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Salad

Chicken Halibut Salad

A chilled salad of sliced chicken halibut served with a mustard vinaigrette.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 17 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Chicken Halibut Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Make the court bouillon

  1. In a pot, combine cold water, carrot, onions, vinegar, thyme, bay leaves, parsley root, salt, and whole pepper to make a court bouillon.

  2. Boil the bouillon for 30 minutes, then let it cool.

Poach and chill

  1. Add the chicken halibut slices to the cooled bouillon and bring to a boil for 10 minutes.

  2. Remove from heat and chill the fish on ice.

Dress and serve

  1. In a bowl, mix the mustard, vinegar, olive oil, salt, chervil, chives, and pepper to make the dressing.

  2. Serve the chilled chicken halibut with the dressing.

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. Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Thyme + tarragontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together528 recipes

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

  4. Parsley + tarragontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Chicken halibut
Provides the main protein, which firms and turns opaque as it cooks.
Vinegar
Adds acidity to the bouillon and the dressing, giving a sharp, bright flavor.
Olive oil
Adds fat to the dressing, carrying flavor and giving a smooth mouthfeel.
French tarragon mustard
Helps emulsify the dressing so the oil and vinegar stay combined, and adds sharpness.

The step that matters

Bringing the fish to a boil in the bouillon. Proteins in fish tighten and dry out when cooked too hard or too long. Keeping the liquid at a gentle simmer helps the slices stay moist and tender, so the fish should be checked closely during the 10 minutes.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, carrot, vinegar, thyme, parsley, pepper, tarragon):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Parsnipfits better
  3. Capsicumfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, carrot, vinegar, thyme, parsley, pepper, tarragon. 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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