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Chicken Salad

A salad of boiled chicken, celery, eggs, and a mustard vinaigrette.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 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. Boil the chicken until tender, then chop it finely.

  2. In a bowl, combine the chopped chicken, celery, and hard-boiled eggs.

Dress and serve

  1. In a separate bowl, mix the melted butter or oil, mustard, salt, pepper, and vinegar.

  2. Pour the dressing over the chicken 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. 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. Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

  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

Chicken
Forms the main body of the salad, becoming tender when boiled and then chopped.
Hard-boiled eggs
Add soft, creamy texture and richness to the chicken mixture.
Butter or oil
Adds fat and moisture, coating the chicken and carrying flavor through the salad.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the richness of the fat.
Mustard
Contributes sharp flavor and helps emulsify the dressing with the fat.

The step that matters

Pour the dressing over the chicken mixture and toss to combine.. The dressing should be evenly distributed so every piece is seasoned and moistened. Tossing gently keeps the chopped eggs and chicken from breaking down into a paste.

Swap the celery

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, egg, butter, mustard, 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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