There were no cucumbers to be had at the Covent Garden vegetable market that morning, not even for ready money!

Cucumber Sandwiches - they seems to be quintessentially British. The main staple (ha ha) of afternoon teas and delicate luncheons. I say ha ha because they are nutritionally pretty useless, and therefore only the upper classes could afford to eat something that is essentially water.

But who know there is actually a recipe for them?


Here it is:

CUCUMBER SANDWICHES.

INGREDIENTS. - 1 large cucumber
creamed butter
white or brown bread
salad-oil
lemon-juice or vinegar
salt and pepper

METHOD. - Peel the cucumber, slice it thinly, season liberally with salt, drain on a hair sieve for about 1 hour, and dry thoroughly.
Now put it into a basin and sprinkle with pepper, salad-oil, lemon-juice or vinegar, liberally or otherwise according to taste.
Have ready some thin slices of bread and butter, stamp out some rounds of suitable size, place slices of cucumber between 2 rounds of bread and press parts well together.
Dish lightly overlapping each other in a circle on a folded napkin, and serve garnished with parsley.