Celery Substitutes?

[Richard Kilgore]

Among the people I cook for fairly frequently is a person who can not stand the flavor of celery. One person suggested water chestnuts as a possible substitute. The first thing that occurred to me is bok choy.

Would appreciate any ideas.

[Peter the eater]

Have they tried celeriac? What's the application?

[JAZ]

Fennel?

[Richard Kilgore]

Peter, the application is most dishes for which you would use celery. I am open, since this person hates the flavor in anything. If you have suggestions for different substitutes for different applications, that would be great.

[Doodad]

Yeah I would think bok choy stems in long cooked dishes and jicama in less cooked dishes. I use jicama in place of water chestnuts now because they taste better to me in Asian cooking. Another thought would be chayote.

[SobaAddict70]

Seconded on the fennel.

Cilantro can be subbed in for just about anything where you would use celery leaves.

[Tri2Cook]

Do the same thing I used to do for a person who couldn't stand the "taste" of onion... puree it in a processor so they can't see or feel it in the dish and try not to laugh when they chow down with a smile on their face.

[Katie Meadow]

Nothing replaces celery, but fennel is a close second. I have used it instead of celery in potato salads and tuna salads, and often sub it for celery in Italian flavored soups. The only person I know who doesn't like celery doesn't much like fennel either. For her, I make a potato salad with lots of chopped radishes and a little red onion for the crunch factor.

[chezjim]

When you use leafy vegetables like kale, do you save the stems? I do and then cook them with paprika, water and oil. Cooked, they are at least reminiscent of celery (though I prefer them, myself).

[djyee100]

Sometimes I wonder where these food dislikes come from, so that the person won't touch it. A bad experience with too much, undercooked celery? When properly cooked, celery adds a note to foods that really can't be duplicated. Fennel is a good substitute, especially with fish, but I think that flavor is even more intrusive than celery!

Like Tri2Cook, I believe in subterfuge. If you're making a mirepoix, grind up the celery so it can't be seen, and reduce the amt of celery by at least one half. The celery should melt into the dish. For a beef stew, try cooking whole stalks in the stew, then removing them before service (hide the stalks in the garbage). I'm afraid that for dishes with raw celery, like chicken salad, you'll probably have to try fennel. I've never done this, but blanching the celery in boiling water for a minute or two, then cooling it down quickly, should reduce its assertiveness for a raw application. Perhaps this person could accept that?

Once I served tapenade to a dinner guest who hated olives. I did ask beforehand if there were any foods he didn't eat, but because he was trying to be polite, he never told me. Just as well. He scarfed down that olive tapenade with rounds of crusty bread. It turned out he was used to blah canned olives from his childhood, and he hated those. Tapenade made with properly cured picholines...that was just fine with him.

[Chris Hennes]

Setting aside the subterfuge and assuming that this person really doesn't like the flavor of celery (which can be a strong, distinctive flavor, so it's easy to believe), it comes down to needing to replace the flavor with something un-celery-like that still fills the role the celery was filling. My bet is that in many cooked applications you can simply omit it, and the dish will still be successful. Raw, you need something that is bright and vegetal, and has that satisfying watery crunch. I'd think fennel is probably your closest bet in terms of texture, but that flavor may be too assertive.

[Anna N]

Nothing replaces celery, but fennel is a close second. I have used it instead of celery in potato salads and tuna salads, and often sub it for celery in Italian flavored soups. The only person I know who doesn't like celery doesn't much like fennel either. For her, I make a potato salad with lots of chopped radishes and a little red onion for the crunch factor.

I am with you, Katie. Cannot imagine fennel as a replacement. There is a well-known chef (wish I could remember which one)who refuses to use celery and when it is called for in mirepoix just leaves it out and claims it is not really missed.

[djyee100]

I notice when celery's missing from a dish. As a counterpoint to the other easier flavors in a dish, celery adds complexity. In long-cooked dishes like mirepoix or stew, celery should be in the background, blending with the other flavors. If it's at the forefront, then there's probably too much celery in the dish (unless the recipe is supposed to highlight celery), and/or the celery is undercooked. Celery in a soup or stew tastes so different from raw celery (much milder) that I'm surprised anyone can identify it as the hated celery.

Edited July 2, 2010 by djyee100 (log)

[rooftop1000]

Broccoli stems, well peeled

T

[nickrey]

We may be verging into the distinction between taste and flavour. If they dislike the taste, I'd suggest leaving it out completely. Or is their aversion to the flavour, which is taste moderated by elements of the dish such as texture and, possibly, memory of unpleasant stringiness?

If they dislike the taste and you want to get the same mouthfeel effect, substitute something that has a similar texture (although you may find that the dislike is really a textural issue, which means that it will likely generalise to similar textured foods).

If the aversion is to the flavour, you can vary the texture as suggested above by grinding the celery and altering the texture element or simply substituting celery salt, which gives a celery flavour from the ground celery seeds but does not have other properties associated with celery.

I'd explore if they have any other food dislikes that may give you a clue to which is the right option to pursue.

Edited July 3, 2010 by nickrey (log)

[nakji]

What do you need to replace the celery in? I hate the taste and texture of celery, and haven't used it since high school in anything I've cooked. The only dish I've ever really "missed" the texture of it was in bread stuffing for chicken.

[SobaAddict70]

I think, for at least one person I know who has an aversion to the stuff, that the offensive factor is the "stringiness".

I agree, cooked celery has a much different flavor and textural profile than raw celery. The problem is when the taste aversion gets extended to all other forms.

I once had a roommate who couldn't stand tomatoes. She grew up poor, having had to make do at times with Campbell's condensed tomato soup. Cooking for her was quite a challenge.

[andiesenji]

I've often prepared stir-frys for a person who can't stand celery and also doesn't like water chestnuts.

I substitute asparagus and/or green beans, often half and half - blanched and cut on the diagonal.

[xxchef]

Try jicama. Good crunch, little flavor, no strings.

[Richard Kilgore]

Thanks for all the interesting suggestions. I'll try a few and report back.

[catdaddy]

I like the jicama idea.

How about flat leaf parsley to replace the herbal notes of celery and maybe even parsley stems for a little crunch.

[NancyH]

As a life-long celery-hater, let me offer my two cents. I dislike both the texture and the taste of celery. Though I generally leave it out of anything I cook, there are some applications that just demand it, like chicken soup, so I use it there in moderation (and never put any in the bowl I serve to myself). If it is fully cooked (like my brother-in-law's turkey soup at Thanksgiving), I can tolerate it, but usually pick it out and leave it to the side. I do the same with BIL's stuffing! If you make the pieces large enough, a celery-phobe should just be able to work around it in most foods.

I agree with the posters who said there isn't any way to hide or gussy it when raw. I always ask if the tuna or chicken salad has celery, and decline it if it does. I personally find celery (or other "crunch" inducer) unnecessary in these applications, but one lunch place I frequent makes their egg salad without celery but with finely brunoised red onions for a little crunch and zing and I like that very much. I think the flavor of fennel would tend to overpower tuna or chicken salad. Jicama sounds good to me, as would finely diced apple or red onion.

[jgm]

I think I'd just substitute parsley, fennel, or some other vegetable, depending on what else was in the dish.

As for food dislikes being more psychological than anything else, I would agree. I am aware of two relatives who had strong dislikes for certain foods, but after developing Alzheimer's, forgot about it and consumed those foods with obvious enjoyment.

Sometimes it's a matter, too, of the form of a food to which one has been exposed. Fresh asparagus was such a revelation to me. I still can't stand to even watch people eat canned asparagus, which was what we had available when I was growing up.

Wonder if they'll catch me scarfing it down when I'm 85?

[jgm]

...but one lunch place I frequent makes their egg salad without celery but with finely brunoised red onions for a little crunch and zing and I like that very much.

Wow! What a great idea! Can't wait to try it!