Chef Juliette
Butters and Creams
Beurres et crèmes d’hors-d’œuvre prove that cold-table finesse is mostly timing: smooth good dairy, cover it closely, hold it cool, then season only as you dish so every spoonful keeps a clean edge.
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Cucumber Salad
Created by Chef Juliette
Salade de concombres proves that salting is not busywork: press away the cucumber’s excess water, then dress it with oil, vinegar, pepper, and chervil for clean crunch.
Salads
French
Weeknight
Picnic
Make Ahead
20 min
Active Time
0 min cook•45 min total
Yield4 servings
Salade de concombres teaches dégorgement (drawing out moisture with salt), a small technique that opens the door to better raw vegetable salads across the French canon. There is no pan to touch here, but before you lift the knife, know the one true thing: cucumber must lose its excess water before it meets the dressing, or it will dilute its own seasoning.
The source assumes the rhythm of a professional kitchen, not a saucier on staff, a stockpot never off the fire, or a salamander, but spare hands to peel, seed, salt, wait, and wring the cucumbers in linen at precisely the right moment. At home, two large cucumbers, one bowl, and a clean towel do the same work for four. Only the scale and ordinary tools have changed; the peeling, seeding, twenty-five-minute salting, and pressing remain because those steps are the dish, not brigade scaffolding.
When it is right, the cucumber stays crisp beneath the teeth while a bright vinaigrette and the faint anise note of chervil cling to every pale-green slice. Nothing watery, nothing heavy. The step that decides it is the press: remove enough moisture for the dressing to hold, but leave the cucumber crisp.
Salade de concombres belongs to Parisian cuisine bourgeoise and to the disciplined French household table, where watery vegetables were routinely dégorged before service. The method traveled from domestic kitchens into the codified dining-room repertoire without acquiring extra ornament: cucumber, salt, oil, vinegar, pepper, and chervil remained sufficient. The salt is not chiefly there to correct bitterness, as is sometimes claimed; its essential work is controlling water so the vinaigrette stays properly seasoned.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
large field cucumbers
Quantity
2 large (about 3½ cups / 700 g sliced before salting)
peeled, halved, seeded, and very finely sliced
fine table salt
Quantity
2 teaspoons (10 ml / 12 g)
freshly ground black pepper
Quantity
¼ teaspoon (1.25 ml / 0.6 g)
mild sunflower oil
Quantity
3 tablespoons (45 ml / 41 g)
white wine vinegar
Quantity
1 tablespoon (15 ml / 15 g)
fresh chervil
Quantity
2 tablespoons (30 ml / 4 g), loosely packed
finely chopped
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| large field cucumberspeeled, halved, seeded, and very finely sliced | 2 large (about 3½ cups / 700 g sliced before salting) |
| fine table salt | 2 teaspoons (10 ml / 12 g) |
| freshly ground black pepper | ¼ teaspoon (1.25 ml / 0.6 g) |
| mild sunflower oil | 3 tablespoons (45 ml / 41 g) |
| white wine vinegar | 1 tablespoon (15 ml / 15 g) |
| fresh chervilfinely chopped | 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 4 g), loosely packed |
Equipment Needed
- •Large mixing bowl, about 3 quarts or 3 liters
- •Fine-mesh colander
- •Vegetable peeler
- •Sturdy teaspoon for removing seeds
- •Clean smooth-weave kitchen towel
Instructions
- 1
Peel, seed, and slice
Peel the cucumbers completely and trim the ends. Halve them lengthwise, then scrape out every seed and the soft surrounding pulp with a sturdy teaspoon. Set each half cut-side down and slice it crosswise as finely as you comfortably can, about 2 mm thick. Even slices lose their water at the same rate and remain pleasantly crisp; thick and thin pieces mixed together do neither.
Use ordinary field cucumbers here. Their firm flesh suits the source method, while peeling and seeding remove the tougher skin and wet central core. - 2
Salt for twenty-five minutes
Put the sliced cucumber in a large bowl, sprinkle the table salt evenly over it, and toss thoroughly with clean hands. Leave it for exactly twenty-five minutes. The cucumber will soften slightly and release a surprising puddle of clear liquid. Do not shorten this wait: dégorgement is not preparation around the salad, it is the technique that keeps the finished vinaigrette from becoming cucumber water.
- 3
Drain and press dry
Tip the cucumber into a colander and let the loose liquid drain away. Spread it over the center of a clean, smooth-weave kitchen towel, gather the corners, and press firmly over the sink until no more than an occasional drop escapes. Do not grind or twist so fiercely that the slices break. Taste one now; if it is aggressively salty, rinse the cucumber under cold water for only a few seconds, then press it dry again. Ça se rattrape.
A towel scented with detergent or fabric softener will perfume the cucumber. Use a thoroughly rinsed cloth reserved for kitchen work, not a fluffy terry towel that traps the slices. - 4
Dress in order
Wipe the bowl dry and return the pressed cucumber to it. Add the pepper first, then the oil, and toss until every slice wears a fine sheen. Add the vinegar and chopped chervil, then toss again until the oil and vinegar cling as a light vinaigrette with no watery pool beneath. Taste before adding anything else; the salt carried by the cucumber should season the whole salad.
- 5
Serve while crisp
Serve the salade de concombres at once, or cover and chill it for no more than thirty minutes before giving it one final toss. If liquid gathers at the bottom, the cucumber was not pressed quite far enough; drain the bowl, press the slices once more, and toss them again with a teaspoon of oil and a few drops of vinegar. Bring it to the table cold and bright. À table!
Chef Tips
- •Choose heavy, firm cucumbers without soft ends or yellow patches. The source deliberately peels and seeds them, so a mature field cucumber is entirely welcome; careful preparation matters more than buying a fashionable variety.
- •Chervil is not merely decoration. Its tender leaves bring a quiet anise note that parsley cannot reproduce. If parsley is all you have, it will make a pleasant cucumber salad, but the flavor will not be this precise salade de concombres.
- •Keep the three-to-one proportion of oil to vinegar. It gives enough acidity to sharpen the cucumber without allowing the vinegar to dominate chervil’s delicate flavor.
- •For a picnic, carry the pressed cucumber cold and the oil, vinegar, pepper, and chervil in a separate covered jar. Dress the salad shortly before eating so it arrives crisp rather than swimming.
Advance Preparation
- •The cucumbers can be peeled, seeded, salted for twenty-five minutes, and pressed dry up to 6 hours ahead. Refrigerate them in a covered container with a dry towel underneath to catch any remaining moisture.
- •Chop the chervil and add the oil and vinegar shortly before serving. Once dressed, the salad is best within 30 minutes, though leftovers remain safe when covered and chilled until the following day.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 160g)
Calories
125 calories
Total Fat
10 g
Saturated Fat
1 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
9 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
750 mg
Total Carbohydrates
6 g
Dietary Fiber
1 g
Sugars
2 g
Protein
1 g
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