Why it works: Chicken and olive are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and 11,888 recipes mention both. Both carry acetic acid hexyl ester, which smells sweet, green. The science ↓
Egg Salad. No. I.
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare and fill the eggs
Remove the shells from the hard-boiled eggs and cut them in half lengthwise.
Set aside the egg whites until needed.
Mash the yolks and mix in the chopped chicken, celery, and salt.
Fill the egg whites with the yolk mixture.
Make the dressing
For the dressing, bring the vinegar to a boil, then remove from heat.
Stir in the beaten egg yolks, then add the butter and salt.
Gradually stir in the olive oil.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Chicken + olivetop 9% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together11,888 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid hexyl ester (sweet, green).
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Celery + olivetop 9% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together4,667 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
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Vinegar + olivetop 10% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together12,297 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).
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Chicken + celerytop 15% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together5,375 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
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Butter + olivetop 15% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together11,887 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
- Raw egg yolks
- Thicken and emulsify the dressing, holding the fat and vinegar together smoothly.
- Olive oil
- Adds fat and body to the dressing, emulsified into the yolks for a creamy texture.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, velvety mouthfeel to the dressing.
- Vinegar
- Adds sharp acidity that cuts the richness of the yolks, butter and oil.
- Hard-boiled eggs
- Form the base of the salad, with yolks mashed to a creamy, binding filling.
- Celery
- Adds crunch and fresh, mildly vegetal flavor to the yolk filling.
The step that matters
Stir in the beaten egg yolks off the heat. Raw yolks thicken when gently warmed but scramble if they get too hot. Removing the vinegar from the heat first lets the yolks thicken smoothly rather than curdle.
Flavor stand-ins for the celery
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, chicken, vinegar, butter, olive):
- Garlicbetter flavor fit
- Tarragonbetter flavor fit
- Capersbetter flavor fit
- Celerythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, chicken, vinegar, butter, olive. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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