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Moulded Chicken Salad

Chicken salad molded in gelatin with decorative hard‑boiled egg garnish.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Norton, Caroline Trask · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 23% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 21,449 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓

Moulded Chicken Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stock

  1. Cook the chicken in warm water with seasonings and vegetables as for chicken salad until tender.

  2. Reduce the stock to two cups, strain, and when cold remove the fat.

  3. Clear the stock and add two tablespoonfuls of granulated gelatin softened in one-half cup of cold water.

  4. Reheat for a few minutes to dissolve the gelatin.

Assemble and set

  1. Prepare the chicken and celery as for chicken salad; season with salt and pepper.

  2. When the stock begins to cool and thicken, beat in one cup of whipped cream and the chicken and celery.

  3. Pour the mixture into a mould that has been decorated with hard-boiled eggs cut to represent daisies, or slices of egg, truffles or olives; the decorations can be held in place by a little of the stock.

  4. Allow the gelatin to set; then remove the salad from the mould onto a salad dish.

Garnish and serve

  1. Garnish with lettuce or celery leaves and serve with mayonnaise dressing.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

57Calories
1 gProtein
6 gFat
2 gCarbs

Counts 3 of 4 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 3 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Norton, Caroline Trask. 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. See the original page.

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. Cream + peppertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together21,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Cream and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 21,449 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Chicken (in the method)
Forms the main body of the salad and gives it its substance.
Granulated gelatin
Sets the stock into a firm jelly so the salad holds its moulded shape.
Whipped cream
Adds richness and a soft, light texture to the set mixture.

The step that matters

Reheat to dissolve the gelatin. Gelatin must be fully dissolved before the stock cools, or it will set unevenly and leave a grainy or lumpy texture. Gentle reheating dissolves it without boiling away its setting power.

“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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