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Ten short lengths of pale inner celery, each filled along its hollow with a smooth pink cheese spread flecked with blue-gray Roquefort, side by side on a long glass dish on gray marble.
Celery stalks stuffed with Roquefort and butter.

Stuffed Celery with Roquefort (1922)

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Stuffed celery with Roquefort, Frazier Hunt’s favorite from The Stag Cook Book of 1922: the cheese creamed with butter, Worcestershire sauce and paprika, pressed into crisp stalks.

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Recipe makes
About 30 pieces, 10 servings
Prep
Total

Let the cheese and butter soften at room temperature for 30 minutes before creaming them.

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Celery stalks stuffed with Roquefort and butter.

The story behind the recipe

Frazier Hunt, a newspaper correspondent who said he had eaten “in out of the way corners of the world,” chose stuffed celery as his favorite food for The Stag Cook Book of 1922, a collection of recipes from well-known men. His reason: it is easy, a little out of the ordinary, and you can eat a lot of it without anyone thinking less of you, “because everybody eats a lot of stuffed celery.”

What went in the celery?

Half a pound of Roquefort and a quarter pound of butter, creamed until smooth, with a dessertspoonful of Worcestershire sauce, “or a tablespoonful, if you like,” a little salt, and enough paprika to tint it. The filling goes into the hollow side of very white, crisp, fresh stalks “until it bulges.” Hunt says to serve it with dinner, after dinner, with the salad or on its own, and that wherever it goes it is “apt to be the dominant note.” He never mentions cocktails; it joins the cocktail plate in What Did You Nibble With a Cocktail in the 1920s? because it is small, cold and made ahead.

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Making it today

Use the pale inner stalks, which are the most tender, and run a peeler down the backs of any outer ones to take off the strings. Let the Roquefort and butter soften before you cream them so the filling comes out smooth. Hunt offered a tablespoon of Worcestershire as the larger choice, and we use it. A short chill firms the filling so it holds its bulge on the plate.

From the same book, Houdini’s page gives the deviled eggs that stand beside it.

To a half pound of Roquefort cheese add a quarter of a pound of butter. ...

C. Mac Sheridaned., The Stag Cook Book: Written for Men by Men (New York: George H. Doran Company, 1922), Frazier Hunt, Stuffed Celery, p. 151

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Ingredients

For about 30 pieces, 10 servings. Quantities are shown as written.

Quantities as written here, for about 30 pieces, 10 servings.

  • Roquefort cheese8 oz
  • Unsalted butter, softened4 oz
  • Worcestershire sauce1 tbsp
  • Salt1 pinch
  • Sweet paprika1/2 tsp
  • Celery1 bunch
Ingredients as written here
  • 8 oz Roquefort cheese
  • 4 oz unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 pinch salt
  • ½ tsp sweet paprika
  • 1 bunch celery
Equipment
  • Mixing bowl
  • Wooden spoon or electric mixer
  • Vegetable peeler
  • Small knife or piping bag

Instructions

  1. Leave the Roquefort and butter at room temperature for 30 minutes to soften.

  2. Beat them together in the bowl until as smooth as you can make them. Beat in the Worcestershire sauce, salt and paprika.

  3. Separate the celery stalks and wash and dry them. Peel the strings from the backs of the larger outer stalks. Trim the ends and cut the stalks into pieces about 3 inches long.

  4. Fill the hollow of each piece with the cheese mixture, pressing it in until it bulges a little above the edges.

  5. Chill for 15 minutes to firm the filling, then arrange on a plate and serve cold.

Nutrition

170calories per serving

Recipe makes
About 30 pieces, 10 servings
Servings
10

Estimated per serving from USDA FoodData Central values for Roquefort cheese, butter and celery.

Recipe notes

When adjusting quantities

Two parts Roquefort to one part butter, as Hunt made it. One bunch of celery takes about this much filling.

Notes

Quantities mentioned in these notes don’t change when you adjust the servings.

Make it up to 4 hours ahead and keep it covered in the refrigerator. Roquefort is made from raw sheep’s milk; anyone pregnant may want a pasteurized blue cheese. Contains milk, fish (anchovies in most Worcestershire sauce) and celery.

Scaling changes the ingredients only; pan sizes and cooking times need their own judgment. To adapt this recipe further, try the recipe tool at TuneMyRecipe (opens in a new tab), our sister site.

Sources and attribution

After Frazier Hunt, Stuffed Celery, in C. Mac Sheridan, ed., The Stag Cook Book (New York: George H. Doran Company, 1922)

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Recipe details

Course
Starter
Region
American
Era
Interwar
Source decade
1920s
Main ingredient
Milk & cream
Difficulty
Easy
Occasion
Dinner party