Ingredients
1 cucumber
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp (1 1/4 t) soya sauce
1 tbsp (1 1/4 t) wine vinegar
1 tbsp (1 1/4 t) caster (superfine) sugar
2 tsp sesame oil
Directions
Did some rummaging around in my cookbooks and came up with the
following. This first one sounds like it's on the track of the
cucumber pickles you had at the Chinese place, though these are
diced, not sliced and call for sesame oil rather than seeds.
Peel the cucumber and cut into small dice. Sprinkle with remaining
ingredients and leave for 5 minutes before serving. Make sure sugar
has dissolved before serving.
The Gourmet's Guide to Chinese Cooking, Ann Body. 1974, Octopus Books
Limited, 59 Grosvenor Street, London W1. ISBN 7064 0153 0. Produced by
Mandarin Publications Limited, 22 Westlands Road, Quarry Bay, Hong
Kong.
Posted by Stephen Ceideberg; May 19 1992.
Servings: 1 servings
Cold Cucumber Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Cucumber; Vegetable
The History of Recipes
It is possible to track the history of meal recipes far back into history, in truth as far as early Egypt, and potentially, even further back. Having said that, in the main part, these early cook books were just very basic hieroglyphic or cunieform instructions for meal preparation.
In fact, the most ancient recipe discovered, according to experts are a few clay tablets in the Sumerian language which describe the making of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as having made anyone who tried it feel wonderful and blissful. Later on, in The time of the romans around 25BC a roman called Apicius wrote a number of scripts which described recipes prepared by wealthy roman citizens. In his scrolls, he tells us how the meals of wealthy Romans were divided into hors d`oeuvre, main meal and desserts, something that is very familiar to us today. This early Roman chef recounts how the Romans were skilled in the use of many different herbs, including a few you will know for example basil, rue and parsley. Later, we find two interesting cookery books which appeared in the fourteenth century - a recipe book published under the title `Forme of Cury`, and another named `Curye on Inglish`. Perhaps surprisingly, these have no connection with the spicy food that appears on menues today, but instead recipes for the types of food on the menus of the upper classes of those days. Later on in the 1400s, people returning from the crusades brought back many new foods and herbs from the holy land, including spices like coriander, parsley, and basil. These new foods and spices prompted an explosion in books on cooking, some of which are kept safe in private libraries. For the decades that followed, the powerful and rich houses tried to lay on the most exotic meals, and consequentially the best chefs and their recipes became highly prized. Nevertheless, it wasn`t until the 19th century that fine cooking and recipe publications became popular. Mrs Isabella Beeton in the UK, and the equally well-known Fannie Merritt Farmer in the US, devoted much of their lives to assembling, verifying, and publishing the recipes of their peers. By the time we get to the 20th century, cook books are increasing in popularity mostly as a result of better eduction, people having increased leisure time and disposable income. The arrival of television gave us celebrity chefs and the recipe books that accompanied them. Which brings us neatly up to date and the invention of the internet, permitting everybody to access massive numbers of recipes like those on this web site. |
We hope you enjoy this Cold Cucumber recipe.
