either Amsterdam or The Hague. The most recent edition dates from 1721. The Geoeffende Keuken-meester was not reprinted as often as its French counterpart. According to the Bibliotheca Gastronomica it was reprinted three times, with the final one occuring in 1760. See bibliography.

The content of the Geoeffende Keuken-Meester follows the courses of the meal according to the service à la Française, just like the Cuisinier François. This arrangement of the meal was used from the seventeenth century up to a good part of the nineteenth century. Contrary to the French edition however, the Dutch author moved all ‘catholic’ recipes to a separate second volume.

The first volume of the Geoeffende Keuken-Meester opens with ‘pottagien of potspijzen’ (soups and stews), followed by ‘eerste geregten’ and ‘tweede geregten’ (dishes for the first and second course respectively). Next are the ‘tussengeregten’ (literally ‘entremets’, dishes for meat days), then ‘salaaden’ (salads), and finally ‘pasteyen en taarten’ (pasties and pies). There are no recipes for fish. Of course, fish was also eaten by non-catholics, but the Keuken-Meester has placed all La Varenne’s recipes for fish days, Lent and Good Friday in the separate second volume. The title page of that volume declares that it contains all ‘catholic’ recipes, and also recipes for ailing and ill people. But the second volume only contains recipes with fish. The last page of the volume however announces that the recipes for the sick will be released shortly. I have no idea whether this third part was ever published.

Salad is not always raw food

The cucumber salads of Le cuisinier François are part of the chapter ‘ce qui se peut trouver dans les jardins’ (those things you can find in kitchen gardens). The first recipe however, is for a warm dish of cucumbers, braised in butter with onions, followed by a recipe is for pickled cucumber with cloves. The third recipe finally describes a salad in the modern sense, with raw cucumbers and onions. The Keuken-Meester added the cloves from La Varenne’s second recipe to the third, wich results in a subtly spicy salad.
From the description of cucumber salads above it will be clear that salads in the seventeenth and eighteenth century did not necessarily have to be uncooked at all, and they could even be served as a warm dish. Both La Varenne and the Keuken-Meester offer more salad recipes with cooked vegetables than with raw vegetables, but even the cooked dishes are often finished off with a dash of vinegar.

Salad in the Dictionnaire Œconomique van Chomel

In order to determine whether the authors were negligent or whether it was common practice to consider warm dishes with vegetables as salads, I checked the Dictionnaire Œconomique of Noel Chomel (1633-1712). Chomel was a priest who was interested in agriculture and he published his Dictionnaire Œconomique in 1709. The complete title of his work from the edition of 1732 can be read here. In 1725 an English edition was published, entitled the Family Dictionary. In this English version the definition of Sallet is as follows: “in general confits of certain esculent Plants and Herbs […], to be eaten raw or green, blanched or candied, simple and by themselves, or intermingled with others, according to the season.” The French edition from 1709 does not contain the lemma Salad, but at least the third edition from 1732 (revised by P. Danjou) and the edition from 1767, revised by M. de la Marre, offer the same information as the English edition. The Dutch editions on the other hand (1743 and 1768-78), only mention uncooked salad.
For those interested in the first cucumber-recipe of La Varenne (which is the second recipe in the Keuken-Meester): this ‘sallet’ consists of sliced cucumber, broiled in butter or lard or suet. La Varenne adds an onion; the Keuken-Meester adds some vinegar.

The origins of cucumber

Cucumber originates from India, just as eggplants. But contrary to eggplants, cucumbers were already known in Europe during Classical times. Pliny the Elder (23-79 aD) writes in his Historia Naturalis (XIX.23) that cucumbers were a favourite food of Roman emperor Tiberius loved. During the Middle Ages on the other hand, cucumbers were eaten with caution: according to the health theory of those days they were detrimental to your health. Because cucumbers need extra care in colder regions, they were a challenge for gardeners of the rich as they had to to experiment with hothouses and nurseries. Moreover, their employers did not have to be concerned with the nutritional value of the garden vegetable which consists almost 98% of water. They had plenty of other dishes to eat.

The picture at the top of this page shows cucumbers that you won’t see at the greengrocer’s or the supermarket often. These are a variety called snake cucumbers. The picture is taken from the New Kreuterbuch (1563), a (German translation of an) adaptation of the Materia medica of Dioscorides (40-90 aD) by the Italian physician and botanist Pietro Andrea Mattioli (1501-1577).

Always sprinkle cucumber with salt

My mother and grandmother always sprinkled salt on sliced cucumbers, and left them for half an hour in a strainer. This was to remove the bitter taste. Today most cucumbers do not need this treatment, because there are no longer any bitter cucumbers in stores. People do not like bitter food anymore.
But I still routinely sprinkle my cucumbers with salt before using them in a salad. Because, let’s be honest, these bags of water hardly have any taste at all otherwise …

The original recipe

The recipe is from De geoeffende en ervaren Keuken-Meester, of de Verstandige Kok (1701, vol 1, p.242, see bibliography). There is no modern edition or facsimile available of this book.

Modern adaptation of the recipe

This cucumber salad is special because of the onion-with-cloves. Squeeze the cucumber very well before serving; otherwise the salad will be very watered down.
The recipe mentions ‘the white’ of cucmbers. I think these are the unripe seeds. Modern cucumbers are seedless.
Side dish for 3 to 4 persons; preparation in advance 10 minutes plus 12 hours in the refrigerator; preparation 8 minutes.

2 (large) cucumbers
1 tsp salt
1 onion, peeled and halved
8 to 16 cloves
3 Tbsp olive oil or half olive oil and half oil with neutral taste
1 Tbsp wine vinegar
freshly ground white pepper to taste

Preparation in advance

Prick the onion halves on the round side with cloves, and place them in a bowl, flat side down.
Peel the cucumbers and slice them very thinly. Sprinkle them with salt and mix well, then put them in the bowl on top of the onion Cover the bowl with plastic foil (or a lid) and put away for twelve hours, or as long as possible. When preparing the dish for supper, start in the morning.

Preparation

Drain the cucumber slices  well, using your hands to squeeze out the remaining liquid. Pat the cucumber dry with absorbent paper towels or kitchen towels washed without detergent. Discard the onion.
Make the vinaigrette with oil and vinegar, beating it until it has thickened a little. For an authentic dish you should use more vinegar than is usual today. Modern taste generally leans to less acidic dishes.

To serve

Temper the cucumber with the vinaigrette just before serving. Use one dish, or serve in individual small bowls.

Ingredients

All descriptions of ingredients

Cloves

Cloves are the unopened flower buds of the Syzygium aromaticum, a plant that originally only grew on the Maluku Islands (the ‘spice Islands, Indonesia). Their shape reminded the Dutch of nails, hence the name ‘kruidnagel’ (spice nail). The English clove, which does not seem to have any connection with nails, derived from the French clou (de girofle), which also means ‘nail’.
The trade in cloves has been turbulent.

During the Middle Ages, Arabs bought the spice from local producers and sold it in Europe. In 1514 the Portuguese conquered the Maluku Islands and they held the monopoly on cloves for as long as a century. The Dutch pinched the islands in the beginning of the seventeenth century and introduced draconic measures (death penalty to the smugglers of plants) in order to prevent the growing of cloves anywhere outside of Ambon. In 1770 the very aptly named Frenchman Pierre Poivre succeeded in breaking the monopoly on cloves (and nutmeg/mace) by stealing some plants and transferring them to Mauritius and later toMadagascar.

Bibliography

The editions below were used by me. Links refer to available editions.

• De geoeffende en ervaren Keuken-Meester, of de Verstandige Kok […] Insgelijks ook een byzonder Kook-Boek Tot dienst der Rooms gesinde in de Visch- en Vaste-dagen […]. (first edition, Leiden, 1701) (Online version) (‘The practised and experienced kitchen-master, or sensible cook’), Leiden, 1701.
• François Pierre La Varenne , Le cuisinier françois d’apres l’édition de 1651, Facsimile edition with an introduction by Philip and Mary Hyman. (Houilles, 2002).
• François Pierre, La Varenne’s Cookery: The French Cook, the French Pastry Chef, the French Confectioner. English translation with introduction and notes by Terence Scully (Prospect Books, 2006).
• Noel Chomel, Dictionnaire OEconomique […]. First edition 1709, third edition 1732 (revised by P. Danjou), ‘new’ edition 1767 (revised by M. de la Marre).
• Johannes van Dam and Joop Witteveen, Koks en keukenmeiden. Amsterdamse kookboeken uit de Gastronomische Bibliotheek en de Bibliotheek van de Universiteit van Amsterdam. Nijgh & Van Ditmar, Amsterdam, 2006.
• Joop Witteveen en Bart Cuperus, Bibliotheca gastronomica. Eten en drinken in Nederland en België 1474-1960. Amsterdam, 1998. (2 vols, Bibliography on Dutch cookbooks).

Cucumber salad, a 17th-century recipe
A subtly spiced salad with cucmbers, from a Dutch adaptation from 1701 of the ‘Cuisinier François’ from La Varenne.
© Author Christianne Muusers