#93: Family Recipe Friday #2: Summer Gurkensalat and My German Roots

When tracing family history, we often look for official documents—census records, passenger manifests, and marriage certificates. But sometimes the clearest evidence of where we come from sits right on the dinner table.

For my family, that dish is Gurkensalat (German Cucumber Salad). The prompt I am using for this week's post is Family Recipe Friday, suggested by Lynn Palermo of The Armchair Genealogist, and I am featuring this summer favorite of mine.

It’s a simple, refreshing summer staple made by paper-thinly slicing fresh cucumbers (sometimes peeled completely, sometimes stripe-peeled for color), tossing them with sour cream to reach just the right consistency, and seasoning with salt, pepper, and plenty of fresh dill.

While I don't usually make it now—mostly because I'm currently the lone cucumber and sour cream fan in the house!—the dish holds a special place in my genealogy journey. It's a direct, sensory connection to my German ancestors in the Goellner / Gillen line.

When the family arrived in New York in the mid-19th century and settled into the bustling German-American neighborhoods of Brooklyn’s Williamsburg and Manhattan’s Lower East Side, they brought their language, their trades, and their foodways with them. Even as the family surname evolved from Goellner to Gillen, simple seasonal recipes like Gurkensalat likely survived the passage of time and cross-Atlantic migration. While I don't know for sure that this dish was a daily staple in my 3x-great-grandfather's home, I do know that it was a common dish that I remember enjoying at my grandmother's house and from my mother.

Genealogy isn't just about dates and brick walls—it's about preserving the everyday customs that survived long after the original records were archived.

Since it's such an easy salad, I don't have a strict family recipe card to share, but here are the steps I take to make this dish:

Gurkensalat (German Cucumber Salad)

• Cucumbers: 2 English or field cucumbers (thinly sliced; alternate peeled stripes for color).
• Dressing: Sour cream (adjusted to desired creaminess), salt, cracked black pepper, and fresh chopped dill.
• Prep Tip: Salt the cucumber slices and let them sit in a colander for 15 minutes to drain excess water before stirring in the sour cream dressing so it stays rich rather than watery. It tastes even better after sitting in the fridge for at least several hours!