Cooking celery

Ingredients

Directions

To most American, celery equals crunch. We almost always eat it raw.

Cooking celery brings out its sweet side, a quality absent in the grassy bite of raw celery. Celery can be braised, sauteed, pureed, baked, or fried, but not steamed or boiled, because these methods render it almost tasteless.

No matter how you cook your celery, you want to start with a good, fresh bunch. Avoid buying celery wrapped in plastic; there isn't necessarily anything wrong with it, but the plastic makes it difficult to feel and smell the celery. The ribs should be firm and bright green. Don't buy celery paste its prime. If the ribs are rubbery, or the leaves are yellow or brown, the celery won't have much flavor.

Despite its sturdy appearance, celery doesn't keep very long, even when refrigerated; it can become soft after just 3 or 4 days. To keep celery fresh, wrap it loosely in a plastic bag and keep it in the vegetable crisper.

To prepare celery for cooking, pull away the outermost ribs. These are usually too tough to be made completely tender. Use them for soups or stocks. Once you get to the heart of the celery, the tender, inner ribs, you may still need to peel away some of the fibrous strings on the outer ribs of the heart, which is easily done with a vegetable peeler. Cleaning celery is easier if you separate the ribs; simply rinse the individual ribs under running water.

To chop or mince the ribs, cut them into manageable sections. Slice these sections lengthwise to the desired thinness. Use one hand to hold the strips of celery in line and the other to chop across the grain into the desired size.

Celery Seeds:

The tiny, aromatic seeds of celery pack the vegetable's strong distinctive taste. They lend celery's flavor to all kinds of dishes, including breads, crackers, soups, stews, and salads. Celery seasoning, often rubbed on meats and poultry before roasting or grilling, is made by grinding salt with celery seeds. For both the seed and the seasoning, a little goes a long way.

Celery Leaves:

Celery leaves add a more subtle celery flavor to dishes. In europe and Asia, celery leaves are used as an herb, similar to the way we use parsley. Thin-ribbed Chinese celery. which you can find in Asian markets, is cultivated for its big leaves. When you buy celery, look for a bunch with fresh, leafy tops.

Celery Root or Celeriac:

Celery root is a separate strain of celery. Its beige, gnarled bulb looks impenetrable, but once peeled, the bulb is quite soft and easy to cut. Cooked celery root is delicious when mashed with potatoes.

Fine Cooking

Oct-Nov 1995

Submitted By DIANE LAZARUS On 11-13-95