Sauces/Gravy Celery Sauce

celery sauce
(from Miss Leslie's Complete Cookery, by Eliza Leslie, 1838)

Ingredients:

large bunch of young celery​

water​

powdered mace​

nutmeg​

pepper​

salt​

large piece of butter​

flour​

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Instructions:

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Take a large bunch of young celery. Wash and pare it very clean. Cut it into pieces, and boil it gently in a small quantity of water, till it is quite tender. Then add a little powdered mace and nutmeg, and a very little pepper and salt. Take a tolerably large piece of butter, roll it well in flour, and stir it into the sauce. Boil it up again, and it is ready to send to table.​

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You may make it with cream, thus:--Prepare and boil your celery as above, adding some mace, nutmeg, a piece of butter the size of a walnut, rolled in flour; and half a pint of cream. Boil all together.​

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Celery sauce is eaten with boiled poultry.​

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When celery is out of season, you may use celery seed, boiled in the water which you afterwards use for the melted butter, but strained out after boiling.​