Why it works: Cabbage and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,645 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Chicken Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Chop the cooked chicken, cabbage, and hard-boiled eggs finely.
Season the mixture with salt, pepper, and mustard to taste.
Make the dressing
Warm the vinegar in a saucepan.
Add the butter to the warm vinegar and stir until melted.
Pour the hot mixture over the chopped ingredients and stir thoroughly.
Set aside to cool.
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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Cabbage + mustardtop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,645 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,081 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Chicken + mustardtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Cooked chicken
- Forms the main body of the salad, providing protein and substance.
- Cabbage
- Adds crisp texture that softens slightly when the hot dressing is poured over it.
- Hard-boiled eggs
- Add richness and a soft, creamy texture to the salad.
- Vinegar
- Provides acidity that sharpens the flavour and balances the richness of the butter.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smooth coating on the chopped ingredients.
The step that matters
Pour the hot mixture over the chopped ingredients and stir thoroughly. The hot vinegar and butter mixture must be evenly distributed so every piece is coated and seasoned. Uneven mixing leaves some pieces sharp or greasy while others stay dry.
Swap the cabbage
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, egg, pepper, mustard, vinegar, butter):
- Capsicumfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Chivefits better
- Cabbagethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, egg, pepper, mustard, vinegar, butter. 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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