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Chickun Salad

A salad of boiled chicken, celery, egg whites, and a dressing of egg yolks, olive oil, mustard, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 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 ↓

Chickun Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the salad

  1. Combine the boiled chicken, celery, and chopped egg whites in a large bowl.

Make the dressing

  1. Beat the raw egg yolks and gradually mix in the olive oil, starting with 1 teaspoon at a time until fully combined.

  2. Add the mashed egg yolks, salt, pepper, mustard, cayenne pepper, and vinegar to the dressing and stir well.

Combine and serve

  1. Pour the dressing over the chicken mixture and stir until everything is evenly coated.

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

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

  3. Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Raw egg yolks
Emulsify the olive oil into a stable, creamy dressing that holds the salad together.
Olive oil
Adds fat and richness, giving the dressing a smooth, silky texture.
Mustard
Acts as an emulsifier that helps keep the oil and vinegar from separating.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the flavor and balances the richness of the dressing.
Chicken breasts
Provides the main protein and bulk of the salad.
Hard-boiled egg yolks
Mashed into the dressing, they add body, richness and a creamier texture.

The step that matters

Adding the oil to the egg yolks. Oil must be added slowly, a little at a time, while beating. Adding it too fast prevents the yolk from emulsifying, so the dressing separates and turns greasy instead of creamy.

Swap the celery

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, egg, olive, pepper, mustard, vinegar. 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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