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Celery, Nut and Potato Loaf
2 large stalks celery 3/4 cup chopped nuts 3 cups mashed potatoes 3 tablespoons fat 1 egg 1 teaspoon salt 1/8 teaspoon paprika 2 teaspoons grated onion Wash, cut in small pieces and cook the celery in a small amount of boiling salted water until it is tender. Drain off liquid. (This may be used for soup stock later.) Then add the other ingredients in the order in which they are given. Combine them carefully, pack in a loaf in a well-oiled bread-pan, and bake in a moderate oven (350 degrees F.) for thirty-five minutes. Serve with tomato sauce. An adequate protein is needed as accompaniment to this dish.
A tidy nut-and-potato loaf from the era when "vegetarian dishes" meant a molded, sliceable main course. It comes together quickly if the mashed potatoes are made ahead, and the oven temperature is given outright.
- "2 large stalks celery"In this period "stalk" of celery could mean either the whole head or a single rib. Two whole heads would swamp three cups of potato, so read this as two large ribs, or about a cup of small-cut celery.
- Mashed potatoesThree cups is roughly 1 1/2 lb of potatoes before cooking. Mash them stiff and dry — wet, buttery, cream-loosened mash will not hold a loaf shape.
- "3 tablespoons fat"Any solid cooking fat of the period: butter, margarine, vegetable shortening or drippings. Butter is the sensible default here; if you want the dish meat-free, avoid drippings.
- The egg is the binderOne egg for three cups of potato is a light bind. Beat it before adding and mix it in while the potato is warm but not hot enough to scramble it.
- Drain the celery hardAny cooking water carried into the mixture will make the loaf slump. Press the celery in a sieve before it goes in, and reserve the liquid as the recipe suggests.
- Oven and pan350°F is right as printed. A standard 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan holds this comfortably; oil it well and let the loaf stand 10 minutes before turning out, or it will break.
- NutsThe recipe leaves the choice open; walnuts and pecans appear commonly in loaves of this kind. Toasting them first gives more flavour than adding them raw.
- Yield and the protein noteThe recipe gives no yield; the quantities suggest about four servings as a main course. The closing line reflects period nutrition advice that nuts alone were an insufficient protein; a cheese sauce, beans or eggs alongside answers it.
Loaves like this were the backbone of American vegetarian cookery from the 1890s through the 1930s, promoted heavily by the Battle Creek sanitarium kitchens and their imitators, and taken up by home-economics writers who wanted a meatless dish that behaved like a roast — sliceable, servable from a platter, and dressed with a sauce. Nuts were the standard stand-in for meat, valued for fat and protein, and the potato supplied bulk and binding cheaply. The parenthetical instruction to save the celery water for stock, and the closing reminder that "an adequate protein is needed as accompaniment," both reflect the influence of the new science of nutrition: nothing wasted, and every plate accounted for.