I've had as many confessional emails in my email Inbox confirming a dislike of celery as I had from people agreeing they struggled to read Salman Rushdie...
Take heart, Julia as I've loved celery all my life! It's a major part of 'the trinity' in Louisiana cooking. In Brownies (jr. Girl Scouts) we also learned to make "ants on a log" for snacks of peanut butter filled celery topped with raisins. Southern ladies used to serve halved stalks of celery filled with homemade pimento cheese as appetizers. Mom always added celery to pot roasts and stews for flavoring. It's also good to use the stalks to hold up underneath roasted chicken, and makes a wonderful crudite along with other raw veggies served with things like dill dip. I can't make "stuffing" for Thanksgiving or otherwise a side dish without it! Plus it adds crunch to tuna/salmon/chicken salads! When I want a crunchy low-carb snack I head for a washed stalk of celery, sometimes with cream cheese, and especially love it sprinkled w za'atar. Of course one of my favorite ways to eat it is in a tall glass of Bloody Marys!
Even your most fascinating and as ever informative account cannot win me over to celery as- for me- little more than an a useful stirrer for Bloody Mary.
I've had as many confessional emails in my email Inbox confirming a dislike of celery as I had from people agreeing they struggled to read Salman Rushdie...
Take heart, Julia as I've loved celery all my life! It's a major part of 'the trinity' in Louisiana cooking. In Brownies (jr. Girl Scouts) we also learned to make "ants on a log" for snacks of peanut butter filled celery topped with raisins. Southern ladies used to serve halved stalks of celery filled with homemade pimento cheese as appetizers. Mom always added celery to pot roasts and stews for flavoring. It's also good to use the stalks to hold up underneath roasted chicken, and makes a wonderful crudite along with other raw veggies served with things like dill dip. I can't make "stuffing" for Thanksgiving or otherwise a side dish without it! Plus it adds crunch to tuna/salmon/chicken salads! When I want a crunchy low-carb snack I head for a washed stalk of celery, sometimes with cream cheese, and especially love it sprinkled w za'atar. Of course one of my favorite ways to eat it is in a tall glass of Bloody Marys!
Even your most fascinating and as ever informative account cannot win me over to celery as- for me- little more than an a useful stirrer for Bloody Mary.