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Chicken Salad

A chilled salad of boiled chicken and celery bound with a mustard‑egg yolk dressing.

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

Make the dressing

  1. In a bowl, stir together the egg yolks, flour, mustard, and milk.

  2. Pour the boiling vinegar into the mixture and stir well.

  3. Let the mixture cool before adding it to the chopped chicken and celery.

Assemble and serve

  1. Season with pepper and coarse sea salt to taste.

  2. Serve chilled.

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. Flour + mustardtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,066 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Bind the dressing and add richness and a smooth, thickened texture.
Flour
Thickens the dressing so it clings to the chicken and celery.
Mustard
Adds sharp flavour that balances the richness of the dressing.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and cuts through the fat.
Butter
Adds fat and a rich, smooth mouthfeel to the dressing.

The step that matters

Let the mixture cool before adding it to the chopped chicken and celery.. Egg yolks in a hot mixture can scramble or curdle, leaving the dressing grainy. Cooling it first lets the sauce stay smooth and thick when combined with the salad.

Swap the celery

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, vinegar, flour, milk, mustard, egg, 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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