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Salad

Chicken Salad

A salad of cold boiled chicken, celery, hard boiled eggs, and a dressing of egg yolks, mustard, sugar, oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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

  1. Cut the chicken meat into pea-sized pieces.

  2. Chop the celery into small pieces. Set aside in a cold place.

Make the dressing

  1. Mash the yolks of the hard boiled eggs into a fine paste.

  2. Mix in the salt, pepper, and sugar.

  3. Gradually add the salad oil while mixing vigorously.

  4. Add the mustard and the beaten raw egg, mixing well.

  5. Slowly pour in the vinegar, whisking continuously until well combined.

Combine and serve

  1. Sprinkle a little dry salt over the chicken and celery. Toss lightly.

  2. Pour the dressing over the chicken and celery. Mix until evenly coated.

  3. Transfer to a salad bowl. Garnish with chopped hard boiled egg whites and celery tops.

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

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

  3. Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

  5. Meat + chickentop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

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

What each ingredient does

Chicken
Provides the main body and protein of the salad.
Eggs
Yolks form an emulsifying paste that binds the dressing; the raw egg adds richness and body.
Salad oil
Supplies fat that carries flavor and gives the dressing a smooth, creamy texture.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the richness of the oil and egg.
Celery
Adds crisp texture and a fresh, mildly vegetal bite.
Prepared mustard
Helps stabilize the emulsion and adds a sharp, tangy aroma.

The step that matters

Gradually add the salad oil while mixing vigorously. Adding oil slowly while beating breaks it into tiny droplets held by the egg yolk's lecithin. Pouring too fast causes the dressing to separate and turn greasy.

Swap the celery

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, chicken, egg, pepper, mustard, sugar, 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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