I love cucumbers in just about any form. I love pickles (check out my recipe for Bread and Butter Pickles on this site), salads featuring cucumbers (as in Japanese Cucumber Salad – Sunomono and Cucumber and Red Onion Salad, also on this site) and now this amazing salad I worked up for our most recent JazzVox concert. And oh am I glad I decided to feature German food and wanted a crunchy and different side salad to go with my other German offerings. I’m also glad I rarely eat at the same time as our guests. Because, had I started on this salad, there would not have been anything left for others to enjoy!

This is simply my favorite kind of salad. It’s savory, creamy and crunchy all at the same time. And the best part – it needs to be prepared the day before.

Oh how I love food that has to be prepared ahead of time, especially when I have other dishes that need last minute attention and the meal has to be ready at a certain time. (And yes, I fully appreciate restaurant cooks who can get multiple entrées ready at the same time. How do they do that? I can barely manage to get one meal for 25-40 ready to serve at a given time. Maybe that’s why I never became a restaurant chef. Yah think?!)

What I did become however is a person who appreciates good food. (I actually appreciate good food a little too much if my bathroom scale can be believed.) So when I tasted this salad, I knew I had found the perfect balance of salt, sugar, and vinegar absolutely necessary for an authentic German style cucumber salad.

So give this recipe a try. You might want to have a beer close by while you eat this manna from heaven too. And should you happen to be one of those people who look good in lederhosen, you could probably get away without too much ridicule if you hand the person taunting you a bowl of this salad. It’s really hard to bait someone and gulp down food at the same time! Prost!

• 2 English cucumbers, partially peeled and very thinly sliced
• ½ onion (yellow, white, or red), thinly sliced
• 1 tsp. kosher salt
• ½ c. sour cream
• 1 tsp. white sugar
• 2 T. white vinegar
• 1 tsp. dried dill weed
• freshly ground black pepper (just a small amount)
• 2 tsp. finely chopped flat leaf parsley

Place cucumbers and onions in a colander and sprinkle with salt. Let rest for 30 minutes. Squeeze excess moisture from veggies. Meanwhile whisk together the sour cream, sugar, vinegar, dill, pepper, and parsley. Add the cucumbers and onions and refrigerate for at least 8 hours; preferably over night.