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Chicken Salad

A salad made with chopped steamed chicken, boiled egg yolks, celery, and a dressing of butter or oil, vinegar, mustard, cayenne, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 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

  1. Finely chop the steamed cold chickens and celery, then set aside.

  2. In a bowl, mash the egg yolks with a wooden spoon.

Make the dressing

  1. Add melted butter or olive oil, mustard, vinegar, cayenne pepper, and salt to the mashed yolks.

  2. Stir the mixture thoroughly for several minutes.

Combine and serve

  1. Five minutes before serving, mix the dressing with the chicken and celery.

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. Chicken + mustardtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,192 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Mashed into the dressing, they emulsify the fat and vinegar into a smooth, creamy binder.
Melted butter or olive oil
Supplies fat that gives the dressing richness and a silky, moist mouthfeel.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the richness of the fat and yolks.
Mixed mustard
Contributes sharp flavour and helps hold the emulsion together.

The step that matters

Stir the dressing thoroughly. Vigorous stirring of mashed yolks with fat and vinegar builds a stable emulsion. If it is under-mixed, the fat can separate and the dressing turns greasy and loose.

Swap the celery

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

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

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