Food for thought
Attention seekers
Simon Courtauld
Ithink I am losing the battle against eating fruit and vegetables out of season. By 'season' I mean, of course, the time for gathering produce grown outdoors in this country — asparagus in May, broad beans and strawberries in June. But everything now seems to be available, from some corner of the world, practically all the year round. In the past week. runner beans from Kenya and blackberries from Guatemala have been on sale in Wiltshire. And I have to admit that my wife bought some Spanish asparagus at Easter.
July is the month for starting to cut cucumbers from a garden frame or cloche. It used to be said that tailors would take their holidays during the cucumber season, because they could expect little business in high summer. As the Pall Mall Gazette commented in the mid-19th century, 'When cucumbers are in, the gentry are out of town.' But since they are now in at all times of the year, let's deal with them in spring.
In their more temperate climate, the Romans were skilled at forcing cucumbers during winter, apparently at the insistence of the Emperor Tiberius who demanded a continuous supply, possibly because he was overweight and knew that, with their very high water content, they would be good for his figure. The cucumber was cultivated originally in India, and became popular in Britain during the reign of Henry VIII. when it was spelt and pronounced cowcumher. But I have no idea how we came to adopt the expression 'as cool as a cucumber' for being self-possessed, unless it has something to do with the practice of using sliced cucumbers as pads to rest the eyes and cool the forehead. Growing cucumbers is not really recommended, for they do need a lot of attention. Having sown the seeds this month, the soil must be kept warm and damp, the shoots need to be trained and pinched back, and the male flowers removed. Once all this has been done, the plants will still be prone to various infections. The smaller ridge cucumbers are a better bet for those who insist on growing their own.
Cucumbers were long considered indigestible, the more so without their skins, which were almost invariably removed. They used to be salted to get rid of some of the bitter juice, but the modern varieties, one of which has the charming name of Burpless, are more easily digested. Though we rarely bother to peel cucumbers these days, they must always be peeled when making cucumber sandwiches, with both the bread (white, no crusts) and cucumber thinly sliced and sprinkled with salt and white pepper. But do cucumber sandwiches now belong to a vanished age? I like to imagine that the Queen Mother had them every day for tea.
Years ago, when we used to have dinner parties in London, a woman whom I remember only as Mrs G would occasionally prepare for us in summer a delicious cold cucumber soup. It was made, I assume, with onion and chicken stock and plenty of cream, and I recall its quite strong green colour, which suggests that Mrs G added a little puréed watercress or peas. A hot soup, which doesn't sound nearly as good, can be made with cucumber and potato and, according to an old recipe book, served with sippets. which are small triangles of stale, fried bread.
Being of the same family as the marrow (also squash, courgette and gherkin), the cucumber lends itself to being stuffed, or made into fritters. Though I have never had it, a mixture of minced pork and herbs stuffed into cucumber halves minus their seeds and served with sour cream is a popular dish in Romania. Sautéed cucumber, in thick slices, with a hollandaise sauce goes well with fish. But then cucumber, hot or cold, and fish are the best of partners.
I have seldom had cooked cucumber with a sauce, but there are all sorts of variations for cucumber as a salad or with cream. Salmon and sliced cucumber with white wine vinegar, and perhaps a little chopped dill, is a classic dish, and sliced cucumber with fresh lime juice is highly recommended with lobster. In the Far East cucumber is combined with mushrooms, peanuts, soy sauce and sesame seeds.
I am quite keen on a cucumber and fennel salad, and very partial to cucumber with mayonnaise and cream, also to cucumber with yoghurt, as in Indian raita and Greek tzatziki. Kachumber is the name (from where?) given to a salad of chopped onion. tomato, cucumber and mint, with a little vinegar and lemon juice. Very refreshing, and perfect with a piece of grilled halibut.
Previous page
