Celery is valuable for its mineral salts and bulk. The chief use of celery is as a relish when it is eaten raw, but it is also valuable for flavoring soups and making salads, pickles, and various other dishes. When celery is in season and can be purchased at a reasonable price, it should be cooked to give variety to the diet. 

INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS

BAKED CELERY
Cut two bunches of celery, the best stalks only, into inch-lengths, and stew in boiling water and a little salt for ten minutes. Drain off the water and add a cup of milk, one tablespoon butter rolled thickly in flour, and a little pepper and salt.

Simmer three minutes after heating, and pour into a shallow bowl to cool. Butter a bake-dish and strew* the bottom with fine bread-crumbs. When the celery is cold, beat into it two eggs and pour into the dish. Strew bread-crumbs thickly over the top, turn a tin plate over all, and bake twenty minutes. Remove the cover and brown.

*strew – to scatter or spread untidily over a surface or area.

BRAISED CELERY
Cut celery into two-inch lengths to make one quart. Cook the celery, two tablespoons bacon fat, and one tablespoon grated onion in the frying pan for ten minutes. Then dredge* the celery in two tablespoons flour, and put in a baking dish. Add two cups stock, cover, and bake in a moderate oven* for one and one-half hours. Serve on toast. 

*dredge – to lightly coat a food in a dry ingredient, such as flour, cornmeal, or breadcrumbs.
*moderate oven – about 350-400 degrees Fahrenheit.

SCALLOPED CELERY
Place a layer of bread or cracker crumbs in the bottom of a buttered dish, then place a layer of chopped celery. Dot with butter, season with salt and pepper, and continue alternately until the pan is full, having crumbs on top. Cover with milk, bake slowly until milk is absorbed, about one-half hour. Serve in the baking dish.

STEWED CELERY
Take two bunches of celery, the white stalks only, scrape and cut into short pieces. Stew the celery in a little salted hot water until quite tender. Drain off the water and put in one cup cold milk. As soon as it boils, stir in one tablespoon butter rolled in flour, pepper and salt to taste, and a pinch of nutmeg. Add a few spoons of hot milk to two beaten eggs in a separate bowl that they may not curdle in the saucepan. Then put with the celery and sauce over the fire. Boil up once, and dish.

CELERY SAUCE
Cut small one-half dozen heads of clean white celery, with two sliced onions. Put them into a stewpan with a small piece of butter, and simmer them over a slow fire till quite tender. Then add two spoons of flour, half a pint of broth, salt and pepper, and a little cream or milk. Boil it a quarter of an hour, and pass it through a fine hair sieve* with the back of a spoon. This sauce is intended for boiled turkey, veal, or fowls.

*hair sieve – a strainer with a wiry fabric bottom usually woven from horsehair.

CELERY VINEGAR
Bruise a pint of celery seed. After putting it into your bottles, fill them with strong cider vinegar. Set it away for a month, not forgetting to shake it every day. It will then be fit for use. This is frequently used in salads.

ESSENCE OF CELERY
Steep in one-fourth pint of brandy or proof spirit, half an ounce of celery seed bruised, and let it stand a fortnight.* A few drops will immediately flavor a pint of broth, and are an excellent addition to pea and other soups.

*fortnight – a period of two weeks.

CREAM OF CELERY SOUP
Boil a head of celery in one pint of water for thirty to forty-five minutes and set aside. In another pan, boil together a small piece of mace, a large slice of onion, and a pint of milk. Mix a tablespoon of flour with two tablespoons of cold milk, and add to the milk mixture. Cook ten minutes, stirring to keep it from burning. Mash the boiled celery in the water it has been cooked in, and stir in the boiling milk. Add salt if desired. Strain and serve.

CELERY CROQUETTES
Trim and wash two heads of celery and cut into short pieces. Blanch* them in salted water, drain, then cook till tender in well-seasoned stock. Drain the cooked celery and chop it rather finely. Melt one ounce of butter in a stew-pan, add one shallot (chopped), and fry a little. Stir in one ounce of flour, blend these together, and gradually add a gill* of milk. 

Stir till it boils, and put in the chopped celery. Season with salt and pepper and cook for fifteen minutes. Add two yolks of eggs at the last. Spread the mixture on a dish and let it get cold. Make up into croquettes, egg and crumb them, and fry in hot fat to a golden color. Drain them on a cloth or paper, and dish up.

*blanch – to plunge vegetables or fruit in boiling water, then placing it quickly into cold or ice water.
*gill/ jill – a liquid measurement; four ounces in the U.S. and five ounces in the U.K.

RAGOÛT OF CELERY
Wash and trim three heads of celery. Cut each stick into pieces about two inches long, cover with cold water, bring to the boil, and pour the water away. Put in one pint of white stock, one medium-sized Spanish onion finely chopped, season with salt and pepper, and cook gently for about one-half hour.

Meanwhile, skin two dozen button onions, fry them in two ounces of hot butter, but very slowly, to prevent them taking color. Drain well, and keep them hot.

Add two ounces of flour to the butter and fry for a few minutes without browning. Take up the celery, add the strained stock to one-half pint milk, pour both onto the flour and butter mixture, and stir until boiling.

Season to taste, add two tablespoons of cream and one teaspoon finely chopped parsley. Arrange the celery in a circle on a hot dish, pour over the sauce, pile the onions high in the center, and serve. The celery may also be served on fried or toasted bread arranged in rows with the onions piled between them. A nice change may be made by substituting mushrooms for the onions.

TO KEEP CELERY FOR WINTER
Celery should be put in a box with the roots down, covered with sand. Some gardeners keep it in the ground all winter, and dig it as they wish it, for use.

Image from Deposit Photos

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