A Pleasant Sallet: Celery Rémoulade

Celery Rémoulade, also known as céleri-rave rémoulade or celeriac salad, is a delicious and simple salad made from a julienne of celeriac. Celeriac, also (incorrectly) known as celery root, is a brownish, lumpy, tuberous-looking thing, about the size of a large turnip, that has ivory-colored flesh with a mild celery flavor that’s a bit like a cross between a potato and celery. Although called a root, it’s actually the hypocotyl storage organ of a variety of celery, Apium graveolens var. rapaceum; ordinary celery is Apium graveolens var. dulce.

It took me a while to locate celery in European culinary history, since it was barely eaten at all in much of Europe until the late 17th century, and it wasn’t called celery, but elioselinon (a transliteration of its Greek name), marsh parsley (it is in the same botanical family, Apiaceae, as parsley), and smallage, which seems to be the most common English name for celery before the word celery came along. Celery, by one or another of its names, appears in various European herbals and botanical books from the 16th century on. It doesn’t seem to have been very highly regarded by early writers, with various sources calling it bitter and strong in flavor.

From Botanologia, the English herbal
by William Salmon, 1710

William Salmon, one such early botanical writer, was a mysterious self-taught surgeon, astrologer and general dilettante who wrote and/or plagiarized a number of books in the 17th- and early 18th centuries. I own a 17th century copy of one of his books, entitled Polygraphice, which is nominally a manual of drawing, painting, and the visual arts, but which also explores such divers subjects as chiromancy, perfumery, cosmetics and transmuting mercury into purest gold. Salmon also published an extensive illustrated herbal in 1710 in which smallage is described. Interestingly, Salmon includes a recipe for preparing a celery root salad:

The Sallet of the Whited Stalks and Roots. They are cut or sliced and eaten with Salt, Vinegar and Oil, raw, they make a pleasant Sallet, are grateful to the Palate and Taste, strengthen the Stomach, and cause a good Appetite and Digestion.

In the later 19th and early 20th centuries the revered chef and culinary writer Auguste Escoffier modernized the work of the great 18th/19th century chef Antoine Carême, and codified what became known as cuisine classique, or French classical cuisine. In his encyclopedic book Le Guide Culinaire, Escoffier includes the recipe for celeriac salad, written in his typically concise style:

Cut the celeriac into a fine julienne or paysanne. Season, according to fancy, with a mustard sauce with cream, or a clear mayonnaise sauce containing plenty of mustard.

This is the basic idea for the subject of this post, what is generally known today as celery rémoulade but which I prefer to call, for the sake of precision, celeriac salad (see note after the recipe). Celeriac salad is similar to cole slaw, but more interesting and subtle. You can serve it as an appetizer or hors d'oeuvre, or as an accompaniment to a roast. It’s a good and unusual thing to add to your arsenal of winter vegetables.

My version of celeriac salad is a classic one, very simple to make but, like most simple recipes, its success depends upon good raw materials. I wouldn’t bother making this recipe if you don’t use homemade mayonnaise. Homemade mayonnaise is very quick and easy if you have a food processor, and is vastly superior to any bottled variety I’ve ever tasted. You can follow the simple and foolproof recipe that I posted previously at this blog.

Celeriac Salad, AKA Céleri-Rave Rémoulade

• a 1 pound celeriac, which yields about 3-3.5 cups when cut
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice, plus half of a lemon
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 cup homemade mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon Dijon-type mustard
• 1.5 teaspoons prepared Colman’s mustard (follow directions on the tin)
• 1/4 cup sour cream (optional)
• salt & fresh-ground black pepper, to taste
• chopped fresh parsley

Rinse the celeriac and cut off the knobby root end. Peel off the brown skin with a small, sharp paring knife. Cut out any substantial brown bits embedded in the folds of the flesh. Keep a semi-lemon nearby to rub onto cut areas, as the flesh of the celeriac quickly turns brown once peeled.

Cut the celeriac in half. If there are any spongy voids in the center, cut them out. If you have the patience and the knife skills, you can cut the peeled celeriac into julienne matchsticks with a large knife, but you can also use the shredder blade of a food processor. I prefer to use my French mandoline,  but as it’s in storage, and because I was in a hurry when I made the batch you see in the photographs, I used a simple box grater. Whichever way you do it, cut or shred the celeriac into thin but substantial bits.

Put the prepared celeriac int0 a container and toss it with 2 teaspoons of lemon juice and 2 teaspoons salt. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes. This softens the vegetable, obviating the need for blanching the celeriac, which is done in some recipes for this dish.

In another bowl, mix the mayonnaise, both mustards and the optional sour cream, then toss with the celeriac. Add salt and pepper, being sure to taste the mixture to ensure that it's properly seasoned. For the best flavor and consistency, you should cover the salad and refrigerate it for at least one or two hours before serving.

When ready to serve, mound the salad onto a colorful serving dish and sprinkle with the parsley. If you want to be fancy, garnish the top with a tomato and basil rose.

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NOTE: There is also a classical French condiment called sauce rémoulade, however it’s a different mixture from the mustardy mayonnaise used above, which is why I prefer to call the preceding recipe "celeriac salad" instead of "celery rémoulade".

The real sauce rémoulade is sort of like tartar sauce, with pickles, capers, herbs and anchovy. Since actual sauce rémoulade is so delicious, I’ll give Escoffier’s recipe for it here. Try this sauce as an alternative to tartar sauce with seafood. Delicious!

Escoffier’s Sauce Rémoulade

To one pint of Mayonnaise add one large tablespoonful of mustard, another of gherkins, and yet another of chopped and pressed capers, one tablespoonful of fine herbs, parsley, chervil, and tarragon, all chopped and mixed, and a coffeespoonful of anchovy essence. This sauce accompanies cold meat and poultry, and, more particularly, common and spiny lobster.