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Ceeam of Chicken Salad

A chilled chicken salad with almonds, celery, mayonnaise, and aspic.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,467 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Ceeam of Chicken Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the chicken mixture

  1. Chop the white meat of the boiled chicken very fine and rub it to a powder.

  2. Chop the blanched almonds and add them to the chicken.

  3. Mix in the salt, onion juice, and 4 tablespoons of mayonnaise.

  4. Add 2 teaspoons of lemon juice and the aspic, then mix again and set aside until it begins to congeal.

  5. Stir in the whipped cream hastily.

Mould and set

  1. Transfer the mixture into a border mold and refrigerate for 2 hours to harden.

Assemble and serve

  1. Mix the cut‑up celery into plain mayonnaise dressing and heap it into the center of the mold.

  2. Use a pastry bag with a star tube to garnish the top with cream jelly and serve immediately.

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

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

  2. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Chicken + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  4. Almond + lemontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Almond + celerytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together485 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

White meat of chicken
Forms the main body of the salad, giving it substance once finely chopped.
Aspic
Gelatin-based setting agent that helps the mixture congeal and hold its molded shape.
Cream
Whipped in at the end to add lightness and a smooth, rich texture.
Mayonnaise
Adds fat and moisture, binding the chicken and dressing the celery.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the flavor and balances the richness of the mayonnaise and cream.
Celery
Adds crisp texture that contrasts with the soft chicken mixture.

The step that matters

Stirring in the whipped cream hastily. Whipped cream can deflate or turn grainy if overworked, and the mixture is setting, so it should be folded in quickly and gently to keep it light and smooth.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, chicken, almond, onion, cream, celery):

  1. Avocadofits better
  2. Coconutfits better
  3. Limefits about as well
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, chicken, almond, onion, cream, celery. 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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