Chef Juliette
Choux Rouges à la Flamande
Fine-cut red cabbage, russet apples, butter, sugar, nutmeg, and vinegar share one covered cocotte, cooking gently until the leaves gleam garnet and the apples soften without disappearing.
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Concombres à la Crème
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 2122, Concombres à la Crème, from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
Firm cucumber turned into little olives, parboiled, cooked three-quarters in butter, and finished in cream reduced to a shining coat. One final spoonful of Béchamel makes the sauce hold.
Side Dishes
French
Weeknight
Dinner Party
Quick Meal
30 min
Active Time
20 min cook•50 min total
Yield4 servings
Concombres à la Crème (cucumbers in cream) teaches a small but essential piece of sauce grammar: before cream can cling to a watery vegetable, the vegetable must surrender its excess water. Parboiling, thorough draining, and partial cooking in butter are not preliminaries to skip. They are the dish. Get them right and the cream reduces to a satin coat instead of a pale puddle.
The original entry assumed a vegetable cook with time to turn dozens of perfect olive shapes and a saucier on staff who could send over finished Béchamel at the last moment. For the home pan, that brigade quantity becomes three cucumbers and four generous side portions; a small paring knife makes neat approximate olives, one tablespoon of prepared Béchamel does the saucier's work, and a warmed deep bowl replaces the service timbale. Perfect tournage is brigade scaffolding and may go. Even sizing must stay, because the pieces need to finish together. One cook, one stove, one evening.
The moment that decides the dish comes before the cream: the cucumber and pan must be free of loose water. If the pieces weep in the butter, cook that liquid away before proceeding. Once the boiling cream goes in, reduce it until it visibly coats each olive, then use the Béchamel only to make that coating hold.
Concombres à la Crème belongs to the Parisian grand-kitchen and bourgeois table, not to Normandy simply because cream appears in the pan. From formal vegetable service it passed into household repertoires, retaining the turned shape because equal pieces cook evenly and present neatly. The little Béchamel is not the sauce itself but a last liaison for cream already reduced around cucumber, which distinguishes this hot garnish from the cold cucumber salads often given the same English gloss.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
large firm cucumbers
Quantity
3 (about 2 lb / 900 g total)
peeled, seeded, and turned into olive shapes
water
Quantity
2 quarts (1.9 L / 1.9 kg)
fine salt
Quantity
1 tablespoon plus ¼ teaspoon (16 ml / 19 g)
divided
unsalted butter
Quantity
3 tablespoons (45 ml / 42 g)
heavy cream, at least 35% fat
Quantity
1 cup (240 ml / 240 g)
prepared Béchamel sauce
Quantity
1 tablespoon (15 ml / 15 g)
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| large firm cucumberspeeled, seeded, and turned into olive shapes | 3 (about 2 lb / 900 g total) |
| water | 2 quarts (1.9 L / 1.9 kg) |
| fine saltdivided | 1 tablespoon plus ¼ teaspoon (16 ml / 19 g) |
| unsalted butter | 3 tablespoons (45 ml / 42 g) |
| heavy cream, at least 35% fat | 1 cup (240 ml / 240 g) |
| prepared Béchamel sauce | 1 tablespoon (15 ml / 15 g) |
Equipment Needed
- •Small sharp paring knife
- •3-quart saucepan
- •10-inch wide sauté pan
- •Fine-mesh colander
- •Clean kitchen towel
- •1-quart deep serving bowl
Instructions
- 1
Turn the cucumbers
Peel the cucumbers and cut them crosswise into 2-inch (5 cm) lengths. Halve each length, scoop away the soft seed channel, and cut the firm flesh into thick wedges. With a small sharp paring knife, round each wedge into an olive shape about 1½ inches (4 cm) long. Aim for equal thickness rather than perfect symmetry. This tournage, the classical trimming of vegetables into even shapes, matters because pieces of one size finish cooking together.
Keep the sound cucumber trimmings for soup or salad. The olive shape belongs to this preparation, but waste certainly does not. - 2
Parboil and dry
Bring the water and 1 tablespoon of the salt to a full boil. Add the cucumber pieces and parboil for 2 to 3 minutes, just until their edges look faintly translucent while the centres remain firm. Drain immediately, spread them over a clean towel, and blot them thoroughly. Leave them uncovered for 5 minutes so their surface moisture can escape; wet cucumber dilutes the butter and leaves the cream swimming.
- 3
Cook in butter
Melt the butter in a wide sauté pan over medium heat. When it foams gently, add the cucumber in one layer with the remaining ¼ teaspoon salt. Cook for 6 to 8 minutes, rolling the pieces carefully, until they are about three-quarters tender and a knife meets distinct resistance at the centre. Keep them pale. If liquid collects in the pan, raise the heat and let it evaporate completely before proceeding. Ça se rattrape, but cream poured over cucumber water will never reduce cleanly.
- 4
Add boiling cream
While the cucumber cooks in butter, bring the heavy cream just to a boil in a small saucepan. Pour the boiling cream over the three-quarters-cooked cucumber. Keep this detail from the original method: hot cream maintains the cooking and begins reducing at once, while cold cream encourages the cucumber to shed more water.
- 5
Reduce to a coat
Hold the pan at a lively but controlled simmer for 5 to 7 minutes, shaking it occasionally and turning the cucumber without crushing it. The pieces are ready when tender throughout, and the cream should reduce until it clings in a glossy ivory coat rather than pooling thinly underneath. If the sauce becomes greasy from reducing too far, remove the pan from the heat and stir in cool water 1 teaspoon at a time until the gloss returns.
- 6
Bind with Béchamel
Put the prepared Béchamel sauce in a small bowl and stir in a spoonful of hot reduced cream from the pan until smooth. Lower the heat, fold the loosened Béchamel into the cucumbers, and cook for no more than 30 seconds. Do not boil it hard now; the Béchamel is a final liaison, not the principal sauce. If the coating becomes too thick, loosen it with a teaspoon of hot water. Taste, spoon everything into a warmed deep serving bowl, and serve at once. À table!
Chef Tips
- •Choose large, firm cucumbers that feel heavy and show no yellowing. Small Persian cucumbers are pleasant raw but leave too little flesh for tournage once their centres are removed.
- •Keep the Béchamel modest. One tablespoon is enough to steady the reduced cream without turning the dish into cucumbers buried under white sauce. Sprinkling raw flour into the pan is no substitute; it clumps and leaves an uncooked taste.
- •Use the widest pan that holds the cucumber in one layer. A crowded saucepan traps the vegetable's water, while a wide surface lets moisture leave and cream reduce before the cucumber loses its shape.
- •Serve Concombres à la Crème beside roast chicken, veal cutlets, or simply cooked sole. A dry white Burgundy has enough freshness for the cucumber and enough body for the cream.
- •The finished dish waits poorly. After ten minutes the cucumber continues softening and the sauce tightens, so bring it to the table as soon as the Béchamel goes in.
Advance Preparation
- •The Béchamel sauce can be prepared up to 3 days ahead and refrigerated with parchment or reusable wrap pressed directly against its surface. Bring the measured spoonful toward room temperature before loosening it with hot cream.
- •The cucumbers can be turned, parboiled, drained, and chilled up to 4 hours ahead. Spread them uncovered until cold, then cover lightly; blot away any new moisture before cooking them in butter.
- •Do not reduce the cream or add the Béchamel in advance. Those final minutes are the preparation's foundation, and reheating makes the cucumber softer while the sauce grows heavy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 205g)
Calories
310 calories
Total Fat
31 g
Saturated Fat
19 g
Trans Fat
1 g
Unsaturated Fat
10 g
Cholesterol
90 mg
Sodium
300 mg
Total Carbohydrates
5 g
Dietary Fiber
1 g
Sugars
4 g
Protein
3 g
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