On Celeriac
Posted by Boris Mann on Thursday, January 15th, 2009Tags for this Article: acidulated water, apium graveolens, celeriac, celery root
Celeriac aka Celery Root
Celeriac, for me, is comfort food.
Now, rather than having you rush off to Google, let me link to the Celeriac Wikipedia entry for you. In short, it’s a varietal of celery that is grown not for its leafy top and stalks, but rather the root. Celery root is the common name that you’ll likely hear most often.
Celeriac is comfort food for me because my parents are German, and it is something that my mom has always cooked. She usually makes soup out of it, and I think the cream of celeriac soup is much, much better than cream of celery.
NPR calls celeriac the “unsung frog prince of winter vegetables”, and includes some classic recipes at the end. I like it because it’s in season local wintertime produce, and because it’s not a starch, and yet you can make starch-like comfort food with it – from french fries to mash.
The big “trick” with celeriac is that you should treat it with acidulated water, especially if you’re going to be serving it raw. I’ll save you another trip to Google: that’s a fancy word for water with something acidic added, like lemon juice, lime juice, or vinegar. These flavours go well with celeriac, and you can often incorporate it into the cooking process – for example, blanching it in boiling water that has lemon juice in it.
Winter is root vegetable season. Add some celeriac to your list, and come back and tell us how it turns out. Have any celeriac recipes / other links to share? Leave them in the comments here, or join the Foodists Friendfeed room and add them.
Posted on January 15th, 2009
Jer says:
Great post, Boris! I am also a member of the celeriac fan-club. I was introduced to it by Jamie Oliver back in his first book and I’ve never looked back.
I often cut some celeriac matchsticks and cook them briefly in the pan with some lemon juice after pan-frying fish. High class fish and chips!
Posted on January 16th, 2009
Kevin says:
I too am a fan of the root vegetable known as celeriac. It is a great addition to a mixed roasted vegetable holiday dish but I also mash it and season it with olive oil, salt & pepper and a little truffle oil and have it as a substitute for mashed potatoes with steak. Amazing vegetable!
Posted on January 18th, 2009
Clare says:
I just made mashed potatoes with celeriac (or celery root as it is called at my grocery store!). I used the half potatoes, half celeriac, peeled and chunked and cooked until soft in salted water. Then I drained off the water, added butter and milk, and mashed them up. Oh my goodness! It was fantastic! I served them with pork chops with a pan gravy that had a little dijon style mustard added to it. Fantastic! Tonight I am making an apple and celeriac salad with a mustard vinaigrette.
Posted on January 18th, 2009
Boris Mann says:
Tonight was roasted celeriac and beets with olive oil and lime juice. And interesting, kinda mexican flavour. Celeriac still on special through Spud.ca, so I’m ordering more this week.
Posted on January 20th, 2009
Eagranie Yuh says:
Mmmmm, I love celeriac. It’s like the more subtle cousin to celery, which I only like as a structural component (like part of a mirepoix). Celery soup? Blech. Celeric soup? Bliss.