On the first truly hot day of the year, I went out and purchased a carton of gazpacho from warmer climates; when it’s so hot that your sneakers stick to the pavement, even I lose my appetite for anything other than cold liquids.
And nothing is more refreshing than cucumber, a vegetable that is composed of 96 percent water and 100 percent delicious, green coolness. Here is my cucumber soup recipe, which is similar to those of the Iranian abdoogh khiar, the Indian kheere ka shorba, and the Polish chodnik ogórkowy, among others.
The vegetable
It’s time to consider cucumber, which is typically chopped and thrown into a salad as an afterthought, as more than just a crunchy garnish. Most soup recipes call for it to be peeled before use (and if you’re planning to serve it in elegant little cups, this may be the way to go), but I enjoy the flavor of the paper-thin coating on the average British cucumber, so I’m going to leave it on. However, I would remove the seeds because they have little flavor and could make the soup too watery. Note: If the cucumbers have thicker skins, peel them; it will only take a minute.)
In his book Today’s Special, chef Anthony Demetre urges readers to resist the temptation to skip “the salting and disgorging process”:
“Cucumber juices may be less bitter than they once were, but they are still relatively indigestible.” Both he and Simon Hopkinson sprinkle the chopped pieces with salt and allow this to draw out the juices from the flesh, which leads me down an interesting rabbit hole to the conclusion that “burpless cucumbers” (as Jane Grigson notes, are “coyly known”) are a relatively new phenomenon in the very long history of cucumber appreciation.
They now seem to be the only game in town in the United Kingdom (unless you’re lucky enough to find heritage varieties, as chef and food writer Thom Eagle informs me), and salting them risks making the finished product too salty for some palates, so I’m going to skip this step; however, if you’re using homegrown or otherwise “windier” fruits, as Grigson also charmingly refers to them, you may wish to salt them.
Simply sprinkle them with a small amount of salt and allow them to drain in a colander for about 30 minutes before proceeding with the recipe.
Chef Tom Kerridge lightly sautés the cucumber, making his recipe a compromise between the raw versions of Demetre, Hopkinson, and others and the cooked sort featured in Margaret Costa’s Four Seasons Cookbook and Clarissa Dickson Wright’s Comfort Food, which seem to link back to the hot cucumber soups of Eliza Acton and her contemporaries.
Although I can’t discern a significant difference in flavor, aside from the fact that the cucumbers absorb the flavor of the oil or butter they’ve been cooked in, and that the softened cucumbers are certainly easier to puree, I hesitate to recommend turning on the stove unnecessarily in the height of summer, not least because it will take longer for the soup to chill to serving temperature.
The liquid
Some may find it counterintuitive to remove the seeds because they are too watery, given that the soup needs to be diluted. However, Kerridge includes sparkling water in the version in his book Best Ever Dishes, explaining that it helps make the dish “really light and airy.”
As with the other recipes I try, however, he also includes Greek yogurt, a classic complement to cucumber. In 1973, the New York Times published the recipe of the mysterious “Tom,” who combines it with sour cream.
Demetre uses milk and creme fraiche, whereas Jonathan Meades calls for iced water and caillé, which he describes in The Plagiarist in the Kitchen as “fermented and very light, of Basque origin, on the opposite end of the spectrum from Greek yogurt,” although he concedes that sheep or goat yogurt can be substituted. Henrietta Clancy uses natural yogurt in her book Just Soup, whereas Paul Gayler uses Greek yogurt and cucumber water in his collection Great Homemade Soups.
Hopkinson’s soup has the “most fragrant combination of flavors” because he combines yogurt and single cream with chicken stock (preferred from a cube) and tomato juice. Dickson Wright uses single cream and chicken stock that has been thickened with a roux, while Costa uses chicken stock and cream that has been thickened with both flour and egg yolk.
As delicious as Costa’s soup is, it tastes more like a rich, chilled chicken soup than anything from the garden, whereas Hopkinson’s has a distinctively sophisticated complexity that, while enjoyable to consume, does not scream cucumber to my panel of tasters.
We all prefer the simpler cucumber and dairy soups, deciding that the most refreshing combination is the lightness of yogurt (I prefer the goat variety from Meades) with the tartness of creme fraiche or soured cream. If you prefer a lighter sauce, you can replace the creme fraiche with cold water to achieve a pourable consistency; however, I would recommend serving smaller portions.
Flavorings
As with so many other recipes, alliums deserve a mention here, but not in the form of Kerridge’s onion or Costa’s shallots, both of which require cooking, but rather garlic, which can be grated, chopped, and stirred into the dish.
If you want a tzatziki-like flavor, feel free to add more garlic than in the recipe below, but keep in mind that a little garlic can easily overpower a lot of cucumbers. Kerridge also adds a mild green chili, which I consider a stroke of genius: although it contributes little heat, especially given the cooling effects of both the dairy and the cucumber, its herbaceous greenness complements the cucumber’s similar flavors brilliantly.
Also popular are herbs, especially mint, chives, and dill. I’ve chosen dill because it reminds me of pickled cucumbers, but if you’re not a fan of its anise flavor, feel free to substitute your preferred soft herb. The tang of the yogurt should eliminate the need for citrus in the recipes of Kerridge, Costa, and Dickson Wright, but try it and see – brands and tastebuds vary.
The condiment
Though I’ve lazily stuck with diced cucumber and chopped herbs, it’s simple to make this soup more substantial by topping it with smoked salmon curls, as Demetre suggests, and cooked prawns, as in Hopkinson’s recipe (an excellent pairing with sweet, juicy North Sea numbers), or chopped walnuts to keep it vegetarian. You could finish the soup with a pinch of cayenne pepper or more chopped chili, or, if you want to live life to the fullest, you could serve it with “a big splash of frozen vodka.” If it’s good enough for Tom Kerridge, then…
Delicious cucumber soup
Prep 10 min
Non-cook Serves 4
2½ large cucumbers
1 small clove of garlic, peeled and crushed
1 green pepper, trimmed, deseeded, and coarsely chopped
300ml of plain, whole-milk yogurt (I prefer goats)
100ml of creme fraiche or sour cream with full fat
1 bunch of dill, mint, or chives
Salt
Halve the cucumbers along their length…
…then remove and discard the moist seeds.
Two of the cucumbers should be roughly chopped and blended with the garlic and chili.
Blend until relatively smooth the yogurt, creme fraiche, or soured cream.
Add the majority, but not all, of the chopped leaves of your chosen herb to the blender along with a pinch of salt. Repeat blending, then taste and adjust seasonings as needed.
If time permits, chill the soup now.
Meanwhile, finely dice the remaining cucumber. The soup is served in bowls garnished with cucumber slices and the remaining herbs.
