Amazing teacher props!
The students were very pleased with the cucumber sandwiches. They were surprised and telling their friends about it, I heard within a couple of hours (one student’s friend was in the cucumber course, while the other’s in my other course, and she jokingly resented in office hours my course favoritism in not bringing sandwiches to own her class with me; that bunch wasn’t reading Wilde.)
I assign students to do one 5-minute presentation each during the term, and for this session, my most oddball assignment was for a student to tell the class about Victorian cucumber sandwiches. I learned that cucumbers originated in India–so, like tea, they are an artifact of British imperialism–and they were prickly and long regarded as poisonous until some variety was observed a couple hundred years ago being eaten by animals without harm, so people started cultivating the variety into what we have today. Then there’s all the aristocratic stuff about being well-off enough not to care that they are so unfilling. Worth the getting up early…
Thanks for all the tips and thoughts!
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Sound like you made it the same morning. Great to hear the success.
When you compared to the other years, how did you like yours this year?
I used my V-slicer for the cukes, but had it on the thicker setting (it has a thinner and thicker alternative), and that setting turned out to be thicker than desirable (maybe 1/8’ inch). So the cukes didn’t bind with the butter and bread optimally, because they lacked flexibility. That said, there were no complaints, and I do think the light dusting of both black and white pepper in addition to some salt was effective–also getting the best possible butter. Next time, I’ll shave the cukes much thinner.
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I believe that they were eaten in England much earlier than the British Raj period. 16th Century or so 
I’d like to know. The student’s source material seemed at least semi-credible, but it was internet-based, and anything can go up there. The British started serious commerce in India around 1600 (Bombay). So maybe cucumbers had already become an item around then.
p.s., I did think during the presentation that 200 years was a pretty short time span to alter a varietal significantly, but I’m no scientist.
Now I wonder if there are poison cukes.
That would be a bummer!
All the sources I can find agree that the 16th Century was when cultivation in England was mentioned in Texts.
Ok, my tongue is somewhat in my cheek here, but putting a plain vegetable that is mainly water and is valued more for crunch and texture than taste + plain white bread… It’s the very recipe for bland on bland. I don’t get cucumber sandwiches.
You asked for simplicity and traditional, but the only time I’ve been surprised by cucumber when it’s not dressed up with a strong dressing is when I was in Tokyo and was served a sliced cucumber with a tiny sprinkle of msg on top. It was a road side oden hawker and definitely the smaller Taiwanese/Persian like variety. I have to admit it was pretty good.
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Bland on bland was probably the very best Bob Dill the singing pickle album.
LOL, I guess I missed that one.
I thought this was a nice euphemism on the site referenced above about types of cukes. As I was reading it, I could only think “Right on,…NON-EXISTENT flavor.”
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So if that is the case what are the “wonders” it works in Cocktails. Conflicted?
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Too funny - LMAO 
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