Celery Salt

[Jenise]

Bill Spohn posted this popcorn recipe in Robin's Bubbly and Popcorn thread on the wine board, which contains celery salt:

RCP: Frenchy Popcorn

1/2 cup unsalted butter
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tbsp grapeseed oil
1 cup popcorn kernels
2 tbsp herbes de Provence
Celery salt, to taste
Salt

Directions:
Melt the butter with the garlic, remove from the heat and allow to infuse. Heat the oil in a large pot, add the popcorn, tossing to coat. Cover, and shake the pan over high heat until all the corn has popped. Remove the garlic from the butter and pour the butter over the popcorn. Toss.
Scatter over the herbs and salts, toss again. Voilà.

Popcorn? Love it. Herbes de Provence? Couldn't live without it. Garlic butter? Yumm! But what really puts this recipe into the zone of irresistability (have yet to try it, but it's on deck) for me is that it calls for celery salt.

My kitchen wouldn't be without celery salt, though admittedly I don't have that many uses for it. At least 95% of the times I use it, it is lightly sprinkled on slices of swiss or gruyere cheese which I occasionally serve myself as a snack or turn into an appetizer for dry white wine or dry sherry along with large caper berries and raw almonds. The rest of the time it's sprinkled on a cream soup or used to season something like a bean salad. That's about it and it's not a lot, but such is my deep affection for the swiss cheese & celery salt combo that I am never without it. I look forward to trying Bill's recipe.

What about others? Like it, love it, hate it, never had it? And if you're a fellow fan, what are your uses for it?

Love it in my egg salad and put lots of it in my Bloody Marys. Other than that, don't really use it. I do love Lawry's seasoning on grilled chicken though, and I think that is mostly celery salt.

Celery salt ? Not an off-the-shelf MSG-laden version ?

You make your own, right ? From seeds, fresh or dried, man - that's the ticket !

When celery salt is called for we use one part Penseys' ground celery seed and two parts sea salt.

[Jenise]

Celery salt ? Not an off-the-shelf MSG-laden version ?

You make your own, right ? From seeds, fresh or dried, man - that's the ticket !

I use Penzey's--never thought about whether it contains MSG or not. But where that's concerned, I don't object to MSG--it's not the pariah it was made out to be, and that umame flavor is highly beneficial to some foods.

I have a salad dressing recipe that calls for it, so I always have it on hand. I can't think of anything else I use it for though.

Jenise,

Really ? I wasn't thinking of the MSG health effects only, which actually are still be a problem for many people. I do understand that respected health organizations recognize that small amounts of MSG can be relatively benign to most healthy people. But it is a product still very highly-associated with increasing the human response to - and development of new - food allergies. My wife Dawn, for example, suffers an incredibly painful, vivid and visible skin irritation when she eats foods having laced (spiced) with MSG; her reaction is much less severe to these foods without the MSG content. I experience a feeling of heat and flushing of the skin on my face and neck from ingesting MSG, but nothing more severe. Perhaps these experiences led to the intensity of my rather crusade-like intolerance for MSG's use.

But I was thinking that here (within this thread for foodies) I personally think MSG is a crutch for covering up poor or inadequate technique in the kitchen. We talk with many chefs about this. I can't think of a respected (Western) chef that Dawn and I know (comprising certainly 40 or more folks in the greater LA area) who resort to using MSG anymore. Or at least they don't confess to us to using it anyway. We can tell if they do use it. I see MSG much more easily abused at home than salt as a food additive (another overused kitchen crutch) but MSG is without the related benefits of satiating both the human craving for - and physiological need for - salts.

I don't use MSG, and I try very hard to avoid consuming it. Mushrooms taste a bit less interesting without it. I've ranted and now I go away, at least with an explanation. Please excuse me for kidnapping this thread temporarily, and please resume the original direction of the celery salt thread, without interruption from me. Unless nudged further.

[Jenise]

But it is a product still very highly-associated with increasing the human response to - and development of new - food allergies. My wife Dawn, for example, suffers an incredibly painful, vivid and visible skin irritation when she eats foods having laced (spiced) with MSG; her reaction is much less severe to these foods without the MSG content. I experience a feeling of heat and flushing of the skin on my face and neck from ingesting MSG, but nothing more severe. Perhaps these experiences led to the intensity of my rather crusade-like intolerance for MSG's use.

If I reacted like to MSG like that, I can see where I'd be a crusader too. But as it is, it has no effect on me, and in fact you're the first person I've ever known to have actually traced a health problem to it.

I personally think MSG is a crutch for covering up poor or inadequate technique in the kitchen. We talk with many chefs about this. I can't think of a respected (Western) chef that Dawn and I know (comprising certainly 40 or more folks in the greater LA area) who resort to using MSG anymore.

Nor do I. I use it in one dish and one dish alone: Asian-style fried rice. It must be indestructible: I've owned the same little 2 ounce jar for close to 20 years, and I haven't noticed that it's lost potency, though of course it would have done so slowly and I have nothing to compare it to.

I've ranted and now I go away, at least with an explanation. Please excuse me for kidnapping this thread temporarily, and please resume the original direction of the celery salt thread, without interruption from me. Unless nudged further.

No problem, not derailed at all. These little detours are often what makes these threads both informative and more interesting.

I have a salad dressing recipe that calls for it, so I always have it on hand. I can't think of anything else I use it for though.

We use the ground celery seed along with salt and other things in tuna & chicken salad, seafood & chicken stews, and many other things. We go through a jar of it about once a year.

[Jenise]

We use the ground celery seed along with salt and other things in tuna & chicken salad, seafood & chicken stews, and many other things. We go through a jar of it about once a year.

Do you use the ground seed only? I use whole celery seed frequently--my potato salad wouldn't be the same without it.

Whole celery seed sticks in my teeth. You could also make an argument that one could chop up celery. We do that too, but when making a sandwich for lunch, and the only thing available is a can in the pantry (like today!), the ground celery seed comes in handy. It was a great chicken salad sandwich by the way.

Yes, Jenise...I use celery salt for things like soups and Bloody Mary's, but also for chicken stock sometimes, if I don't have celery on hand. I always use whole celery seed for my Cole slaw.

Jeff- my celery salt contains no MSG. My son who is allergic to everything of course can not have MSG because it can be derived from wheat and he is allergic to wheat. It's amazing the amount of things that contain MSG though! He has never eaten it, but I am sure he would react to it. My husband had an uncle who was highly allergic to MSG, he would go into anaphylactic shock if he ate it. It's not an uncommon allergy.

An absolutely essential ingredient in dry rub.

Yeah, what Chef said. The only two things I can think of off the top of my head that I use it for, is Bloody Mary seasoning, and a component of a dry rub for pork.
But I think I'll try it on Swiss cheese tomorrow.

[Jenise]

Celery salt ? Not an off-the-shelf MSG-laden version ?

You make your own, right ? From seeds, fresh or dried, man - that's the ticket !

I can now confirm: Penzey's celery salt does not contain MSG.

[Jenise]

Yeah, what Chef said. The only two things I can think of off the top of my head that I use it for, is Bloody Mary seasoning, and a component of a dry rub for pork.
But I think I'll try it on Swiss cheese tomorrow.

I must be the only here who has never made a Bloody Mary. But yes re the dry rub, definitely.

I must be the only here who has never made a Bloody Mary.

Nope, count me in there too, Jenise. It's a mouthfeel thing.

[Jenise]

I must be the only here who has never made a Bloody Mary.

Nope, count me in there too, Jenise. It's a mouthfeel thing.

It's actually the vodka I don't like. Well, that and drinking at the hour Bloody Mary's are traditionally consumed.