Chef Joost
Bietensalade (Dutch Beetroot Salad)
Cold beetroot, tart apple, walnuts, and a crumble of salty cheese: the Dutch buffet dish that proves winter storage food can arrive wearing its brightest coat.
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Ouderwetse Komkommersalade
Created by
The old Dutch cucumber salad is a lesson in restraint: salt first, press gently, then vinegar and sugar turn one cheap cucumber into the cool, sharp side a heavy plate needs.
Salads
Dutch
Weeknight
BBQ
Budget Friendly
15 min
Active Time
0 min cook•45 min total
Yield4 servings
In my grandmother's second notebook, komkommersalade appears in the smallest handwriting, which tells you nearly everything. The grand dishes got paragraphs. The salad got a sentence, because every Dutch kitchen knew the rest: slice the cucumber thin, salt it, press out its water, dress it zoetzuur, sweet-sour, and put it beside whatever threatened to be too heavy.
But let me tell you a secret. This is not a decorative salad. It is kitchen engineering in a country that has always understood dampness, weight, and appetite. Boiled potatoes, fried fish, a plate from the barbecue, gehaktballen, meatballs, with gravy: all of them need something cool and sharp at the edge. The cucumber brings water, the salt takes too much of it away, and the vinegar gives the plate a clean little slap. For obvious reasons, the Dutch made this a virtue.
The name already tells you less than one hopes. Komkommer is simply the Dutch descendant of older European cucumber words, tied back through French forms to Latin cucumis. No dramatic cargo manifest here, no exile's pastry name, no bishop hiding in a biscuit mold. The story is quieter and more useful: greenhouse gardens, summer tables, vinegar in the cupboard, and the old habit of making one modest vegetable behave properly.
Hou het altijd simpel, always keep it simple. Use a fresh firm cucumber, salt it long enough to bend but not collapse, then dress it with restraint. The salad should taste fris, fresh and bright, not sugary, not sour enough to punish the tongue. It belongs in a shallow bowl on the table, already weeping a little, because that is what cucumbers do. We forgive them. We are not monsters.
Dutch komkommersalade belongs to the household tradition of zoetzuur, sweet-sour vinegar dressings used for cucumbers, onions, beets, and pickles in nineteenth- and twentieth-century domestic cookbooks. The cucumber became an everyday Dutch ingredient as greenhouse horticulture expanded in the Westland and around Aalsmeer, making a once seasonal summer vegetable available more reliably. Its role at the table is practical: a cool acid side that cuts rich meat, fried fish, potatoes, and barbecue plates without needing costly ingredients.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
large cucumber
Quantity
1
very thinly sliced
small onion or shallots
Quantity
1 small onion or 2 shallots
very thinly sliced
fine sea salt
Quantity
1 teaspoon
white wine vinegar or mild natural vinegar
Quantity
3 tablespoons
sugar
Quantity
1 tablespoon
cold water
Quantity
2 tablespoons
freshly ground white pepper
Quantity
1/4 teaspoon
fresh dill or parsley (optional)
Quantity
1 tablespoon
finely chopped
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| large cucumbervery thinly sliced | 1 |
| small onion or shallotsvery thinly sliced | 1 small onion or 2 shallots |
| fine sea salt | 1 teaspoon |
| white wine vinegar or mild natural vinegar | 3 tablespoons |
| sugar | 1 tablespoon |
| cold water | 2 tablespoons |
| freshly ground white pepper | 1/4 teaspoon |
| fresh dill or parsley (optional)finely chopped | 1 tablespoon |
Equipment Needed
- •Mandoline or very sharp knife
- •Colander
- •Clean tea towel
Instructions
- 1
Slice thinly
Slice the cucumber as thinly as you can manage, ideally with a mandoline or the patient side of a sharp knife. Leave the peel on if it is tender; peel it in stripes if the skin is thick or bitter. Slice the onion just as thin, because a thick onion ring in this salad behaves like a guest who talks over everyone.
- 2
Salt and rest
Put the cucumber and onion in a colander, sprinkle with the salt, and toss gently with your hands. Let it stand for 25 to 30 minutes over a bowl. The salt draws out excess water, so the dressing clings instead of becoming cucumber soup by accident.
Do not skip the salting. Simple is not the same as skipped; this is the one step that keeps the salad crisp under your teeth instead of watery on the plate. - 3
Press dry
Press the cucumber and onion gently between your hands or in a clean tea towel to remove the water they have given up. Do not wring them like laundry. You want them supple and cool, not bruised into surrender.
- 4
Make zoetzuur
In a serving bowl, stir the vinegar, sugar, cold water, and white pepper until the sugar dissolves. Taste it before the cucumber goes in. It should be bright first, sweet second, with enough water to soften the vinegar's bite.
- 5
Dress and chill
Fold the pressed cucumber and onion through the dressing, add dill or parsley if using, and let the salad chill for at least 15 minutes before serving. The slices should gleam in the bowl and bend easily, with a little sweet-sour dressing pooling at the bottom. Pass it cold, especially beside anything grilled, fried, or rich.
Chef Tips
- •Use a firm cucumber with tight skin and no soft ends. A tired cucumber gives you tired salad, and vinegar cannot revive what the market already lost.
- •A mandoline gives the proper old-fashioned thinness, but your knife is enough if you take your time. The salad wants even slices more than it wants perfect ones.
- •For a softer family-table version, use mild natural vinegar. For a sharper barbecue version, use white wine vinegar and add a little extra onion.
- •Dill is lovely, parsley is common, and both are optional. The true garnish here is coldness and restraint.
- •Serve within a few hours. By the next day it is still edible, but the cucumber has given too much of itself to the dressing.
Advance Preparation
- •Slice, salt, and press the cucumber up to 4 hours ahead, then keep it covered in the refrigerator before dressing.
- •The finished salad can rest chilled for 2 to 3 hours before serving; stir once before bringing it to the table.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 95g)
Calories
30 calories
Total Fat
0 g
Saturated Fat
0 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
0 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
320 mg
Total Carbohydrates
7 g
Dietary Fiber
1 g
Sugars
5 g
Protein
1 g
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