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Chicken Salad

A salad made from boiled chicken, celery or cabbage, hard‑boiled eggs, and a dressing of vinegar, butter, eggs, sugar, mustard, pepper, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 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 the chicken

  1. Boil the chickens until tender, salting to taste.

  2. Once cold, cut the chickens into small pieces.

  3. Add the finely chopped celery (or cabbage) and chopped hard boiled eggs. Mix everything thoroughly.

Make the dressing

  1. In a saucepan, heat the vinegar and butter over medium heat.

  2. In a bowl, beat the eggs, sugar, mustard, black pepper, and salt.

  3. Slowly pour the egg mixture into the boiling vinegar, stirring constantly until it thickens. Be careful not to cook too long to avoid curdling.

Assemble and serve

  1. Once cooled, pour the dressing over the salad.

  2. Garnish the dish as desired.

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. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Mustard + peppertop 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

Eggs
Beaten eggs thicken the hot vinegar dressing into a creamy, coating sauce.
Vinegar
Provides the sharp acidity that balances the richness of the eggs and butter.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the dressing, softening its sharp tang.
Sugar
Sweetness that rounds out the acidity of the vinegar.
Celery
Adds crisp texture and fresh, mild flavour to the salad.
Chickens
Provide the main cooked meat that forms the body of the salad.

The step that matters

Thickening the dressing. Egg proteins set when heated, so if the egg mixture cooks too long or too hot it curdles and turns grainy. Pour slowly and stir constantly so the eggs thicken smoothly.

Swap the celery

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

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

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