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Chicken Salad

A salad of shredded chicken or turkey with celery, eggs, mustard, oil, sugar, vinegar, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Chicken Salad

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

  1. Mince the chicken or turkey and set it aside.

  2. Chop the celery and place it in a cool area.

Make the dressing

  1. In a bowl, rub the yolks of the hard boiled eggs until fine.

  2. Add salt, pepper, and sugar to the yolks.

  3. Slowly mix in the salad oil, a few drops at a time.

  4. Stir in the mustard.

  5. Stir in the beaten raw egg.

  6. Stir in the vinegar.

Assemble

  1. Sprinkle a little salt over the chicken and celery.

  2. Pour the dressing on top.

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 + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

  3. Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Chicken + mustardtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Cooked chicken or turkey
Provides the main bulk and meaty body of the salad.
Celery
Adds crisp crunch and fresh texture against the soft meat.
Hard boiled egg yolks
Mash into a smooth base that helps hold the oil in the dressing.
Raw egg
Adds richness and helps bind the dressing as it cooks into the mixture.
Salad oil
Supplies fat for a smooth, rich dressing when emulsified with the yolks.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that gives the dressing its sharp, tangy bite.

The step that matters

Adding the oil to the yolks. Pour the oil in slowly, a few drops at a time, while mixing. Yolks can only hold oil in a stable emulsion if it is added gradually; too much at once makes the dressing separate and look greasy.

Swap the celery

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

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Dillfits about as well
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, egg, pepper, mustard, butter, sugar, 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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