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Chicken Salad

A salad made with boiled chicken, mustard, egg yolks, vinegar, oil, celery, pickle, bread crumbs, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Chicken Salad

Why it works: Mustard and celery 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. Remove the skin from the boiled chicken.

  2. Chop the chicken meat into a dish.

  3. Cover the chicken with a towel slightly dipped in cold water to keep it moist.

  4. Cut the celery and place it between clean cloths to dry.

Make the dressing

  1. Combine the mustard and raw egg yolk in a large dish and beat the mixture well for 10 minutes.

  2. Slowly add the vinegar to the mustard mixture while stirring.

  3. Gradually add the oil drop by drop, stirring continuously.

  4. Stir in the rubbed smooth yolks of the hard-boiled eggs.

  5. Add the ½ teacup of vinegar.

  6. Combine this mixture with the mustard and oil. Stir lightly.

Assemble and serve

  1. Add the chopped chicken, chopped celery, yellow pickle, and stale bread crumbs.

  2. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

  3. Pour the dressing over the salad just before serving.

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. Mustard + celerytop 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

Oil
Forms the rich, creamy body of the dressing as it emulsifies.
Raw egg yolk
Acts as an emulsifier, holding the oil and vinegar together in the dressing.
Hard-boiled egg yolks
Thicken the dressing and add a smooth, rich texture.
Mustard
Helps stabilise the emulsion and adds a sharp flavour that balances the richness.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and cuts through the oil.
Stale bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and give the salad body.

The step that matters

Adding the oil drop by drop. Oil must be added slowly while stirring so its droplets disperse evenly in the egg yolk and mustard. Adding it too fast can cause the emulsion to split, leaving a greasy, runny dressing.

Swap the celery

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, mustard, egg, vinegar, bread, pepper. 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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