Why it works: Celery and walnut match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 852 recipes. Both carry alpha-pinene, which smells pine, turpentine. The science ↓
Chicken Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Cut the cold boiled chicken breast into ½ inch cubes.
Add the tender hearts of celery and mix well.
Incorporate the English walnut meats.
Serve with Boiled Salad Dressing.
Garnish with hard boiled eggs and curled celery.
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.
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Celery + walnuttop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together852 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
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Chicken + meattop 13% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,449 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Walnut + meattop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,035 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Chicken + celerytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,375 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
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Chicken + walnuttop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together469 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Chicken breast
- Provides the main protein and bulk of the salad.
- Celery hearts
- Adds crisp, fresh texture that contrasts with the soft chicken.
- English walnuts
- Adds crunch and a nutty flavor to the salad.
Swap the celery
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, walnut, meat, egg):
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Tarragonfits about as well
- Thymefits about as well
- Celerythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, walnut, meat, egg. 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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