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Dressing for Chicken Salad, Without Celery

A mustard-based dressing for chicken salad made with sour cream, vinegar, celery seed, pepper, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Des Moines. Plymouth church. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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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, Without Celery

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dressing

  1. Take one tablespoonful of mustard, pepper, and salt.

  2. Add one tea-cup of rich sour cream.

  3. Add one tea-cup of vinegar.

  4. Add one-half teaspoonful of celery seed. Mix well together.

  5. Place on the stove, stirring all the time, until as thick as custard, then take off and set away till just before using.

Serve

  1. Mix with chicken and cabbage.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

277Calories
48 gProtein
5 gFat
8 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Chicken100g cooked165
Yogurt170g plain Greek100
Celery Seed1 stalk (40g)6
Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3

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.

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Mustard + chickentop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,192 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).

  4. Celery + teatop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together82 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Celery + chickentop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,375 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

What each ingredient does

Sour cream
Adds richness and body, giving the dressing a creamy, thick texture.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the flavour and balances the richness of the cream.
Mustard
Adds sharp, pungent flavour that gives the dressing its character.

The step that matters

Cooking on the stove. The dressing must be stirred constantly so the egg-free mixture thickens evenly without scorching on the bottom. Stop when it reaches custard thickness, since further heating will keep thickening it and can cause it to separate or stick.

Swap the celery

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

  1. Tarragonfits about as well
  2. Celerythe original
  3. Garlicfits about as well
  4. Capersfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against mustard, chicken, tea, cream, 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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