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Celery and Artichoke Cocktail
Mix equal parts of chilled, diced celery hearts and cubed artichoke hearts. The latter can be purchased in bottles. Serve the above combination in the following sauce: 1 cup tomato catsup 1/2 cup cream 1 tablespoon lemon juice 1/8 teaspoon paprika Beat catsup and cream together, adding lemon juice and paprika and chill. Stir in celery and artichokes and serve at once.
A cold first course from the era when "cocktail" on a menu often meant something served in a stemmed glass rather than something alcoholic. The whole thing hinges on assembling at the last moment.
- Serve at once means itSalt in the catsup draws water out of the celery and artichoke as the mixture stands, thinning the sauce. Chill the sauce and the vegetables separately, then combine as you carry it to the table.
- Bottled artichoke heartsJarred or canned hearts in brine are the closest thing to what is meant; those packed in oil will slick the sauce and fight the cream. Drain well and blot dry before cubing.
- Which creamAn unqualified "cream" in books of this period is usually light cream, about 18-20% fat. Half-and-half works; heavy cream makes the sauce heavy enough to coat rather than cling.
- Add the lemon last, off the whiskAs written, the acid goes in after the catsup and cream are combined, which is correct. Beating lemon juice into cream on its own will thicken and flake it.
- Catsup has changedPeriod catsups were not necessarily as sweet or as thick as today's commercial ketchup, though brands varied widely. Taste the sauce before chilling and correct with a little more lemon juice, plus salt, which the original does not call for.
- Celery heartsThe pale inner ribs, tender and nearly stringless. Outer ribs need peeling with a vegetable peeler or they will read as fibrous against the soft artichoke.
- Yield and presentationThe recipe measures only the sauce (1 1/2 cups); the amounts of celery and artichoke are left to the cook, so the total yield is open. Cocktails of this type were commonly spooned into chilled cocktail or sherbet glasses.