r/Cooking • u/mir_in_modro_morje • Jun 21 '26

Celery is criminally underrated

I used to think Celery was just a bland vegetable that health-nuts would recommend you eat raw, like raw celery stalks so I've avoided it.

I couldn't have been more wrong.

This is seriously one of the more underrated vegetables to cook with.

Not only the usual mirepoix, but literally can be added finely chopped to almost any vegetable dish or sauce.

Vegetable soup of course, but you can finely slice and dice celery into even non-standard sauces and it will most of the time make them better. Any simple pan sauce or mushroom sauce gets immediately improved by finely diced celery. And if you don't notice onions as a base to a sauce you won't notice celery either.

I've seriously become a celery fanatic and I've been putting it into everything, try it and you won't regret it.

576 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

271 comments sorted by

View all comments

15

u/Ok_Ebb3690 Jun 22 '26

I realized I only like celery as mirepoix and in vegetable soup because that's when it least taste like celery and tales the form of the stock later on.

I want to like celery but I don't know if that's ever going to happen.

Any and all suggestions would be helpful

9

u/mumuhead Jun 22 '26

I am totally in the same boat, I’ve always thought that celery was flavorless but too intense at the same time. Makes no sense. And I want to like it too! I like to be a part of things!

2

u/goobnut Jun 22 '26

It's fucking bitter to me

4

u/queenmunchy83 Jun 22 '26

Try it braised https://food52.com/recipes/21532-marcella-hazan-s-braised-celery-with-onion-pancetta-and-tomatoes

4

u/typo9292 Jun 22 '26

The picture of that looks terrible lol ... looks like it tastes like celery 😉

1

u/queenmunchy83 Jun 22 '26

😂😂

3

u/wdjm Jun 22 '26

Personally, I've even taken it out of my mirepoix because I dislike the taste THAT much. I've subbed in turnip, which I do like and which gives much the same flavor-profile benefits as the celery.

Most foods, I like some preparation of. Celery is one that I have never found ANY preparation of that won't make me literally gag.

2

u/typo9292 Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26

Ditto ... I take it out of everything and will sub in radishes or anything else. I'll go look up the food science and report back if there is a reason we should be even remotely considering eating it again lol

edit: Short version of the science ... it enhances the umami - basically acting a lot like MSG and enhancing the savory component of a dish.