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Salad

Chicken Salad

A salad of minced chicken, celery, eggs, and a dressing of vinegar, butter, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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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

Prepare the chicken

  1. Boil the chicken until tender, then let it cool.

  2. Add the chopped celery and eggs to the cooled chicken and mix thoroughly.

Make the dressing

  1. Heat the eggs in a saucepan.

  2. Add vinegar, salt, pepper, sugar, mustard, and butter to the eggs.

  3. Boil the mixture until thick, then let it cool.

Combine and serve

  1. Once cooled, add the whipped cream and pour the dressing over the chicken mixture.

  2. Garnish with crisp white lettuce.

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

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

  3. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Chicken
Forms the main body of the salad and provides its protein-rich bulk.
Eggs
Egg proteins set when heated, thickening the dressing into a rich custard.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances its richness.
Whipped cream
Adds fat and air, lightening the dressing and making it smoother.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the cooked dressing.
Celery
Contributes crisp texture to the chicken mixture.

The step that matters

Boil the dressing until thick. The egg mixture thickens as its proteins set with heat. If it is undercooked, the dressing stays thin; if overheated, the eggs can curdle and turn grainy. Stir gently and watch closely while it thickens.

Swap the celery

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

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Garlicfits about as well
  3. Celerythe original
  4. Capersfits about as well

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

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