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 ↓
Celeri 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, keeping the stalks together if possible.
Wash the celery carefully to avoid breaking it and remove all dirt.
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 consomme or stock and pour over the celery.
Cover the saucepan tightly and simmer gently for 45 minutes, or place it in the oven at 350°F (175°C) for the same time.
Serve
Serve the celery like asparagus, skim the sauce, strain it over the celery, and enjoy.
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
- Forms the main body of the dish and becomes tender during slow, covered cooking.
- Espagnole sauce
- Thickens the cooking liquid and adds a rich, savoury body to the sauce.
- Consomme or good stock
- Provides the liquid that gently cooks the celery and forms the base of the sauce.
- Bacon
- Adds savoury fat and smoky flavour to the celery as it cooks.
The step that matters
Cover the saucepan tightly and simmer gently. Gentle, covered cooking keeps the celery moist and lets it become tender without breaking down. A hard boil or loose lid can toughen the stalks and reduce the liquid 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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