Food snobs hate this American classic – it is the reason why they are wrong

I always liked it Bread and cucumbersBut for a while I felt that I shouldn’t. They were generally looked down in the restaurant kitchens, in which I cooked from several of my food-sized friends and made fun of, and there are more than a few Reddit threads that are devoted to people who hate themselves. They often become bloody, too yellow and as a child’s caricature of a “real” cucumber.

In the middle of this lot of bread and butter vitriol I kept my mouth. But there was always a glass of them in my fridge. Now I say it loudly: bread and cucumbers are delicious and criminal underestimated.

What are bread and butter cucumbers?

When I discreetly hid glasses from them in my fridge, I knew that bread and cucumbers had more in progress than people gave them recognition. You are not only cute. They are the definition of a pleasantly nuanced bite: sweet, salty and sparkling at once.

Bread and butter cucumbers are usually made from cut cucumbers, vinegar, sugar and a mixture of spices such as mustard seeds, celery seeds and turmeric – sometimes, sometimes onions and garlic. The result is a sweet taste that is cute, but not siru -partely, sour but not hard.

This characteristic sweet and sour profile is a combination that we usually celebrate quickly. We love it in Italian bittersweetIn the sharp brightness of A Stomach-in the sticky sauce that holds on Sweet and sour huhn. So why not here? Maybe it’s time for us to reset the conversation. And what better moment than summer in the top -burger season when the cucumbers are most important.

The global attraction of sweet cucumbers

Sweet cucumbers are also not unique in the USA. Germany’s Spreewäder cucumber – a cucumber from Brandenburg inserted by the EU under a protected geographical statement (PGI) – are loved and often served next to cheese, colds or coarse ry bread. They were my first introduction to this cucumber category.

One summer when my father taught in Germany for a few months, he brought a large glass home so that we could try it. We loved her so much that we ended them in days and sometimes ate them directly from the glass without the escorts being necessary.

When we picked up a second glass, my mother, father and sister had her hands full of shopping bags. I wanted to feel helpful – and maybe just a little powerful – I grabbed one of the pockets. It was the one with the valued cucumber. I didn’t make it far. The bag slipped, the glass hit the floor and shattered. Spread the cucumber juice and pieces of glass across the sidewalk. We don’t have a snack on our new favorite that evening. The glass broke, but my love for sweet and acid cucumber was sealed.

So what is all the hatred about?

Why are bread and butter cucumbers so split? It is not just the sweetness – although this is usually the first complaint. Just look at sweet cucumber. They are also sugar, but because they are completely calm and keep their strength, they don’t catch near as much flak. The other problem for bread and butter cucumber skeptics is the texture. Because they are cut into slices before soaking, bread and cucumbers suck faster, which makes their texture softer. For those who expect their cucumbers to have a sharp snapshot, this tenderness can create sensory dissonance.

The color doesn’t help either. This electrical yellow-merchant in the neon area can be repulsive for some (including me), especially if it comes from artificial dyes. But not all bread and butter cucumbers shine yellow. Many brands, especially those sold at peasant markets, rely on turmeric for this warm, earthy golden color.

How to use bread and butter cucumbers

And yet bread and butter cucumbers for all the strong opinions are not exactly a niche product. They line grocery shelves, appear on almost every farmers’ market and end up on burgers with guests and gastropubs. They endured it because they offer something that others do not offer: a sweet and sour taste that plays beautifully with fat, heat and smoke.

Yes, they are made for burgers – affordable from the grill, seepage with melted American cheese and embedded in a soft, mushy roll. This brightness and sweetness plays the meat of the pate and the creaminess of the cheese and gives everyone a bit enough contrast to keep it exciting. But their talents go far beyond the pastlet.

Here are some of my favorite methods to use them:

• Put them in a sharp Cheddar cheese -sandwich on rye. The rich, hearty nutkority of the aged cheese, the slight bitterness of the bread and the sweet, salty, salty, uumami, sweet and sour bite.
• Hack in Egg salad or Tuna salad. A few chopped cucumbers give a welcome pop full of sweetness and acidity that lowers the wealth of mayonnaise in these salads.
• Use the election fluid in a marinade or a vinaigrette. This remaining brine is liquid gold. Use it to spark chicken wings before roasting or roasting salroses or in a dressing for a green tomato salad – the mild sweetness of the cucumbers compensates for the pies of the tomatoes.

Flash in A DIP sauce. A quick mix of chopped cucumber, Mayo, mustard and hot sauce makes a powerful spread for Fried chicken -sandwiches Or a dip for French fries.

The last case for bread and butter cucumbers

Bread and butter cucumbers cannot win any cucumber purist, and that’s okay. But judged according to their own conditions – not compared to kosher dills or gherkins – they are deeply satisfactory and very versatile. Like Bologna, Spam and Sardines in front of them, they may be a quiet renaissance.