Why it works: Mustard and celery 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
Boil and chop the chickens.
Make the dressing
In a bowl, combine the egg yolks, sweet cream or salad oil, vinegar, mustard, cayenne pepper, and salt, and mix well until smooth.
Combine
Add the chopped celery and chicken to the dressing and stir to combine.
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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Mustard + celerytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,169 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together16,012 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Mustard + peppertop 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
- Egg yolks
- Emulsify the oil and cream into a smooth, thick dressing.
- Sweet cream or salad oil
- Adds fat and richness, giving the dressing a smooth, silky body.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the richness.
- Mustard
- Adds sharp flavour and helps stabilise the emulsion.
- Celery
- Adds crisp texture and a fresh, savoury flavour to the salad.
The step that matters
Mix the dressing until smooth. Egg yolks, oil and cream must be blended thoroughly so they emulsify. Under-mixing leaves oil separated and the dressing greasy and uneven rather than smooth and cohesive.
Swap the celery
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, egg, cream, vinegar, mustard, pepper):
- Tarragonfits better
- Garlicfits about as well
- Capersfits about as well
- Celerythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, egg, cream, vinegar, mustard, pepper. 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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