I have added celery to spaghetti sauce. I rather enjoy the texture and it was a way to trick my kids into eating some vegetable fiber when they were little :) I don't bother anymore now that they're grown :) I will sometimes still add carrots though.
I think its a good "natural" source for nitrates which act as a preservative. So you (giant company that wants to make food in vast quantities that keep for a long time) can keep your "added preservatives" low while getting functional preservatives.
Sorry to be anti-purist, but I can't think of any soup/stew/sauce kind of thing that isn't improved by celery. It's just amazing: great crunch, subtle aroma, very step-aside in flavor. It's the all-natural alternative to MSG, if you ask me.
There are a lot of ways to make chili, but I've never seen a recipe with celery. Different beans or no beans, different meats or no meat, heat or no heat. Almost endless combinations, but celery?
One of my first Twitter spats was about the difference between jus and gravy.
Unfortunately cooks/chefs aren't scientific in their definitions so there's room for argument.
I nevertheless maintain that jus is thickened by reduction and gravy by flour (or other thickener).
I'm really fun at parties.
Comments
🎶Lunacy in chili🎶
🎶Cannot stop the celery🎶
Villains do.
I try to be descriptivist about these things but.. carrots?
In chili?
I mean, if you're making vegetarian chili, sure.
But classically, nay.
Thanks Ray.
I'll admit mine resembles Hormel chili more than anything.
(Or soffritto)
Unfortunately cooks/chefs aren't scientific in their definitions so there's room for argument.
I nevertheless maintain that jus is thickened by reduction and gravy by flour (or other thickener).
I'm really fun at parties.
It's the green herbal flavor that balances the rest.