Lay each on the board and bring the flat of a cleaver or the bottom of a heavy pan down on it hard, once per cucumber, so it splits along its length. Pull it apart into rough 4 cm lengths with your hands — the torn, craggy faces are the whole point. Cut any piece thicker than a finger in half; leave the seeds in. Toss the smashed cucumber with 1 tsp in a colander and leave it over the sink or a bowl for 15 min. Water will bead and drip out; that water is what would otherwise dilute your dressing. Shake the colander and pat the pieces dry, but do not rinse them.
Slicing gives you flat, watertight faces that shed the dressing. You want cracks, not neat coins.
Skip this and the bowl turns into cucumber water within ten minutes.
- Cucumber
- Salt
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