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How to Fringe Celery
Cut the stalks into pieces about two inches in length. Beginning on the round side at one end, with a thin, sharp knife, cut down half an inch as many times as possible; then turn the stalk halfway around and cut in the opposite direction, thus dividing the end into shreds, or a fringe. If desired, cut the opposite end in the same manner. Set aside in a pan of ice water containing a slice of lemon.
A garnish technique rather than a dish, and it still works: the shreds curl outward as the cells take up water. Two things decide whether it succeeds — the thinness of the cuts and the coldness of the water.
- The hinge: ice water, and plenty of itThe fringe only curls because the thin strips take up water and bow outward. Lukewarm water gives limp shreds. Use water with ice actually floating in it; the recipe sets no time, but the curl tightens the longer the pieces soak.
- Why the lemonThe recipe does not say what the lemon slice is for; it was most likely meant to keep the cut edges from discolouring and to freshen the flavour. A little lemon juice in the bowl would serve the same purpose.
- Choose the right stalksOuter ribs are too fibrous and too curved to cut cleanly. Use the firm middle ribs, and pull off any strings from the convex side first or the shreds will not separate evenly.
- The knife"Thin, sharp" is the whole instruction. A paring knife with a fine blade cuts individual strands; a thick chef's knife crushes them. Work on a board, cutting down into the stalk rather than sawing.
- How fine to cutThe recipe asks for as many cuts as possible rather than a set width. Strips of roughly an eighth of an inch curl well; noticeably wider ones tend not to.
- Yield and useA bunch of celery will supply a good number of curls. They keep in their ice water, covered, for a day in the refrigerator; drain and blot before serving.
Celery was once treated as something of a prestige vegetable — grown blanched, and, in the Victorian period and especially around the middle of the nineteenth century, set out on the table in tall cut-glass celery vases so the ribs stood upright and visible. Books of the period devote real attention to dressing it up, and the fringed or curled stalk belongs to the same decorative impulse as radish roses and turned mushrooms: cold, cheap ornament. The technique survives largely unchanged in the relish tray of mid-century America, and the underlying principle — thin strips of a turgid vegetable curling as they take up cold water — is the same one behind curled scallion brushes in Chinese garnishing.