Surprise your palate with fresh cucumber sauce
Although it has almost disappeared from our menus, cucumber sauce is a tradition of Czech cuisine. It used to be served with a piece of beef or, on meatless days, only with boiled potatoes. The creative chefs at UM were given the idea to reconstruct one of the more forgotten recipes by chefs from the Old Guard. The procedure is easy and the result will pleasantly surprise you.
You can also serve the sauce with bread dumplings - for example based on a recipe from Lokal.
Ingredients:
- 750 g field cucumbers (approx. 5 pieces)
- 60 g butter
- 40 g of plain flour
- 1 l beef broth (or as desired)
- 35 g apple cider vinegar
- 5 g salt
- 10 g caster sugar
- 150 g 33% cream
Procedure:
Preparation of cucumbers:
- Wash the cucumbers thoroughly.
- Peel them thoroughly and cut out the cores.
- Set the skins and cores aside - you can use them later for flavouring.
- Cut the rest of the cucumbers into small cubes and refrigerate for now.
The base of the sauce - velouté:
- Melt the butter in a saucepan.
- Stir in the flour and prepare a light roux.
- Pour in the stock and stir thoroughly with a whisk to avoid lumps.
- Add the skins and kernels.
- Let the sauce bubble gently for about 20 minutes to get the right cucumber flavour.
Seasoning and mellowing:
- Strain the sauce through a fine sieve to remove the skins and cores.
- Add the vinegar, sugar, salt and cream to the strained sauce.
- Stir and allow to boil briefly.
Finish:
- Stir in the sliced cucumbers at the end.
- Heat them in the sauce for just a moment to keep them fresh and slightly crisp.
In the footsteps of Czech cuisine
Those who enjoy discovering their own roots through gastronomy and culinary theory can delve into the articles on the Nadrobno blog:
- An interview with food historian Martin Franco about Central European cuisine,
- who are the chefs of the Old Guard and what can we learn from them today?
Or choose from the section Central European cuisine and explore the frontiers of transnational cuisine.
