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Chicken Salad

A salad of diced chicken, chopped celery, olives, boiled eggs or beets, dressed with salad dressing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Chicken Salad

Why it works: Chicken and olive are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,888 recipes. Both carry acetic acid hexyl ester, which smells sweet, green. The science ↓

Chicken Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Let the chicken stand as directed in the Miranda.

  2. Soak the chopped celery in ice water until cold and crisp.

Assemble and serve

  1. Mix the chicken and celery together with one plate of salad dressing.

  2. Place the mixture on a platter and dress the edge with celery tips.

  3. Spread another plateful of salad dressing over the top of the chicken.

  4. Garnish with a row of olives and boiled eggs or beets.

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.

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. Chicken + olivetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,888 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid hexyl ester (sweet, green).

  2. Celery + olivetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,667 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  3. Chicken + celerytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,375 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  4. Chicken + eggtop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,991 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

  5. Olive + eggtop 31% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,340 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Chicken
Forms the bulk of the salad and provides its main protein texture.
Celery
Adds crisp texture, and soaking in ice water firms it for a crunchy bite.
Salad dressing
Adds moisture and richness, coating the chicken and celery.

The step that matters

Soak the celery in ice water. Soaking chilled celery in ice water draws in water through its cells, which keeps it crisp rather than limp. Cold celery also stays firm when mixed with dressing, so the salad keeps its crunch.

Swap the celery

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, olive, 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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