The Unique Topping That Gives Your Burger A Fresh Crunch

The fastest way to turn heads at a cookout is to unleash unexpected ingredients, condiments, and even grilling techniques. Little else will get guests talking quite like the matter of using butter to prevent dry burgers or the best method for forming ground beef into patties will. And the addition of celery to your complement of burger toppings will serve as a tasty conversation starter, too.

We are not talking, of course, about entire stalks, evocative as the image of a whole, leafy bunch on a bun may be. Curly celery, instead, is a more user-friendly way to incorporate celery into your burgers. And if you've ever twirled a gift ribbon with scissors, you can curl celery, too. Applying a similar principle, you'll use a vegetable peeler to slice long, thin celery strips. Transferred to a bowl of ice water, the strips will soak up additional moisture, which will cause them to curl after a few hours in the refrigerator. You can also give your celery curls a head start by arranging the strips into loops before refrigerating, or add more shape by winding them tighter once they're removed to dry. Additionally, the water bath also kicks in turgor pressure, which causes the delicate celery curls to swell up and become crunchy as they absorb the moisture.

A juicy burger topped with little more than lettuce, tomato, and a smattering of sauces, will hit savory, salty, sweet, and umami notes in every bite. But, even with that lettuce, it's still lacking what could be a highly satisfying crunch. Creating this very texture just happens to be what celery curls do best. Plus, with celery's neutral flavor profile, you can also feel free to bring in bolder tastes.

Given all the reasons that celery is so frequently served with Buffalo wings, the pair's frequent companion, blue cheese, would be a fantastic celery curl accompaniment in a burger. Celery is a very cooling vegetable due to its aqueous nature, which also makes it a great match for all manner of hot sauce intensities. It's worth serving celery curl-topped burgers with bloody marys, too, given the tipple and the veggie's enduring association. Failing that, you can also just add bloody mary ingredients like Worcestershire sauce and horseradish into your burger blend to subtly incorporate some of those brunch-time classics.