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Chicken Salad

A salad made from boiled chicken, celery, mayonnaise, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Chicken Salad

Why it works: Lemon and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,467 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Chicken Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Poach the chicken

  1. Clean and dress the chicken.

  2. Place in boiling water, add onion, bay leaf, cloves, and mace.

  3. Bring to a boil and let it boil for five minutes.

  4. Reduce heat and cook until tender.

Prepare the salad

  1. When cold, cut chicken into ½ inch cubes, removing fat and skin.

  2. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon lemon juice over chicken and place on ice.

  3. Mix chicken with two-thirds as much white celery cut into pieces.

  4. Dust with salt and pepper, then mix with mayonnaise and whipped cream to taste.

Serve

  1. Serve on lettuce leaves and garnish with celery leaves and capers.

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. Lemon + celerytop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,467 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Celery + lettucetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,033 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  3. Clove + celerytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).

  4. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Clove + lettucetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together486 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

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

What each ingredient does

Chicken
Forms the bulk of the salad, providing the main protein and texture.
Mayonnaise
Adds fat and creaminess that binds the salad together and carries flavour.
Whipped cream
Adds lightness and a soft, creamy texture to the dressing.
Celery
Contributes crisp texture and a fresh, slightly savoury crunch.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and balances the rich dressing.

The step that matters

Cooking the chicken gently. Once the chicken reaches a boil, reducing the heat to a gentle simmer keeps the meat tender and juicy. Vigorous boiling toughens muscle proteins and makes the meat dry and stringy.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, onion, clove, lemon, celery, cream, lettuce):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, onion, clove, lemon, celery, cream, lettuce. 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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