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Salad

Chicken Salad

A salad made with cooked chicken, celery, chicken stock, vinegar, and dressing, seasoned with salt and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Chicken Salad

Why it works: Celery and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,012 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Chicken Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the chicken

  1. Cook the chicken and let it cool.

  2. Cut the meat into small pieces or dice.

Dress the salad

  1. Mix the chicken stock and vinegar together and pour over the chicken.

  2. When ready to use, either strain the mixture or leave it on.

  3. Season with salt and pepper, then add salad dressing.

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

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

  2. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

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

  3. Chicken + celerytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,375 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  4. Chicken + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,958 recipes

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

  5. Celery + vinegartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Chicken
Provides the main protein and the bulk of the salad.
Celery
Adds crisp texture and a fresh crunch against the soft meat.
Chicken stock
Adds moisture and savory flavor that soaks into the meat.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the flavor and balances the richness.
Salad dressing
Adds fat and tang, binding the salad and coating every piece.

The step that matters

Pouring the stock and vinegar over the chicken. Cooked meat absorbs liquid, so the stock and vinegar flavor the chicken itself, not just its surface. Letting the chicken cool first helps it take up the mixture without turning soggy or watery.

Swap the celery

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, vinegar, 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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