Easy Recipes

Celery Julep

When youre a kid, its hard to parse out what in life is universal, and whats particular to your specific situation (be it family, region or country). Growing up in suburban New York, I had no idea that Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, wasnt a national school holiday. Or that getting bussed in to a theater to see productions of weird Swiss pantomime wasnt an annual rite of childhood. Or that some people had never even heard of Cel-Ray soda.



For the uninitiated, Cel-Ray is a celery-flavored soda. And its much better than it sounds. Its got celerys snappy vegetal notes, but tamed into a sweet fizzy drink. Cel-Rays traditional lot in life is to serve as a perfect foil to a fatty deli sandwich, where its bite cuts through like ginger ale. And like ginger ale, its great in a whiskey drink.



This recipe, from the Lee Brothers, differs from Cel-Ray in some substantial ways (namely that its much more delicate and fresh-tasting, and missing the high-fructose corn syrup). But it creates a deliciously balanced cocktail. Celery stalks are blitzed and strained, along with some celery seeds, and the resulting bright-green juice is just barely heated with a scoop of sugar to create a syrup. This leaves the celery still tasting bright and clean, so it can stand up perfectly to a bit of whiskey (they favor Bourbon, but I think its great with whatever youve got). Lifted with lemon and lightened with seltzer, it turns into a great summer cocktail. The only downside is that youve got to drink it quick -- the celery syrup tastes snappy when fresh, but slightly bitter after a day or two. Fortunately, this is not hard.





Celery Julep



adapted, very slightly, from The Lee Bros. Simple Fresh Southern: Knockout Dishes with Down-Home Flavor

yields enough concentrate for ~5-6 drinks



4-5 large stalks celery, roughly chopped (plus additional whole stalks for garnish)

1/2 cup plus 1 Tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp celery seeds

hefty pinch salt

whiskey

lemon juice

seltzer



Put the celery, 1 Tbsp of the sugar, celery seed and salt in a food processor. Pulse until the mixture is reduced to a puree. Pass it through a fine-mesh strainer, pressing on and discarding the solids.



Place the strained celery juice in a saucepan, along with the 1/2 cup sugar. Heat gently until it just dissolves, then cool.



To assemble the juleps, shake together 2 ounces whiskey, 1 Tbsp lemon juice, and 2 Tbsp celery syrup with ice. Pour into a glass with ice, top off with seltzer, and garnish with a celery sprig. Adjust to taste.

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