Why it works: Mustard and lettuce 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-dressing
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dressing
Cool the hard-boiled eggs in water.
Mash the yolks in a small bowl.
Add the raw egg yolks, salt, dry mustard, and cayenne pepper. Mix well.
Gradually add the sweet oil, about a third of a bottle, while stirring continuously.
Incorporate a tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice.
Add more oil until you use two-thirds of a bottle.
Add another tablespoon of vinegar.
Mix until light and well combined.
Chill the dressing in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours.
Mix the dressing again.
Dress and serve
Combine half with the chicken.
Pour on 1 wineglass of vinegar.
Stir to make the chicken white.
Arrange the chicken on a large flat dish.
Surround it with dry lettuce or celery.
Top the lettuce with the remaining dressing.
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.
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.
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Mustard + lettucetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,356 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pepper + lettucetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,037 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,814 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
- Raw egg yolks
- Emulsify the oil into the dressing and add richness to its body.
- Sweet oil
- Provides fat that, emulsified with the yolks, gives the dressing its smooth, creamy texture.
- Dry mustard
- Helps stabilize the emulsion and adds a sharp, savory bite.
- Vinegar or lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the richness of the oil.
The step that matters
Adding the oil gradually while stirring. Oil added too fast cannot be absorbed by the egg yolks, so the emulsion breaks and the dressing separates into a greasy, watery mixture instead of a smooth, thick one.
Swap the lettuce
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, mustard, pepper, vinegar):
- Horseradishfits better
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Shallotfits about as well
- Lettucethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against 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.
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