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Chicken Salad

A salad made with minced chicken or turkey, celery, eggs, mustard, oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, and sugar.

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 the chicken

  1. Mince the chicken or turkey, removing all fat, skin, and gristle.

  2. Chop the celery into ½ inch pieces and mix with the meat.

  3. Set aside in a cold place while preparing the dressing.

Make the dressing

  1. Rub the yolks of the hard boiled eggs to a fine powder.

  2. Add salt, pepper, and sugar to the egg yolks.

  3. Slowly add the salad oil while whisking until well combined.

  4. Mix in the mustard and set aside.

  5. Whip the raw egg until frothy and beat it into the dressing.

  6. Gradually add the vinegar while whisking the dressing.

Combine and serve

  1. Sprinkle a little salt over the salad mixture, then pour the dressing over it.

  2. Toss and mix until well combined, then transfer to a salad bowl.

  3. Garnish with slices of hard boiled egg and sprigs of celery tops.

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. Meat + chickentop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Egg yolks emulsify with the oil and the raw egg to bind the dressing and give it body.
Salad oil
Fat that, emulsified into the dressing, gives the salad a smooth, rich texture and moisture.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the flavour and balances the richness of the oil and eggs.
Chicken or turkey
Cooked meat forms the body of the salad, providing its main substance and texture.
Celery
Adds crisp texture and a fresh, mild flavour that contrasts with the soft meat.
Made mustard
Adds sharp flavour and helps stabilise the emulsified dressing.

The step that matters

Slowly add the salad oil while whisking. Oil must be added gradually while whisking so it disperses into tiny droplets held by the egg yolk; adding it too fast causes the dressing to split and turn greasy.

Swap the celery

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, 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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