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Boiled Celery
Have ready a saucepan of boiling water, with a little salt in it. Wash the celery carefully. Cut off the outer leaves, make the stalks even, and lay them in small bunches. Throw these into the water, and let them boil gently until tender, leaving the saucepan uncovered. When done, drain, and place them on a piece of toast which has been dipped in the liquid. Pour over them a little good melted butter, and serve. Time: young celery, three-quarters of an hour; old, one hour and a half.
An English vegetable dish of the sort served as a separate course, with two details that need translating: the cooking time and what "melted butter" meant when this was written.
- The timing is the thing to ignoreTrimmed celery stalks are generally tender in 10 to 20 minutes of gentle boiling, depending on thickness and age. Three-quarters of an hour, let alone the hour and a half given for old celery, will leave them very soft and stringy. Test with a knife tip at 10 minutes.
- "Melted butter" is a sauceIn nineteenth-century English cookery this almost always means a plain white sauce built on butter, flour and liquid, not simply butter warmed in a pan. Cooking liquid from the celery makes a suitable base. If you prefer literal melted butter, use it generously and add lemon.
- Uncovered on purposeLeaving the lid off is usually explained as letting volatile acids escape rather than condensing back into the pot, which is said to keep green vegetables from dulling. Little colour to protect in celery either way.
- Tie the bunches"Lay them in small bunches" works far better with a loop of kitchen string round each, three or four stalks to a bundle. They lift out intact and hold their shape on the toast.
- Trim more than you thinkOlder outer stalks are heavily stringed. Peel the ribs with a vegetable peeler before boiling, or the fibres survive any amount of cooking.
- The toastA sop dipped in the cooking liquid, in the way roast game was served on fried bread. Use a firm white bread cut thick; thin sandwich bread dissolves. Dip briefly, one side only.
- YieldTwo large heads of celery serve four as a side. Salt the water as you would for pasta, since celery takes on very little seasoning afterwards.