The Underrated Root Vegetable Gordon Ramsay Swears By

Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay is best known as the fiery host of "Hell's Kitchen," but he's also a serious culinary professional whose restaurants have earned multiple Michelin stars. The British chef isn't shy about leveraging that experience to share his opinions about food and food trends. So we know he's an emphatic "no" in the pineapple-on-pizza debate, and that he considers truffle oil an overrated, bougie ingredient that many chefs don't use correctly. Similarly, he's said that celeriac, also known as celery root, is an ingredient that deserves more attention.

Ramsay named the root vegetable when Bon Appétit asked him what he believes is the most underrated food. He speculated that its homely appearance might be the reason, but said, "Despite its ugly exterior, it is absolutely delicious within." He raved, "It's brilliant in soups, fantastic deep-fried as vegetable chips, or grated raw in salad." Celeriac is round, with rough, pocked brownish skin and twisted protruding roots, but it has a plain white interior once peeled and trimmed. It's generally around 4 to 5 inches in diameter, though it can grow larger.

Ramsay also talked up celeriac while cooking it as part of creamed cabbage with carrots and pancetta for his show "The F Word," saying its "extraordinary" flavor made the dish "taste almost like the garden" (via YouTube). He also once posted a Facebook video of a veggie version of beef Wellington he created using celeriac wrapped in pastry instead of beef.

Although it's called a root vegetable, celeriac is actually the large stem of a variety of celery grown specifically for the underground part of the plant. The celery we typically eat is a different type bred for its stalks. Its herby taste is like a more earthy and nutty version of celery with notes of parsley and parsnip and a touch of peppery bitterness. However, cooking mellows and sweetens its flavor. Celeriac is less starchy than other root vegetables, with a crisp texture similar to turnips or apples, and it's related to parsnips and carrots as well as parsley and anise.

Celeriac is more traditionally eaten in Europe, where it's most famous for a French salad called celeriac rémoulade in which it's grated raw into shredded pieces and coated with a mustard-mayonnaise dressing. Making a creamy celeriac puree with cream and butter is another of the most common ways to use it. It's also often paired with apples in dishes like slaws, and herbs like parsley and tarragon go particularly well with it.

The cooking methods named by Gordon Ramsay could include a creamy celery root soup or more daring fried celery root steaks. Celeriac can also be tossed with olive oil and roasted in the oven with herbs, either alone or with other root vegetables. You can saute or grill it as well, or add it to stews. It works as a lower-starch alternative to potatoes too, such as subbing it for half the spuds in mashed potatoes. With all these delicious options, it's worth giving this overlooked vegetable a try.