Why it works: Celery and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 23% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,360 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Celery Au Jus
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Cut the celery into lengths of 6 to 8 inches without separating the stalks.
Wash the celery carefully to avoid breaking it and clean it thoroughly.
Scald the celery in boiling water for 5 minutes.
Braise
Line a saucepan with thin slices of bacon and lay the celery on top.
Mix the Espagnole Sauce with the consommé or stock and pour over the celery.
Cover the saucepan air-tight and simmer gently for 45 minutes, or place it in the oven at 350°F (175°C) for the same time.
Serve
Dish the celery like asparagus, skim the sauce, strain it over the celery, and serve.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Celery + saucetop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,360 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Celery
- Is the main vegetable, which becomes tender through slow, covered simmering.
- Bacon
- Adds savory fat and salty flavor as it renders into the saucepan and the sauce.
- Espagnole sauce
- Gives the dish a rich, thickened brown sauce that coats the celery.
- Consommé or good stock
- Adds liquid and meaty savoriness, loosening the Espagnole Sauce into a jus.
The step that matters
Cover the saucepan air-tight and simmer gently. Gentle, sealed cooking keeps the liquid from evaporating and the celery from breaking down unevenly. A hard boil would toughen the stalks and reduce the jus too quickly.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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