celery Victor — San Francisco, United States

Celery Victor is a chilled celery salad served as a first course rather than a side dish: hearts of celery are cooked until tender, then cooled and left to steep in a savory marinade before being plated over lettuce leaves and finished with a light dressing. The dish is reported from San Francisco and is credited to Victor Hirtzler, head chef at the St. Francis Hotel, around 1910; he is also linked to Crab Louie, another San Francisco dish. The recipe reached a wider audience after writer Clarence Edwords included it in his 1914 guide to the city's restaurants, and it has stayed on the menus of American hotel dining rooms since. To prepare it, whole celery hearts are trimmed of their tougher outer stalks and simmered gently in a veal, chicken, or beef stock until just tender, then cooled in their own broth. Once chilled, the hearts are laid on lettuce and dressed with a marinade built from oil, vinegar or citrus juice, salt, and pepper. Strips of mild red pepper, or pimento, are typically arranged over the top, and some kitchens add a fillet of anchovy or a scattering of chopped tarragon. What distinguishes this dish within the wider family of celery salads is the poaching step: rather than serving the stalks raw and crisp, they are cooked until soft and left to absorb the stock and marinade, giving a texture closer to a cooked vegetable dish served cold than a crunchy salad. The stock-based cooking liquid is also often reduced and used to enrich the marinade itself.