I prefer Jewish rye bread with homemade mayo, sliced European cukes, Murray River salt and freshly ground white pepper. That's all. (but I do also like good canned tuna in there, too ;) )
Goodness, I haven't had a cucumber sandwich in ages. My grandmother always made hers with thickly sliced cucs, mayo and lots of salt and pepper on wheat or pumpernickel. A bit of dill is always welcome. Yum!
Super thin cucumber ribbons that have been lightly salted so they wilt a bit and the bread spread with a layer of cream cheese that has finely chopped green olive and dill mixed through it and spread on both pieces of bread. Bread should be white or wholemeal, not grainy bread and no crusts....
I think this was definitely an NYC/American twist on the English version, but we sometimes had a thin spread of cream cheese instead of butter growing up!
If you want to modify/update the traditional cucumber tea sandwich, I think this would be fun:
See my post above. Substitute the unsalted butter mentioned this recipe for pimento cheese. Just make the first half of recipe for the cheese - ignore the second part.
Spread both sides of the crustless, white bread with a thin layer of the pimento cheese instead of butter. You might \ need to use a double layer of cucumbers if you sliced them very thin using a mandoline.
This is such a great sandwich.... I ate these growing up in England. The main and most important thing is to use the RIGHT cucumber.... This wold be the hot house cucumber/ English cucumber. It has a thin skin and tiny seeds. I little more expensive then the standard thick waxy cucs but so wort it and readily avail. Good fresh white bread , mayo salt and pepper....... And the crust cut off of course!
They are indeed great. Especially with tea. Learned them from a grandmother who was a cook for a wealthy family. They did not use mayonnaise though, only butter.
Slice the crusts off thin white sandwich bread (Pepperidge Farm white in the USA would work, or a similar bread).
Use a vegetable peeler or paring knife to peel the skin off a cucumber.
Cut the cucumber in half vertically, top to tail, not in half at its waist.
Holding one of the halved cucumbers, run the tip of a spoon down vertically down its center, to remove seeds. Don’t press too hard – you just want to remove the seeds. Discard seeds. Do the same with the remaining half.
Next, slice the cucumber. Turn over the cucumber so that the hollowed, seedless center faces your cutting board. Slice cucumber into extremely thin half-moons. Traditionally, the cucumber slices should be thin enough “to read a newspaper through.” Use a mandolin if you have one.
Put sliced cucumber moons into a colander. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and toss gently with your hands. Set the colander aside on a dishtowel or paper towels to drain.
Meanwhile, your unsalted butter needs to be at room temp so it will spread easily on the bread.
Butter all the top and bottom pieces of bread with unsalted butter, thinly and all the way to the edge of each piece of bread. The butter does not need to be a thick spread: it just provides a waterproof layer between the cucumber juice and the bread.
Layer cucumber slices evenly onto a “bottom” slice of buttered bread. Sprinkle with a tiny bit of salt and pepper. Add a “top” slice of buttered bread. Cut the sandwich into a triangle.
You'll probably want to use two to three layers of tissue-thin cucumber slices. But the sandwich should never be so thick as to show a dense layer of cucumber between two slices of bread. From the side, it should look like two slices of bread with a little something in there.
My mother as a child ate cucumber sandwiches with fresh dill and cream cheese on pumpernickel. The cucumbers were sliced thin and always salted to release excess liquid. If serving for tea time or a luncheon make them small and cut off the crusts with any bread and as Meaghan's suggestions are all tasty, pick your favorite combo. My favorite is butter, cucumbers and paper-thin radishes, salted on white bread - crusts removed.
Same. A thin spread of butter or cream cheese, thinly sliced English cucumbers and salt. White Pullman loaf of pumpernickel. Cut the crusts off if we're talking real English tea time... ;)
A few easy options: cucumber + quality butter + fancy finishing salt; cucumber + mayo/sour cream/yogurt + a dab of wasabi paste; simply marinated cucumber (with dill? Ginger? Garlic and pepper? Up to you) + mayo or mustard or butter, whatever works with marinade. And don't ignore the bread - white is the default, but slices of rye or a good French baguette are good too.
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See my post above. Substitute the unsalted butter mentioned this recipe for pimento cheese. Just make the first half of recipe for the cheese - ignore the second part.
https://food52.com/recipes/24195-parker-otis-pimento-cheese-grilled-sandwiches-with-bacon-tomato
Spread both sides of the crustless, white bread with a thin layer of the pimento cheese instead of butter. You might \ need to use a double layer of cucumbers if you sliced them very thin using a mandoline.
Cut them into triangles and serve.
Slice the crusts off thin white sandwich bread (Pepperidge Farm white in the USA would work, or a similar bread).
Use a vegetable peeler or paring knife to peel the skin off a cucumber.
Cut the cucumber in half vertically, top to tail, not in half at its waist.
Holding one of the halved cucumbers, run the tip of a spoon down vertically down its center, to remove seeds. Don’t press too hard – you just want to remove the seeds. Discard seeds. Do the same with the remaining half.
Next, slice the cucumber. Turn over the cucumber so that the hollowed, seedless center faces your cutting board. Slice cucumber into extremely thin half-moons. Traditionally, the cucumber slices should be thin enough “to read a newspaper through.” Use a mandolin if you have one.
Put sliced cucumber moons into a colander. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and toss gently with your hands. Set the colander aside on a dishtowel or paper towels to drain.
Meanwhile, your unsalted butter needs to be at room temp so it will spread easily on the bread.
Butter all the top and bottom pieces of bread with unsalted butter, thinly and all the way to the edge of each piece of bread. The butter does not need to be a thick spread: it just provides a waterproof layer between the cucumber juice and the bread.
Layer cucumber slices evenly onto a “bottom” slice of buttered bread. Sprinkle with a tiny bit of salt and pepper. Add a “top” slice of buttered bread. Cut the sandwich into a triangle.
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