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Salad

Dressing for Chicken Salad

A dressing made from mashed egg yolks, mustard, oil, vinegar, celery, and seasonings for chicken salad.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Dressing for 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 ↓

Dressing for Chicken Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cook the chickens.

  2. Let the chickens cool.

Make the dressing

  1. Mash the yolks of the eggs very smooth.

  2. Mix the mashed yolks with the beaten raw egg.

  3. Add the mustard, red pepper, salad oil, vinegar, and salt to taste.

  4. Stir in the cut celery 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. Pepper + celerytop 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

Egg yolks
Mashed smooth, they emulsify the oil and vinegar into a thick, creamy dressing.
Raw egg
Adds binding and body to the dressing as it thickens.
Mustard
Its natural emulsifiers help hold the oil and vinegar together and add sharp flavor.
Salad oil
Provides fat that gives the dressing richness and a smooth texture.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that balances the richness of the oil and yolks.
Celery
Adds crisp texture and fresh flavor to the salad.

The step that matters

Mash the yolks very smooth. Lumps of yolk will not blend into the dressing, so the oil and vinegar may separate and the texture will be grainy. Smooth yolks emulsify better.

Swap the celery

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, egg, 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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