Why it works: Chicken and veal are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,243 recipes. Both carry 3-butanedione, which smells buttery, creamy. The science ↓
Chicken Salad
Ingredients
Directions
In a bowl, combine the diced chicken and chopped cabbage or celery.
Marinate the mixture with cooked salad dressing.
If desired, add diced nuts and veal for variety.
Serve chilled.
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.
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Chicken + vealtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,243 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-butanedione (buttery, creamy).
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Chicken + nutstop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together58 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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Chicken + cabbagetop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together436 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Cabbage + nutstop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl decanoate (grape, waxy).
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Cabbage + vealtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together252 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cooked chicken
- Forms the bulk of the salad and gives it its main body.
- Cabbage or celery
- Adds crunch and a crisp, fresh texture.
- Cooked salad dressing
- Adds moisture and richness, binding the chicken and vegetables together.
Swap the nuts
The recipe marks nuts as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, cabbage, veal):
- Beansfits better
- Chestnutfits better
- Peanutfits better
- Nutsthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, cabbage, veal. 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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