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Salad

Celery Salad

A salad of celery dressed with an egg yolk mustard vinaigrette.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 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 ↓

Celery Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash and dry the celery, then cut it into pieces in a salad bowl.

Make the dressing

  1. In a separate bowl, mix the egg yolk, mustard, salt, pepper, lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons of water.

  2. Beat the mixture together, then pour in the olive oil drop by drop.

  3. Add 1 tablespoon of hot water and mix well.

Serve

  1. Pour the dressing over the celery and serve.

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.

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 + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Celery + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,467 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

  5. Lemon + olivetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,922 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Celery
Forms the bulk of the salad and provides its crisp, fresh texture.
Egg yolk
Acts as an emulsifier, holding the oil and water together in a smooth dressing.
Mustard
Helps stabilise the emulsion and adds a sharp, pungent flavour.
Olive oil
Provides fat and richness, giving the dressing a smooth, silky body.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the richness of the oil.

The step that matters

Adding the olive oil drop by drop. Oil must be added slowly while beating so it disperses into tiny droplets. Adding it too fast can break the emulsion, leaving a greasy, separated dressing instead of a smooth one.

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (celery, egg, pepper, lemon, olive):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Spinachfits better
  3. Tomatofits better
  4. Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against celery, egg, pepper, lemon, olive. 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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