CUCUMBERS (VULGAR)

Cucumbers, raw, sliced
Onions, sliced
Vinegar
Salt
Pepper

The ordinary method of cutting cucumbers into slices with raw onions, served up in vinegar, and seasoned with salt and pepper, is most vulgar and most unwholesome. In their season they are cheap and plenty; and as they are crude and unripe they require the stomach of an ostrich to digest them. They cause much sickness in their season, creating choleras, cramps, and dysenteries. If stewed or boiled as directed [in "Cucumbers Stewed"] they would be more nutritious and wholesome.
Cucumbers may also be cut into quarters and boiled like asparagus, and served up with toasted bread and melted butter. This is a most delicate way or preparing cucumbers for the dinner table, and they are a most luscious article, and so rich and savory that a small quantity will suffice.

The Cook's Oracle by William Kitchiner, MD, New York, 1829

Comment: Do you get the feeling that Dr. Kitchiner does not much care for uncooked cucumbers? That is certainly our impression, although we think he goes rather overboard, particularly given his stature as a physician, in blaming them for "choleras, cramps and dysenteries," or at least the first and the last of that list. (In his defense, on the other hand, it should be noted that nobody had any idea what caused cholera or dysenteries in 1829, the notion of "germ theory" lying somewhat in his future.)

In any case we have added the "Vulgar" to the title of this receipt to differentiate it from the "Stewed Cucumbers" since the two methods of dealing with the object are listed in his book together as a single receipt.

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