Name: Chicken Salad
Ingredients: 4 boiled chicken breasts; 8 cups celery, chopped; 12 hard boiled egg whites, chopped

Why it works: Chicken and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,375 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Chicken Salad

Ingredients

4 boiled chicken breasts
8 cups celery, chopped
12 hard boiled egg whites, chopped

Directions

Cut the boiled chicken breasts into small pieces, but not too fine.
Mix the chicken with the chopped celery and chopped egg whites.

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.

Chicken + celerytop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,375 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Chicken + eggtop 30% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,991 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Celery + eggtop 34% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,334 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

Boiled chicken breasts: Provides the main protein and bulk of the salad.
Celery: Adds crunch and a fresh, mildly savory contrast to the soft chicken.
Hard boiled egg whites: Add soft texture and mild body that help bind the salad together.