[1 - 1] in the last episode of the show you
[1 - 3] might remember that i use celery to make
[3 - 5] a crunching sound
[6 - 7] now that's something that foley artists
[7 - 9] the wizards behind movie sound effects
[9 - 11] actually still do today that is they
[11 - 13] bang and smash vegetables to make sound
[14 - 16] effects celery makes an excellent breaking limb
[16 - 18] celery makes an excellent breaking limb but isn't that so fitting
[18 - 20] celery so often plays a crucial role in
[20 - 21] a dish but you wouldn't necessarily know
[22 - 24] well today we're giving celery the
[24 - 25] spotlight and if you think you know a
[25 - 27] thing or two about celery
[31 - 33] you see there was a time that i thought
[33 - 35] i knew a thing or two about celery too
[35 - 36] and that was the day before i listened
[36 - 38] to reporter maya croft tell the
[38 - 40] absolutely fascinating story of celery and its
[40 - 42] fascinating story of celery and its history here in america
[42 - 44] on our podcast proof in that episode i
[44 - 46] learned that celery was once the third
[46 - 48] most popular menu item on new york city
[48 - 50] restaurant menus in the 19th century
[50 - 51] i learned that there were celery vases
[52 - 53] and dishes specifically designed for
[53 - 56] displaying celery at the table
[56 - 57] and i learned that heirloom celery is a
[58 - 59] very real thing
[59 - 60] if you haven't heard the episode yet
[60 - 62] there's a link below this video
[62 - 65] check it out okay now raise your hand if
[65 - 66] you've ever heard someone say
[66 - 71] that celery is a negative calorie food
[73 - 73] so the explanation goes that because
[73 - 75] celery is so low in calories you end up
[75 - 77] burning those calories off just in the
[77 - 79] process of digesting it
[79 - 80] the energy used during digestion
[80 - 83] actually has a name diet-induced
[83 - 86] thermogenesis or d-i-t so does the d-i-t
[86 - 87] from celery wipe out the calories you
[88 - 89] get from eating it
[89 - 92] the science says no now there haven't
[93 - 94] of studies on this but the few that do
[94 - 97] exist agree one by tabitha watson at the
[97 - 99] university of leicester concluded that a
[100 - 102] could survive on celery alone if she ate
[104 - 107] a day that's roughly 180 medium-sized
[108 - 109] stocks she would get sufficient protein and
[109 - 111] she would get sufficient protein and carbohydrates and also overdose on
[112 - 115] among other unpleasant things so where
[115 - 116] does this magical
[116 - 119] calorie positive food come from wild
[119 - 120] celery is native to the mediterranean
[120 - 122] but humans have been collecting seeds
[122 - 123] transporting them all over the globe and
[123 - 125] cultivating different types of celery
[125 - 127] for millennia chinese celery also called
[127 - 129] millennia chinese celery also called leaf celery is thought to be the oldest
[129 - 130] cultivated variety
[130 - 132] and has grown throughout east asia it is
[132 - 134] highly aromatic and flavorful
[134 - 136] it is leafier than western celery and
[136 - 138] features thinner tougher stems
[138 - 140] european growers selected for thicker
[140 - 142] juicier stocks eventually leading to the
[142 - 144] stuff that you find in most supermarkets
[144 - 145] here in the u.s
[145 - 147] nearly all the celery grown here in the
[147 - 149] u.s is of a single cultivar called
[150 - 151] pascal it features that familiar pale green
[151 - 154] it features that familiar pale green color and juicy thick stem stocks
[154 - 155] but the flavor and appearance of celery
[155 - 157] owes just as much to how it is grown
[157 - 159] as to what type it is and that's because
[159 - 161] celery growers use a technique
[161 - 163] called blanching as they grow celery
[163 - 164] bunches are buried in soil or wrapped in
[164 - 166] light proof material to prevent
[166 - 167] sun from reaching the stalks and
[168 - 169] activating chlorophyll this keeps the
[169 - 171] celery pale in color and suppresses the
[171 - 173] production of bitter compounds
[173 - 174] that is also the reason that the inner
[174 - 176] stocks within a bunch of celery are
[176 - 178] paler in color and milder in flavor than
[178 - 180] those on the outside they're protected
[180 - 181] entirely from the sun but let's not
[182 - 183] forget that there is celery beyond the
[184 - 185] stocks celery leaves make up a substantial
[185 - 187] celery leaves make up a substantial portion of chinese celery and are often
[187 - 188] cooked right along with the stalks
[188 - 190] in western celery the leaves are fewer
[190 - 192] and further between but they make a
[192 - 193] really nice herb we also have celery
[193 - 195] root and celery seed
[195 - 197] celery root comes from a variety that is
[197 - 198] grown specifically for its underground
[199 - 201] stem which gets particularly large that's
[201 - 203] which gets particularly large that's right it's not really the root a celery
[203 - 205] root plant will have some thin stalks up
[205 - 206] top but it's really much more of an either
[206 - 208] but it's really much more of an either or situation you can either have
[209 - 212] wonderful tall pale green stalks or a nice big
[212 - 214] tall pale green stalks or a nice big round root root you can't have both
[214 - 216] celery root is wonderful roasted pureed
[216 - 219] souped or remolded and celery seed is a
[219 - 221] unique and potent spice
[221 - 223] for that tiny brown seeds are harvested
[223 - 224] from a type of wild celery
[224 - 226] it packs a strong punch of slightly
[226 - 228] bitter really rich
[228 - 229] celery flavor and here in the u.s it's
[229 - 231] often used to season potato salads and
[231 - 232] pickled vegetables
[232 - 234] a related seed with rich celery flavor
[234 - 236] called radhuni is common in bengali
[236 - 238] cooking in india's west bengal state and
[238 - 240] across the border in bangladesh
[240 - 241] there it can make up one of the spices
[242 - 243] in that region's classic spice blend
[243 - 245] ponch peron it's a wide world of celery
[246 - 248] let's go to the kitchen so many great
[248 - 250] meals start with a pan of hot fat and a
[250 - 252] mixture of chopped aromatic vegetables
[252 - 254] and many of those mixtures including
[254 - 256] french mirepoix italian batuto and the
[256 - 257] cajun trinity include
[257 - 259] celery in the mix for any of these if
[259 - 261] you don't need a particularly fine dice
[261 - 262] you can save yourself some time by
[262 - 264] rinsing the entire top of the bunch of
[264 - 267] celery and going at it just like this just like
[267 - 268] and going at it just like this just like with meat celery has a natural grain to
[268 - 270] it you can see it run up and down the
[270 - 271] stock as fibrous strings
[272 - 273] when you slice across the grain as we do
[273 - 275] most of the times we're prepping celery
[275 - 276] you cut those strings into nice small
[276 - 278] pieces that are really easy to chew
[278 - 280] i hear people complain about celery
[280 - 281] stringiness especially when they're
[281 - 283] trying to eat an entire stock raw
[283 - 285] like i hear about it a lot i get like a
[285 - 286] lot of emails
[286 - 287] so if those strings are getting in the
[287 - 289] way of your eating pleasure you can
[289 - 291] strip them out with a knife like this
[291 - 294] or take them off with a peeler like this
[294 - 295] and that might be a good move if you're
[295 - 296] making one of the most
[296 - 299] iconic american celery dishes ants on a
[300 - 302] log that would be celery peanut butter and
[302 - 304] that would be celery peanut butter and raisins the practice of stuffing celery
[304 - 306] in this country is actually pretty old
[306 - 308] but the term ants on a log doesn't
[308 - 310] really show up until the 1950s
[310 - 312] i gotta say i've never been a huge fan
[312 - 313] of ants on a log
[313 - 315] but i recently went down a rabbit hole
[315 - 318] looking at variations on ants on a log
[318 - 320] i'm kind of in love there's gnats on a
[320 - 321] log that's when you sub
[321 - 323] currents for raisins there's ants on a
[323 - 325] slip n slide that's when you add
[325 - 328] honey to the mix ants on vacation that's
[328 - 329] a raisin-free version
[329 - 331] you might actually like that one and
[331 - 332] then there are ones that go much further
[332 - 334] afield sometimes even swapping out the
[334 - 336] celery bears in a honey bath
[336 - 338] elephants on a snowy field snakes in the
[338 - 340] grass jewels in a mine
[340 - 344] cows in a sandbox cows in a sandbox
[344 - 346] they're just amazing we have loads of
[346 - 348] amazing recipes featuring celery over on
[350 - 351] cooksillustrated.com and i've put links to some of my
[351 - 353] and i've put links to some of my favorites below the video but
[353 - 355] it's about 100 degrees out right now and
[355 - 357] all i really want to do is eat a salad
[357 - 358] so that's what we're gonna make
[358 - 359] i'm gonna start with the vinaigrette now
[360 - 361] this one a recipe by danya nagahara
[362 - 363] actually contains a tiny bit of
[363 - 366] mayonnaise to help form a super stable
[366 - 369] emulsion the base is vinegar shallot mayonnaise
[369 - 370] the base is vinegar shallot mayonnaise mustard and a little bit of salt
[370 - 372] then i just stream an extra virgin olive
[372 - 374] oil until emulsified and creamy
[374 - 377] nice now for the salad portion this is a
[377 - 379] recipe by cook's illustrated's very own
[379 - 380] executive food editor
[380 - 383] keith dresser and it's a classic we've
[383 - 384] got tender bib lettuce
[384 - 386] crunchy slightly bitter fries thinly
[386 - 388] sliced apple and walnuts
[388 - 391] oh and of course celery now we'll just
[391 - 392] get everything into a nice big bowl i'd
[392 - 395] use a really big bowl for salad
[395 - 396] get a little bit of vinaigrette in there
[396 - 399] toss combine toss combine
[399 - 402] plate it up and this is how to eat
[402 - 405] way way wait wait wait the salad looks
[406 - 408] awesome it's gonna be delicious i need way more
[408 - 409] it's gonna be delicious i need way more celery than this
[409 - 412] quite frankly i need more booze too i
[413 - 416] need sasha marx's fresh horseradish bloody
[416 - 416] sasha marx's fresh horseradish bloody mary
[416 - 418] so we've got tomato juice lemon juice
[418 - 420] fresh horseradish worcestershire sauce
[420 - 423] fish sauce old bay seasoning and vodka
[423 - 425] actually i'm going to use gin because
[425 - 427] that's why i keep around then we just
[427 - 429] strain or not strain onto some nice
[429 - 431] fresh ice add our beautiful
[431 - 434] gorgeous pale green calorie positive
[434 - 435] stock of celery
[435 - 439] and yeah salad and a bloody mary
[439 - 445] this is definitely how to eat celery