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Chickek Salad

A chilled salad of chopped chicken, celery, and a creamy yolk-based dressing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 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 ↓

Chickek Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop the chickens and celery.

  2. Mix the yolks of the eggs with flour, sugar, mustard, pepper, salt, and sweet oil.

  3. Add melted butter and cream to the mixture, stirring well.

Combine and chill

  1. Combine the chicken, celery, and the mixture in a bowl.

  2. Moisten with vinegar to your preference.

  3. Chill for one hour before serving.

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. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + mustardtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,066 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Chicken
Forms the bulk of the salad and supplies the main texture.
Eggs
Yolks are mashed into the dressing to add richness and body, and whites add texture.
Celery
Adds crisp texture and a fresh, mildly savory crunch.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the richness of the dressing.
Flour
Thickens the dressing so it clings to the chicken and celery.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the dressing.

The step that matters

Moisten with vinegar to your preference. Vinegar is added to taste after the dressing is combined. Too much thins the dressing and sharpens the flavor, while too little leaves the salad heavy, so add it gradually and taste as you go.

Swap the celery

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

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

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