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A Suppek Dish

A cold salad of hard‑boiled eggs, mustard, vinegar, cream, celery seed, salt, and sugar, served with lettuce and meat.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Owen, Mrs. T. J. V · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 22 ingredients
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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 ↓

A Suppek Dish

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the dressing

  1. Hard-boil six eggs, using the yolks only.

  2. Mix four tablespoons of mixed mustard, one teaspoon of salt, one teaspoon of sugar, ten tablespoons of vinegar, ten tablespoons of rich cream, and one teaspoon of celery seed.

Prepare the meat and lettuce

  1. Slice cold fowl or other delicate meat and lay in the above mixture two or three hours before tea.

  2. Wash lettuce and put on ice.

Assemble and serve

  1. Just before tea is ready, lay alternate layers of meat and lettuce, leaving lettuce for the top.

  2. Pour dressing over the whole.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

503Calories
13 gProtein
23 gFat
64 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 11 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Potato1 medium (173g) baked161
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Celery Seed1 stalk (40g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

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

By Owen, Mrs. T. J. V. 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. Celery + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Mustard + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,259 recipes

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

  3. Celery + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

What each ingredient does

Mixed mustard
Adds sharp flavour that cuts through the richness of the cream and eggs.
Vinegar
Provides acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the sweetness.
Rich cream
Adds fat and body, giving the dressing a smooth, creamy texture.
Sugar
Adds a little sweetness to balance the acidity of the vinegar and mustard.

The step that matters

Slice the meat and let it sit in the dressing. Soaking the meat for two or three hours lets the acidic, salty dressing slowly penetrate it, seasoning the meat through rather than just coating the surface. Timing it too close to serving leaves the flavour shallow.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, mustard, vinegar, cream, onion, butter):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Garlicfits better
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, mustard, vinegar, cream, onion, butter. 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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