John Kiely grew some cucumbers and made cucumber sandwiches to have with his afternoon tea, which inspired reader Jack to write in. He had plenty to say about England ("$7 pints of beer, no refills on drinks, shoe leather steaks"), how to add milk to one's tea, and how Kiely should have prepared his sandwiches. Regarding those sandwiches, he said:
Wrong! Slice the cucumber, place in a bowl with salt and a weight on them, drain every 30 minutes about 4 times. You'll be amazed by the amount of water that leaches from the cucumbers. Then and only then, cover with the vinegar in fridge about 15-30 minutes then drain. Pat dry, then make your sandwiches. This process makes the cucumbers very crunchy and crisp. You can use this same process to then add onion and or bell pepper and tomato to the cucumber vinegar mix to make a delicious summer salad. Do not drain vinegar for the salad. Add lots of black pepper also.
Dare we say, that seems like a lot of effort for some cucumber sandwiches? But it sounds delicious.
