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Salad

Dressing for Chicken Salad

A dressing made with egg yolks, mustard, red pepper, salad oil, vinegar, celery, and salt.

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

Make the base

  1. Mash the yolks of 12 eggs very smooth.

  2. Beat 1 raw egg lightly and mix with the mashed yolks.

Finish the dressing

  1. Add ½ cup mustard, 4 teaspoons red pepper, 1 cup salad oil, and 1 cup vinegar.

  2. Stir in 1 quart of cut celery and season with salt to taste.

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
Act as the emulsifier and add richness, helping oil and vinegar blend into a smooth dressing.
Raw egg
Adds body and helps bind the mashed yolks into a thicker, cohesive base.
Mustard
Contains natural emulsifiers that help hold the oil and vinegar together and add sharpness.
Salad oil
Provides fat for richness, mouthfeel and a smooth, silky texture.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens flavor and balances the richness of the yolks and oil.
Celery
Contributes crisp texture and a fresh, mild flavor to the finished salad.

The step that matters

Adding the oil and vinegar to the yolk base. Oil and vinegar are immiscible, so they only stay blended when the yolks and mustard emulsify them. Mixing thoroughly at this point helps the dressing stay smooth rather than separating.

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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