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Substitutions · 46 dishes here use it
Water and crunch, which is a real job in a rich dish. Salt it and drain it first if it is going into anything you do not want to go watery in ten minutes.
Everything below is judged against that job. A swap that covers it is a swap; one that only looks similar is not.
8 of the 46 dishes here that mention cucumber list it as optional — 17% of them. In those, the correct substitution is nothing.
Functional substitution system
For cucumber, the page's working definition is: Water and crunch, which is a real job in a rich dish. Salt it and drain it first if it is going into anything you do not want to go watery in ten minutes. The swap cards below are judged against that job rather than visual resemblance.
Job → candidate → side effects → small test → correct.
1 · Job
What is the missing ingredient doing?
2 · Candidate
Choose the shelf item that replaces that function.
3 · Side effects
Check water, fat, salt, acid, sweetness, and texture.
4 · Small test
Change a spoonful or small portion first when possible.
5 · Correct
Taste again and move only the axis that is still wrong.
Instead · 1
one for one
Instead · 2
one for one
Instead · 3
one for one
These dishes list cucumber as optional. They were written to work without it, so no ratio is needed and nothing has to be bought.
These need it and are short enough that nothing hides: 4 required ingredients or fewer. Make the swap a decision rather than a repair.
The company cucumber keeps in this library, counted off required ingredients. A swap that argues with the top two is the wrong swap, whatever a chart says.