Cucumber Salad
There are a million variations for this salad. This is the version my mother always made with fresh garden tomatoes and cucumbers. I like it even better the next day.
There are a million variations for this salad. This is the version my mother always made with fresh garden tomatoes and cucumbers. I like it even better the next day.
- Carbohydrate 8.55177440514538 g
- Cholesterol 3.822 mg
- Fat 5.07989639878983 g
- Fiber 0.97888789183568 g
- Protein 1.07320834951243 g
- Saturated Fat 0.762978200938098 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (136g)
- Sodium 108.275641554936 mg
- Sugar 7.5728865133097 g
- Trans Fat 0.270609067425562 g
- Calories 80 calories
Step-by-step
- Place the cucumber slices in a colander. Sprinkle the slices with ½ teaspoon of kosher salt; toss to combine. Place the onion slices in a medium bowl. Add the apple cider vinegar to the onions; toss to coat. Let the cucumbers and the onions sit for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, squeeze the cucumbers to remove any excess moisture. Place the cucumbers in the bowl with the onions.
- Add the tomato, mayonnaise, and fresh herbs to the bowl with the onion/cuke mixture. Stir to combine, adding more mayonnaise if necessary. Refrigerate the salad for at least one hour before serving. Taste for seasoning, adding more salt and a lot of freshly ground black pepper.
Salt does the heaviest labor in this bowl by initiating a targeted osmotic process that draws surplus water out of cellular walls before the dressing ever touches them. When sliced cucumbers sit under a layer of kosher salt for thirty minutes, internal fluids migrate outward, concentrating the remaining vegetable sugars while preventing the watery release from diluting your mayonnaise binder. Simultaneously, soaking thin onion slices in apple cider vinegar achieves a crucial enzymatic softening of harsh sulfur compounds, replacing sharp pungency with a bright, mellow tang.
- Weigh down your colander containing the salted cucumber slices with a small plate to maximize moisture expulsion before mixing.
- Macerate the onions in the apple cider vinegar at room temperature for the full thirty minutes so the acetic acid breaks down their cellular structure.
- Chill the final combined mixture for a minimum of sixty minutes at or below 40 degrees Fahrenheit to allow the flavors to marry thoroughly.
Proper sequencing transforms raw produce into a cohesive, well-dressed side dish with an ideal moisture balance. Controlled chilling yields a crisp texture that holds up admirably over multiple days in storage.
