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Turkey Salad

A salad made with turkey, celery, eggs, mustard, olive oil, vinegar, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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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 ↓

Turkey Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the turkey and celery

  1. Remove fat and sinew from the turkey and cut it into ½ inch square pieces.

  2. Chop the celery.

  3. Mix the chopped celery with the turkey and salt to taste.

Make the dressing

  1. In a bowl, combine the yolks of the hard boiled eggs, dry mustard, and salt.

  2. Gradually add the olive oil a few drops at a time while mixing.

  3. Stir in the vinegar.

  4. Fold in the beaten egg white.

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. Celery + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Mustard + olivetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,950 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Celery + olivetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,667 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  5. Olive + vinegartop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,297 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Turkey
Forms the bulk of the salad and provides the main protein and chewy texture.
Hard boiled egg yolks
Emulsifier that helps the olive oil and vinegar bind into a smooth, thick dressing.
Olive oil
Supplies fat and richness, giving the dressing its body and silky mouthfeel.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the richness of the oil.
Raw egg white
Whipped to a froth and folded in, it adds lightness and airiness to the dressing.

The step that matters

Gradually add the olive oil a few drops at a time while mixing. Adding oil slowly lets the egg yolk emulsifier surround tiny oil droplets. Pouring too fast can break the emulsion, leaving a greasy, separated dressing instead of a smooth, thick one.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (turkey, egg, mustard, olive, vinegar):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against turkey, egg, mustard, olive, vinegar. 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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