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Salad

Celery Salad

A salad of finely chopped cabbage and celery dressed with a vinaigrette of vinegar, butter, egg yolks, mustard, salt, cayenne pepper, sugar, and cream.

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

Make the dressing

  1. Mix vinegar, butter, egg yolks, mustard, salt, cayenne pepper, and sugar in a bowl until well combined.

  2. Heat the mixture in a saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly until it thickens.

  3. Remove from heat and let it cool.

  4. Stir in the cream.

Assemble the salad

  1. Pour the dressing over the chopped cabbage and celery.

  2. 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 cooked dressing and add richness as they set gently over low heat.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, creamy body to the dressing.
Cabbage
Provides the crisp, bulky base of the salad.
Celery
Adds crunch and a fresh, savory flavor to the salad.
Vinegar
Brings acidity that balances the richness of the butter and yolks.

The step that matters

Heating the dressing over low heat. Egg yolks thicken at gentle heat but can scramble if the mixture gets too hot or is not stirred constantly. Low heat and steady stirring keep the dressing 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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