Name: Chicken or Veal Salad
Ingredients: ½ cup celery, chopped; 1 cup cooked chicken or veal, shredded; 2 egg yolks; 1 cup vinegar; 1 teaspoon strong mustard; 1 tablespoon butter; ¼ teaspoon salt; 1 teaspoon sugar

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 or Veal Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the dressing

In a saucepan, combine the celery, chicken or veal, egg yolks, vinegar, mustard, butter, salt, and sugar.
Boil the mixture on the stove until heated through.

Serve

Pour the mixture over the salad ingredients 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.

Celery + mustardtop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,169 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,067 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Chicken + mustardtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,192 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
Celery + chickentop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,375 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,806 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

What each ingredient does

Chicken or veal: Provides the main body and protein of the salad.
Egg yolks: Thicken the mixture as they heat and add richness.
Vinegar: Adds sharp acidity that balances the richness of the yolks and butter.
Butter: Adds fat for a smoother, rounder texture and mouthfeel.
Mustard: Adds sharp, pungent flavour and helps keep the dressing smooth.
Celery: Adds crisp texture and a fresh, vegetal note.

The step that matters

Boil the mixture until heated through. Egg yolks thicken as they warm but can curdle or scramble if overheated. Heat the mixture steadily and stir so it thickens smoothly without lumps.

Flavor stand-ins for the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, egg, vinegar, mustard, butter, sugar):

Tarragonbetter flavor fit
Capersbetter flavor fit
Cinnamonbetter flavor fit
Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, egg, vinegar, mustard, butter, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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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Chicken or Veal Salad