I have to confess that I faced this week's French Fridays with Dorie recipe with trepidation. Crunchy ginger-pickled cucumbers is something that, left to my own devices, I would never have made. Cucumber doesn't rank up there as one of my favourite vegetables in the first place - pickling them sounded even worse. However, it was a popular selection with the punters, so crunchy ginger-pickled cucumbers it is as first cab off the rank for FFwD for July.
"Cucumbers" is a misnomer, as the recipe only calls for one cucumber, cut into pieces. I used a seeded cucumber, so I had to scoop out the seeds. It seemed that half the cucumber was gone after that.
Instead of red pepper flakes, I chopped up a half a dried chilli, figuring that the flavour is there for a reason. Otherwise, I made the recipe as directed, even chilling the cucumbers overnight.
I served these cucumbers with a couple of other Dorie recipes for the month, the salmon and the barley pilaf, as it is definitely not picnic weather here, so I could not take up Dorie's suggestion of taking the salad to a picnic.
Verdict - these cucumbers tasted fine, but were nothing special. They tasted best after a couple of days, even though Dorie says to eat them within a day for crispiness. The cucumber was still pretty crisp at the three day mark (when I finished off the last of mine). If you are keen to eat cucumber salad, this may be for you, but it won't be appearing again at my place.
To see what the other FFwD members thought, visit the LYL section of the FFwD website.
15 comments:
I was surprised how well these went over in our house. I like that you left some of the bright green on to add color!
I must confess, I share your skepticism about these! Primarily because I don't like cucumber, at all, which I think would make it hard. I am interested by the pickling notion though and it's reminded me I intend to try that with non-cucumber vegetables at some point.
Doesn't sound like a duckie meal.
Your cucumbers are fantastically green!
What a shame they were just ok, I've always liked better plain cucumbers with just a little salt!!
I used to hate cucumbers but now I enjoy them, though find them odd at times - not sure a cucumber salad is for me but yours looks so wonderfully green that I might just enjoy it
I'm sorry you didn't love this recipe;-(
I love cucumbers so this dish was a winner for me!
Maybe try them again in your Summer;-)
Well they certainly look beautiful...that green is gorgeous. I love cucumbers, I love anything pickled, and I love the idea of making this...going to get my cookbook out now and give it a whirl...so aren't you happy that you inspired someone to give it a go? ;-)
We were surprised at how spicy ours got after a day, and especially after two days in the fridge. I added only a very small pinch of peppers so I think it was the ginger which really gave it a bite. And while I thought they were fine, I'm generally with you on the cucumbers front. There are just so many more interesting vegetables out there.
These pickles weren't quite like kimchi, but made for a nice garnish for Asian food! Thanks for sharing your post.
I actually enjoyed them…not so much, my husband! Our weather is extremely hot, these were a good side with hamburgers! Yours do look very good…too bad they were just ok!
Much as I love cucumbers, I prefer them plain or doused in salad dressing. These were fine, but like, you, I won't make them again~
Sorry you didn't love them but at least they were easy to make!
My mum has a cucumber pickle recipe that I'm really quite addicted to. I wonder if you would like that recipe a bit better? :)
I really enjoyed these. I loved the mix of spicy with cold and crunchy. I also found that they got spicier on the second day.
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