Tesla’s Roast Duck with Celery

Roast duck, sadly without a crispy skin, with creamy celery sauce

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City/Region: New York

Time Period: 1896

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Nikola Tesla was a scientific genius and a very eccentric man in many aspects of his life, especially in his eating habits. He only ate at a few restaurants where he had reserved tables, and he required two dozen napkins with which he’d wipe down each piece of silverware before dropping the napkins on the floor.

He would sometimes supervise the cooking of his meals, including this duck roasted under a smothering of celery, a recipe which journalist and author of Prodigal genius; the life of Nikola Tesla, John J. O’Neill, said “was of his own devising.” With the lack of detail about this dish, it’s impossible to say if this method is what was intended, but I found that roasting with the celery didn’t impart much flavor.

The celery sauce, which has a bit of nutmeg, does pair nicely with the duck, but I prefer duck with a nice crispy skin and a sweet sauce.

“Roast Ducks.
Truss the birds…rub a little butter over them and dredge with flour, salt and pepper, and roast in a hot oven for twenty or thirty minutes. If preferred stuffed, peel, core and quarter some apples and fill the body with them, removing them when the bird is done, as they are not fit to eat, the flavor being too strong…”

“Celery Sauce for Boiled Fowls.
Wash thoroughly and trim a head of celery. Put it into boiling water, with one tablespoonful of salt, and boil it until it is tender. Then drain it through a colander, and cut into pieces one-half inch in length. Blend a large tablespoonful of flour with one-fourth pint of the broth in which the fowls are boiling. Mix till it is quite smooth, add one ounce of butter, a small piece of grated nutmeg, and salt to taste, and mix it with one-fourth pint of milk. Place it over the fire in a saucepan, and stir it till it boils. Let it boil for ten minutes and then throw in the pieces of celery; when it is quite hot again, pour it into a sauce-tureen, and serve.”

— The Cook Book by “Oscar” of the Waldorf by Oscar Tschirky, 1896

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Ingredients:

Roasted Duck

• 2 apples
• 1 duck
• 2 tablespoons (28 g) butter, softened
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 cup (60 g) flour
• 20-30 stalks of celery

Celery Sauce

• 1 head celery
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1/2 cup (120 ml) chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons (28 g) butter
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 cup (120 ml) milk

Instructions:

1. To make the duck: Preheat the oven to 400°F (205°C).
2. Peel, core, and chop the apples into about 1 inch (2.5 cm) pieces. Remove any giblets from the cavity of the duck, then stuff it with the apples. Tie the legs together with a piece of kitchen twine.
3. Use a sharp knife to cut a crosshatch pattern onto the skin of the breast. You don’t want to cut down into the meat, just the skin and fat. You can also make a few slices into the legs as well.
4. Rub the butter all over the duck. You may not need the full 2 tablespoons. Sprinkle it all over with the salt and pepper. Place the flour on a plate and then roll the duck in the flour, sprinkling the flour over it as needed, until it is fully coated. Place the duck in the rack of a roasting pan.
5. Trim the ends and leaves off of clean celery stalks. Arrange them into a kind of house around the duck, leaning them up over it with the ends resting in the pan.
6. Roast until the breast registers 135-140°F (57-60°C). Mine took about 1 hour 15 minutes.
7. To make the celery sauce: Clean and trim the celery as for the duck. Cut it into pieces so that it will fit into a medium saucepan. Add the salt and fill the saucepan with water, then set it on the stove over high heat and bring it to a boil, then boil for about 7 minutes or until the celery is quite soft. Drain the celery and let it sit until it’s cool enough to handle.
8. In a saucepan, whisk together the flour and chicken broth. Add the butter, nutmeg, and milk, and stir everything together. Place the pot over medium heat and bring it to a gentle boil. Boil for 10 minutes, stirring every minute or so.
9. While the sauce boils, chop the cooled celery into 1/2 inch (1 cm) pieces. I don’t see why the original recipe doesn’t have you chop the celery into 1/2 inch pieces before boiling it, so go ahead and do that if you’d like.
10. Add the chopped celery to the sauce and stir, continuing to cook until it’s heated through. If you’d like a thinner sauce, add a little more milk or chicken broth.
11. To serve: When the duck is done, remove it from the oven and let it rest for 10 minutes, then serve it forth with the celery sauce. To truly dine like Nikola Tesla, eat only the meat on either side of the breastbone.

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