Why it works: Pepper and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,012 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Chicken Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the dressing
Remove fat and skin from the boiled chickens, cut the meat from the bones, and place it in a salad bowl.
Mash the yolks of the hard-boiled eggs, then add the raw yolks, salt, and cayenne pepper. Mix well.
Add 1 tablespoon of vinegar and beat the mixture. Gradually add oil and more vinegar until you have enough dressing.
Chill
Chill the salad in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
Finish and serve
Twenty minutes before serving, add the chopped chicken and 1⅓ cups of vinegar to the salad bowl.
Mix in the finely chopped celery.
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.
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Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together16,012 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,814 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Chicken + celerytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,375 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
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Chicken + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,958 recipes
Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).
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Vinegar + celerytop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,627 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
- Chicken
- Forms the main body of the salad, providing protein and a firm, meaty texture.
- Hard-boiled eggs
- Mashed yolks and raw yolks thicken and emulsify the dressing, giving it body and richness.
- Oil
- Adds fat and richness, and forms the creamy body of the dressing when emulsified.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens the flavor and helps stabilize the emulsified dressing.
- Celery
- Adds crisp texture and a fresh, mildly savory note that contrasts with the creamy dressing.
The step that matters
Adding the oil gradually. Egg yolks can only hold oil in suspension when it is added slowly while beating. Pouring it in too fast can break the emulsion, leaving a greasy, separated dressing instead of a smooth, creamy one.
Swap the celery
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, egg, pepper, vinegar):
- Tarragonfits better
- Dillfits better
- Garlicfits better
- Celerythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, egg, pepper, vinegar. 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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