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Chicken Salad

A salad of chopped chicken and celery with a creamy dressing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Chicken Salad

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 ↓

Chicken Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the chicken and celery

  1. In a large bowl, combine the chopped chickens and celery.

Make the dressing

  1. In a separate bowl, rub the yolks of the hard-boiled eggs to a fine powder.

  2. Add the flour, sugar, salt, mustard, and oil to the egg yolks, mixing well.

  3. Stir in the cream, then add the vinegar and raw egg, mixing until smooth.

Combine and serve

  1. Pour the dressing over the chicken and celery mixture and toss to combine.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Flour + mustardtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,066 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Chicken + mustardtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,192 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Raw egg and yolks emulsify with oil and cream, giving the dressing a smooth, thick body.
Oil
Forms an emulsion with the yolks, adding richness and a silky texture to the dressing.
Flour
Thickens the dressing so it clings to the chicken and celery instead of pooling.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, softening the sharpness of the vinegar.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the richness of the oil and yolks.

The step that matters

Rubbing the yolks to a fine powder. Yolks that stay lumpy will not blend smoothly into the oil and cream, so the dressing can split or feel grainy. Breaking them down fully lets them act as an emulsifier and gives an even, creamy texture.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, egg, vinegar, flour, sugar, mustard, cream):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Nutmegfits about as well
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, egg, vinegar, flour, sugar, mustard, cream. 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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