Why it works: Lettuce and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,356 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Chicken Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the meat and lettuce
Boil the chicken, turkey, or veal, then remove all skin and gristle and chop it finely.
Cut the lettuce into quarters and soak it in water with a piece of ice.
Make the dressing and combine
For the dressing, mix the egg yolks, mustard, cayenne pepper, and salt in a flat dish.
Gradually stir in the sweet oil while mixing continuously, then add a little vinegar.
Combine half of the dressing with the chopped meat and mix well.
Plate and serve
Place the meat mixture in the center of a flat dish.
Dry the lettuce with a napkin and arrange it neatly around the meat.
Pour the remaining dressing over the lettuce.
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.
-
Lettuce + mustardtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,356 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Lettuce + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,037 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
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 mustard into a thick, stable dressing.
- Sweet oil
- Provides fat and richness, carrying flavour through the dressing.
- Mixed mustard
- Helps hold the oil and egg yolks together as an emulsion.
- Chicken
- Forms the main body of the salad, supplying protein and texture.
The step that matters
Gradually stir in the sweet oil while mixing continuously. Adding oil slowly while whisking lets the egg yolk lecithin break the oil into tiny droplets. Adding it too fast can cause the dressing to separate and fail to thicken.
Swap the lettuce
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, egg, mustard, pepper, vinegar):
- Capsicumfits better
- Horseradishfits about as well
- Lettucethe original
- Shallotfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, egg, mustard, pepper, 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.
More chicken salad recipes
You might also like
Salad Dressing491 recipes
Tomato Salad179 recipes
Cold Slaw160 recipes
Boiled Salad Dressing67 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.