My Easy Retro Tip for Better Cucumber Salad

Cucumber has been the vegetable MVP for parents for centuries. Even the most picky eaters I know from whom you like to chew on a refreshing cucumber disc.

I would not consider myself picky, but as a child my appreciation for fresh vegetables was a bit … missing. My green vegetables of choice? Sliced ​​cucumbers drizzled with Kens Italian dressing, which is also the best cucumber salad that they can do with two ingredients.

When I was small, I remember lively that my mother did it for me as a snack after school. At that time, chic or English cucumbers were not available to us. Instead, it was only the basic cut. My mother always made her something special by using a fork to achieve the skin, which made her look a little like flowers.

Not just for show

As a child, I thought that this was just a funny and visually appealing way of serving cucumbers. Today I learned as a recipe developer that this is also a superior cucumber salad. By using a fork to cut grooves on the surface of the cucumber, you can help the dressing into the meat And Creating a structured surface on which all the quality can collect.

I particularly love this tip when I make an Asian cucumber salad with chili crisp. The grooves act like small magnets for crispy garlic and pepper flakes to ensure that everyone is a bite full of taste and texture.

My tips for the production of cucumber flowers

This is a decorative cut that does not require knife skills at the cooking level, but there are some tricks to ensure that you achieve the best possible result.

First use an English cucumber: the skin is a little thinner, which makes it easier to shape the ridge and you are really the perfect size for this hack. English cucumbers are substantial enough that they do not become moist when they sit in the dressing, but thin enough that the flavors can penetrate the products.

I like to use a large fork and first start a single pass, which gently counts the tines into the meat. After the first pass, I make another in the grooves already formed; This ensures that the ridges are deep enough to achieve an influence. I repeat this process around the cucumber and then cut it thinly into slices to reveal delightful, delicate, flower -shaped cucumber slices.

My mother’s cucumber rope is an additional step, but it only takes about a minute. And if you want to go your standard cucumber salad one step further, soak the panes in ice water for about 30 minutes to get additional crispness. (Learn everything about this trick that I learned from my grandmother.)