Skip to main content
Main

Chicken Salad

A chilled salad of boiled chicken and pork with celery, dressed in a mayonnaise-like sauce and sprinkled with paprika.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 19 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓
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

Cook and prepare the meat

  1. Boil the hens and pork in enough water to cover, seasoning with salt and adding lemon juice.

  2. Boil slowly until very tender.

  3. Let the meat cool, then remove it and refrigerate overnight to firm it up.

  4. Cut the meat into large square pieces.

Prepare the celery and marinade

  1. Wash and dry the celery, then chill it until crisp.

  2. Cut into pieces.

  3. Marinate the meat and celery with a dressing of 3 parts olive oil to 1 part lemon juice, salt, and white pepper.

Make the mayonnaise

  1. In a cold bowl, break the yolks of 6 eggs and gradually beat in 1 quart of olive oil.

  2. In a cup, mix 4 teaspoons of salt, 1 teaspoon of mustard, 2 teaspoons of powdered sugar, and 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper.

  3. Add 4 tablespoons each of tarragon vinegar and lemon juice, and mix well.

  4. When the oil mixture thickens, add some of the seasoning.

  5. If too firm, add a spoonful of rich cream.

  6. Finally, fold in the whipped cream, being careful not to make the mayonnaise too light.

Combine and serve

  1. Combine the mayonnaise with the celery and meat, draining any excess dressing before mixing.

  2. Sprinkle with paprika and pack in ice.

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. Celery + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Lemon + celerytop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,467 recipes

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

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Emulsify the oil and lemon mixture into a thick, stable mayonnaise.
Olive oil
Provides the fat that forms the body and richness of the mayonnaise.
Whipped cream
Lightens the mayonnaise and adds a soft, creamy texture.
Tarragon vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the rich dressing.
Hens
Provide the main cooked meat that becomes firm after chilling overnight.
Pork loin
Provides the main cooked meat that becomes firm after chilling overnight.

The step that matters

Folding in the whipped cream. Whipped cream adds air and volume, so folding gently keeps the mayonnaise from becoming too light and losing its body. Overmixing deflates the cream and thins the dressing.

Swap the white pepper

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

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, lemon, celery, olive, egg, mustard, sugar. 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.

More chicken salad recipes

Dressing 31Sandwich 8with Mayonnaise 6Cream Cheese 5Moulded 5Chinese 4 See all 638 →

You might also like

Lemon SauceLemon Sauce236 recipesCream of Celery SoupCream of Celery Soup113 recipesPork CakePork Cake107 recipesRoast PorkRoast Pork82 recipes