When the sun is high and the days are hot, cucumbers are a crisp, juicy, refreshing
addition to our plates. And fun fact according to food distributor PreGel: cucumbers are fruits,
and both cucumbers and melons are members of the cucurbitaceae , or gourd family.
But like many gourds, cucumbers can be a bit flavorless on their own. But that
doesn't mean you should use them on your eyes only. And while their presence is demanded in
any self-respecting salad, the question in the backs of many home cooks' minds may as well be,
"What are we going to do about the cucumbers then?"
Cooking sites like Food & Wine may have found the answer by taking cues from Momofuku executive chef
Joshua Pinsky on how to tame wayward vegetables. Pinsky explained:
"Cucumbers are friendly, crisp, and sweet. There's always been a place
for them at Momofuku, whether on a pork bun or with Noodle Bar's spicy cucumber salad."
But even Pinsky admits cucumbers are pretty boring, and don't add a lot of flavor to any dish
they're added to. His solution: salt them until they're ready to play ball with other ingredients.
New York Times food guru Mark Bittman prepares the cucumbers for his salad with scallops
by peeling the cucumbers if their skins have been waxed, cutting them in half,
scooping out the seeds, salting them, and then leaving them to drain for about half an hour.
If you're not sure if your cucumber is waxed or not,
Leaf.tv notes you can tell when a cucumber has been coated with edible wax because
it will have a high-glossy sheen. Whereas unwaxed cucumbers will look a dull green.
Waxing is meant to keep the cucumber from drying out from the time it is picked
to the time it reaches your chopping board.
Once the cucumber has given up some of its liquid, Bittman recommends rinsing it and
draining it one more time before further dividing the cucumber into quarter-inch thick slices.
"No! No!"
It's at this stage that Bittman and Pinsky say the cucumbers are ready to play the starring
or supporting role in any salad, without compromising flavor by weeping into the dressing.
Pinsky is big on his restaurant's Cucumber and Oregano Salad;
Slate swears that pre-salting cucumbers turns them into the perfect canvas for
a refreshing tzatziki. No matter what you decide to use them on,
we're betting that salting cucumbers means they won't turn your salad into a swimming pool.
Salting is an especially important step if you're preparing your cucumbers so they go
into a creamy salad like the Greek yogurt-based tzatziki. Slate also suggests starting that
particular dish with a firm, unwaxed cucumber. But if your supermarket doesn't offer a choice,
you can get rid of the wax by using a fruit and vegetable wash to scrub the layer off.
You can then slice it in half lengthwise.
It is also best to seed the cucumber if you plan to have it sit around for a while, since the
seeds are liable to make the gourd soggy. Once the cucumbers have been prepped for your salad,
lay slices in a strainer or colander and throw in a huge pinch of salt,
and leave it to sit — in this instance, for around 20 minutes.
There is no need to worry about how much salt to use because most of it will drain
away as the cucumber gives up its liquid.
If you don't want to go through the whole process of halving and de-seeding the cucumber,
it's perfectly acceptable for you to slice them across so you get discs instead of spears.
Culinary Hill chef Meggan Hill says salting these cucumber rounds means layering slices
at the bottom of your colander, sprinkling about a quarter teaspoon of salt on them,
and then adding another layer of cucumber over the first layer before adding more salt.
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