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Chicken Salad

A salad of boiled chicken, celery, hard‑boiled eggs, dressed with vinegar, mustard, olive oil, cayenne pepper, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Des Moines. Plymouth church. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Chicken Salad

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 ↓

Chicken Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the chicken and celery

  1. Boil the two good-size fowls in salted water until cooked.

  2. When cold, cut the meat from the bones into pieces about a quarter of an inch in size.

  3. Cut the white part of the celery into pieces about a quarter of an inch in size.

  4. Mix the chicken and celery and set them aside.

Make the dressing and serve

  1. Beat the eggs to a paste with oil, then add vinegar, mustard, pepper and salt, and mix thoroughly.

  2. Do not pour the dressing over the salad until half an hour before it is served, or it will wilt.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

223Calories
7 gProtein
20 gFat
5 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Celery1 stalk (40g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
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 Des Moines. Plymouth church. [from old catalog]. 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.

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. Celery + mustardtop 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. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Olive + mustardtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,950 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Fowls
Provide the main cooked meat that forms the body of the salad.
Celery
Adds crisp texture and a fresh, mild flavour to the salad.
Hard boiled eggs
Mashed with oil to form a thick, creamy base for the dressing.
Olive oil
Adds fat and smoothness, carrying flavour through the dressing.
French mustard
Adds sharp, savoury flavour that balances the richness of the oil and eggs.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and cuts its richness.

The step that matters

Dressing timing. Dressing the salad too early lets the acid and salt draw moisture from the celery, so it wilts and loses its crispness. Adding the dressing shortly before serving keeps the texture crisp.

Swap the celery

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, pepper, tea, olive, mustard, egg. 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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