Medieval Cucumber Salad - Cucummen from 'Ein New Kochbuck'

One thing I really enjoy in the SCA is experimenting with medieval and renaissance recipes. Those of you familiar with them will know that measurements are not always listed and there is often a great amount of assumed knowledge (such as 'prepare in the usual way..') which can make it very interesting.

Image from: newfoodmagazine.com

Last year I tried out this cucumber salad recipe from Ein New Kochbuck - A 16th Century Collection of German Recipes by Marx Rumpolt.

Cucummen
"Peel the cucumbers/cut them broad and thin/season them with oil/pepper and salt. But if they are salt preserved/they are also not bad/better than raw/because one can salt it with Fennel and with caraway/that both can be kept over one year. And near the Rhine-stream one calls it cucummen."

I have to say at the beginning that cucumbers are one of my favourite salad items and I love them fresh and raw, so I was predisposed to not like this recipe very much.

My version of the recipe:
2 large cucumbers peeled and chopped
2tb extra virgin olive oil
1.5 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper

I washed the cucumbers and peeled them and cut them into thin rounds. I poured the oil over and then sprinkled on the salt and pepper and mixed. I omitted the fennel and caraway seeds because I don't like them. The resulting salad was not unpleasant but was not a showstopper (but perhaps my bias against dressed cucumber is showing). I was interested in the comments of the populace after tasting this. I would like to try it with more intense salt flavours as the recipe talks about 'salt preserved cucumbers'. I suspect that the author is referring to some sort of brined pickle, which opens up a whole different arena of flavours, and which would make fennel and caraway more suitable as flavouring agents in a brine.
I would be prepared to try it again chilled, and with a different sort of oil with a less distinct flavour. I'd be interested to see what sort of impact leaving the skin on would make. Similarly, it would be interested to experiment with small cucumbers (like gherkin size) and to find out if cutting length ways with a mandolin would make a difference to the taste.

Some of the comments I received included:
"I found it quite nice, just the right amount of salt and pepper"
"It's good; really nice flavours and not overpowering"
"Nice flavour, would like to try them very cold"
"Nice flavour and texture. Pepper seemed to settle - I liked the stronger pepper flavour on the lower level"
"Good balance - neither the oil nor the other flavours are too dominant, but all of them are clearly present"