Home › The World's Kitchen › Cream of Celery

Cream of Celery

Trim off all the green parts of three heads of celery. Cut them up in very small pieces, then thoroughly wash in fresh water and drain well on a sieve. Place the celery in a medium-sized pan with half sliced carrot, two sliced leeks and one medium, sliced white onion. Moisten with two quarts cold water. Season with a light tablespoon salt and a teaspoon white pepper; if any chicken or veal bones are at hand add them to the saucepan. Cover the pan and let boil rather slowly for forty-five minutes; strain the broth into a basin and keep hot.

Place all ingredients except the bones in a mortar and pound to a paste, then add to the strained broth. Heat one ounce melted butter in a saucepan, pour in two and a half ounces sifted flour, briskly stir with a wooden spoon for two minutes; then drop in the celery broth, mix lightly while cooking for five minutes; add a pint good hot milk, one gill cream, half ounce good butter and one saltspoon grated nutmeg; mix well with a wooden spoon until it comes to a boiling point, then add one gill cream. Mix well while heating for two minutes, but do not allow to boil again. Pass the cream through a small sieve, then through a Chinese strainer into a hot soup tureen and serve.