Celeriac Purée
Purè di Sedano Rapa
Celeriac cooked gently in milk and cream, mounted with cold butter and passed.
Not mashed celeriac. It is cooked at a bare simmer in milk and cream with thyme and bay, blended long enough to build an emulsion, mounted with cold butter and passed. The gentle sweetness of the celeriac carries it and the butter gives it the gloss.
Celeriac purée with beef fillet
A serving example showing the purée with beef fillet.
At the pass: fillet with celeriac purée
A plated fillet with celeriac purée from Chef Paul's kitchen.
Written for 10 portions, for fine dining plating
Do not boil it aggressively. A bare simmer keeps the flavour clean and stops the milk splitting, and passing it through a fine chinois is the difference between good and very good.
Ingredients
The base
- Celeriac, peeled, diced 2 to 3 cm2.5 kg
- Full cream milk1.2 L
- Fresh cream500 ml
- Water, or light chicken stock, for more depth250 ml
Aromatics
- Garlic, cloves, lightly crushed2 each
- Thyme, sprigs2 each
- Bay leaf1 each
Mounting and finish
- Cold unsalted butter, cubed180 g
- Fine salt
- White peppervery restrained
- White truffle oil or fresh truffle, optional10 ml to 15 ml
Method
Put the celeriac, milk, cream, water, garlic, thyme and bay into a wide pot. The liquid should just cover the celeriac.
Cook on a low heat at a bare simmer for 25 to 35 minutes, until a knife slides through effortlessly. Do not boil it hard.
Remove the aromatics and strain the celeriac, reserving the cooking liquid.
Reduce about 300 to 400 ml of that liquid until slightly thickened, which concentrates the flavour without weight.
Blend the celeriac in a high-speed blender, adding the reduced liquid gradually, for at least 2 to 3 minutes. You are building an emulsion.
Add the cold butter slowly while blending, for gloss and structure.
Push it through a fine chinois or sieve.
Season carefully with salt and the smallest touch of white pepper. If you are using truffle, it goes in at the end and is never cooked.
Chef’s notes
- The texture to aim at: it should hold a quenelle, with no graininess at all, glossy and almost like a thick crème anglaise but stable.
- For a nuttier, deeper version that suits beef, roast 30 percent of the celeriac in butter until golden before it goes into the pot, and blend it with the rest.
- Replacing 30 percent of the butter with beurre noisette gives a toasted backbone that sits well against a steak jus.
- A few drops of lemon juice or white balsamic lift the richness without being noticeable.
Keeping
DUKAI storage guidance
Cool it quickly rather than leaving it on the pass: to below 21°C within about two hours, and to 5°C or below within a further four. At 5°C or below, use within 3 to 4 days. Reheat it gently: it is a butter emulsion and it will split over a hard heat.
Allergens and diet
Milk.
Last refined · September 2026