Stalk

A stalk is the long main stem of a plant. In recipes it most often means one rib of celery: a single curved piece pulled from the bundle. Strictly speaking, the whole bundle is the stalk and each piece is a rib, but almost every modern recipe uses stalk to mean one rib. In the UK it is called a stick of celery. The word also comes up with lemongrass, rhubarb, broccoli, chard and Brussels sprouts.

How to do it

For celery:

1. Pull a rib from the outside of the bunch.
2. Trim the pale base and the leafy top. Keep the leaves for stock or salads.
3. If the outside is stringy, run a vegetable peeler down the back.
4. Slice or dice as the recipe says.

For lemongrass, cut off the root end and the dry, grassy top, leaving the bottom 10 to 12 cm (4 to 5 inches). Peel off the tough outer layer, then bash it with the back of a knife to cook whole, or slice it very thin to eat.

For broccoli, peel the tough skin off the main stem and slice the pale, tender inside. It cooks in about the same time as the florets.

How to use it

Rough amounts for one stalk:

One stalk of	Rough weight	What you get
Celery (one medium rib)	40 to 60 g	about ½ cup chopped
Lemongrass	15 to 25 g	1 to 2 tablespoons finely chopped
Rhubarb	50 to 100 g	about ½ to ¾ cup sliced
Broccoli (main stem)	80 to 150 g	about 1 cup sliced

If a recipe says "2 stalks celery" and gives no weight, use two medium ribs, not two whole bunches. Two whole bunches would be well over a kilogram.

Common mistakes

• Using a whole bunch of celery when the recipe meant one rib. Celery takes over a dish quickly.
• Eating rhubarb leaves. Only the stalks are eaten. The leaves are poisonous.
• Leaving the woody top of lemongrass in a dish. It never softens.

In recipes

You will see "1 celery stalk, diced" in a mirepoix or the Cajun holy trinity, "2 stalks lemongrass, bruised" and "4 stalks rhubarb, cut into 2 cm pieces". A whole celery plant is also called a head or a bunch.