No. 2720

Celery with Bechamel and Croutons

Celeri Bechamel aux Croutons

Cut into large squares, each one inch in size, the yellow stalks of a head of celery; blanch them in water, drain and place in a saucepan with a quart of white broth (No. 194a), an ounce of butter and a coffeespoonful of powdered sugar; cook so that the liquid reduces, and when the celery is done add to it a pint of bechamel sauce (No. 409), some grated nutmeg and salt. Just when serving incorporate two ounces of fresh butter; pour into a vegetable dish and garnish around with bread croutons shaped like small hearts (Fig. 40) and fried in butter.

← No. 2719 Cauliflowers, Broccoli, or Sea Kale, with Wh Celery, Onions & Leeks No. 2721 Celery Stalks with half-Glaze, Espagnole and →

For the Modern Kitchen

A braise, not a boil: the celery cooks down in stock until the liquid has nearly gone, then béchamel binds what is left. The two things to watch are the reduction and the final butter.

White broth (No. 194a)Ranhofer's bouillon blanc is a light, pale stock, seasoned lightly if at all. A low-sodium chicken stock stands in; avoid anything dark or heavily reduced, which will muddy the finished sauce.
CoffeespoonfulSmaller than a teaspoon — roughly half a teaspoon. The sugar is there to round out celery's bitterness, not to sweeten, so do not increase it.
The yellow stalksThe pale inner heart of the head, tender and mild. Reserve the coarse green outer ribs for stock. One large head yields perhaps two cups of inch squares.
BlanchingThe recipe says only to blanch in water, without a time; a couple of minutes at a boil, then drain, is enough to take off the raw edge before the braise.
Reduce, don't drownA quart of broth to one head of celery looks excessive, and the recipe expects it to cook down as the celery becomes tender. Uncovered over moderate heat this will take a good while; go by the pan, not the clock. Adding the bechamel while broth still pools gives a thin, soupy dish.
Béchamel (No. 409)Bechamel (No. 409) -- Ranhofer's version is a white-roux sauce enriched in the nineteenth-century manner rather than a plain modern white sauce. A pint is a generous quantity for one head; if you want a coated vegetable rather than a creamed one, use less.
The finishing butterTwo ounces of cold butter beaten in off the heat, immediately before serving. Do not let the sauce boil afterwards or it will break, and do not hold the dish long.
CroutonsFirm white bread cut with a small heart cutter and fried in butter until pale gold. Fry them last and set them around the edge at the last moment; they soften within minutes of touching the sauce.
YieldThe recipe gives none; perhaps four to six as a side dish.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer ran the kitchens at Delmonico's in New York for the better part of thirty years, and The Epicurean (1894) is the codification of that repertoire, at a time when American cookbooks generally dispatched vegetables in a chapter. The treatment here is straightforwardly French: braise the vegetable in stock, bind it with one of the mother sauces, mount with butter, and give it a garnish that supplies contrast in texture. Blanched celery hearts were a luxury item in the nineteenth century, since the pale tender stalks had to be earthed up or boarded in the field to keep the light off them, and celery appeared on grand American menus as a raw relish in tall cut-glass vases as often as it did cooked. The heart-shaped croutons are a standard French garnish — Ranhofer illustrates his crouton shapes by figure number, expecting a brigade with cutters to hand.