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Salad

Celery Salad

A salad of finely chopped cabbage and celery dressed in a creamy vinegar and butter sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,169 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Celery Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Combine the chopped cabbage and celery in a bowl.

  2. In a saucepan, mix vinegar, butter, egg yolks, salt, mustard, cayenne pepper, and sugar.

Make the dressing

  1. Heat the mixture over low heat, stirring until it thickens to a cream-like consistency.

  2. Allow the mixture to cool, then stir in the thick sweet cream.

  3. If the salad is not moist enough, add a little cold vinegar.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Celery + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Cabbage + mustardtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,645 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,081 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Cabbage + celerytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,840 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Thicken the dressing as they set gently over low heat, giving it a creamy body.
Butter
Adds richness and smoothness to the dressing, helping it feel creamy on the leaves.
Vinegar
Provides acidity that sharpens the salad and balances the richness of the butter and yolks.
Thick sweet cream
Adds moisture and mild richness to the finished dressing.
Celery
Forms the crisp, bulky body of the salad.

The step that matters

Heating the dressing over low heat. Egg yolks thicken as their proteins set, but if the heat is too high they scramble and turn grainy. Low, steady heat with constant stirring keeps the mixture smooth.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cabbage, vinegar, butter, egg, mustard, pepper, sugar):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Dillfits better
  3. Capersfits better
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cabbage, vinegar, butter, egg, mustard, pepper, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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