The encyclopædia of practical cookery

Celery is generally sent to table raw (see Fig. 395), to be eaten with cheese as salad, the leaf-stalks having been blanched during growth by heaping the earth round them as they spring from the ground. The juice of the stalks contains sugar, mucilage, starch, and a substance resembling manna-sugar ; this latter giving to it healthrestoring virtues of no mean order. Kettner says of it : “ Also it makes a soup of itself ; it makes a sauce of itself ; it is excellent plain-boiled ; a sea-kale ; it will stew to perfection ; and it makes a salad which is not only Fig. 392. Celeriac. Celery — continued . good in itself, but also doubly good because it may be had when other salads fail.” Celery is seasonable from September to April. See Fig. 393. Fig. 393. Celery Plant. Curling Celery. — A famous cook gives us the following instructions : Slit the stalks with a pen- knife closely if the fringe is to be fine, taking- care that the slits all end at an even line. Where a large amount of Celery is used every day, set on the tables in Celery -glasses, a kind of rake is used instead of the pen-knife, and this rake is made by driving a number of the three-edged sacking-needles of the smallest size through a soft piece of cigar boxwood. The Celery ends are combed with this, and set in glasses of ice-water to curl at leisure. Fig. 391. Oak Celery-stand. Serving Celery in a Glass.— Well wash two or three heads of fine white Celery, pare off the green stalks and trim the roots neatly, taking care to save the clear white hearts. Cut each head lengthwise into quarters, rinse them again in cold water, and let them remain in clean water with a piece of ice in it until wanted. Arrange . them in a Celery-stand (see Fig. 394) or glass, or dress on a china dish with a few pieces of ice in the centre, and serve. For details respecting Culinary Processes, Utensils, Sauces, Ac., referred to, see under their special heads. Celery— continued. Baked Celery. — Well wash and trim a couple of heads of Celery. Cut them into small pieces about |in. long’, throw them into boiling water with 1 table-spoonful of salt, and boil for ten minutes, then drain them in a colander, and put back into the saucepan with 1 breakfast-cupful of milk, loz. of butter rolled in flour, pepper and salt to taste, and let them get quite hot ; let them simmer for three minutes, pour the whole into a bowl, and let it cool. When it is cold enough beat up an egg, and stir it into the sauce. Butter a flat pudding-dish, pour the Celery into it, strew plenty of fine breadcrumbs over, cover it, put it in the oven, bake for twenty minutes, then uncover it, and let it remain in the oven till brown. Baked Celery with Cheese. — Let the Celery be cut small, about 1 in. long, and split to look a little like macaroni. Boil in water for ten minutes about 1 pint of these pieces, drain, mix in 2 table-spoonfuls of grated cheese, 1 teacupful of butter, add a little pepper and salt, and bake for a time in a pan. Pour over the top 1 teacupful of rich stock, and serve in a tureen. Fig. 395. Celery Prepared for Cooking or the Table.