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
Cook the chickens in water and save the broth for soup.
Once cooled, remove the skin and cut the chicken into preferred sizes.
Cover the chicken with a damp towel to prevent drying.
Make the dressing
Cut the celery and dry it between clean cloths.
For the dressing, beat the raw egg yolks in a large dish for 10 minutes.
Slowly add the mustard and mix thoroughly.
Add 1 teaspoon of vinegar and mix well.
Gradually add the salad oil, stirring constantly.
Rub the hard-boiled egg yolks smooth and stir in 1 teacup of vinegar gently.
Combine and serve
Combine the dressing with the chicken and celery.
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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Celery + mustardtop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,169 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Chicken + mustardtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,192 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
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Chicken + celerytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,375 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
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Celery + vinegartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,627 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Chickens
- Provide the main cooked meat, which is cut into pieces for the salad.
- Raw egg yolks
- Emulsify the oil and mustard into a thick, stable dressing.
- Salad oil
- Adds richness and body to the dressing as it is whisked in slowly.
- Hard-boiled egg yolks
- Rubbed smooth to thicken the dressing and give it a creamy texture.
- Mustard
- Adds sharp flavour and helps stabilise the emulsion.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the richness.
The step that matters
Adding the salad oil. Oil must be added slowly while stirring constantly, because raw yolks can only hold oil in a stable emulsion if it is incorporated gradually. Adding it too fast can cause the dressing to split and turn greasy.
Swap the celery
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, cream, mustard, egg, vinegar):
- Tarragonfits better
- Capersfits better
- Garlicfits about as well
- Celerythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, cream, mustard, egg, 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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