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Chicken Salad

A cold salad of shredded boiled chicken, celery, eggs, and a dressing of egg, mustard, oil, sugar, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Chicken Salad

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 ↓

Chicken Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Shred the cold boiled chicken, removing all fat, gristle, and skin.

  2. Cut the celery into pieces no longer than ½ inch.

Make and combine

  1. In a bowl, combine the chicken, celery, and hard boiled eggs.

  2. In a separate bowl, mix the raw egg, salt, pepper, mustard, salad oil, sugar, and vinegar to make the dressing.

  3. Pour the dressing over the chicken mixture and toss to combine.

  4. Chill in a cold place 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.

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.

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Chicken + mustardtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Raw egg
Thickens the dressing as it cooks and binds it into a creamy emulsion.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that balances the sweetness and richness of the dressing.
Salad oil
Adds fat that gives the dressing a smooth, rounded mouthfeel.
Hard boiled eggs
Add soft, creamy texture and body to the chicken mixture.
White sugar
Adds sweetness that softens the sharpness of the vinegar.

The step that matters

Pour the dressing over the chicken mixture and toss to combine.. The dressing must be evenly distributed so every piece is coated and seasoned consistently. Tossing gently keeps the chicken and eggs from breaking apart while the dressing coats them.

Swap the celery

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

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Dillfits about as well
  3. Capersfits about as well
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, egg, pepper, mustard, sugar, 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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