Name: Chicken Salad
Ingredients: 2 cooked chickens; 1 large head of cabbage, chopped; 10 hard boiled eggs, chopped; 12 small cucumber pickles, thinly sliced; ½ cup strong vinegar; 1 bunch of celery, chopped; ½ cup butter, softened; 1 bottle salad dressing; Salt and pepper to taste

Why it works: Celery and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,012 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Chicken Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

In a large bowl, combine the chopped cabbage, hard-boiled eggs, cucumber pickles, and celery.
Add the cooked chicken, shredded or chopped.

Dress and serve

In a separate bowl, mix the vinegar, softened butter, and salad dressing.
Pour the dressing over the salad mixture and toss to combine.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.

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.

Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together16,012 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,081 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Cabbage + cucumbertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together722 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Cabbage + celerytop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,840 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Cucumber + celerytop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,745 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

Cabbage: Forms the crisp, bulky base of the salad and holds the dressing.
Hard-boiled eggs: Add richness and body to the salad through their soft yolks and whites.
Cooked chicken: Provides the protein and substantial, tender bulk of the salad.
Strong vinegar: Adds sharp acidity that brightens the dressing and cuts the richness.
Butter: Adds fat and a smooth, mellow richness to the dressing.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, cabbage, egg, cucumber, vinegar, butter, pepper):

Tarragonfits better
Dillfits better
Garlicfits better
Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, cabbage, egg, cucumber, vinegar, butter, pepper. 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.