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Chicken Salad

A cold salad of chopped chicken, celery, eggs, and 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

Prepare the chicken and celery

  1. Remove all fat, gristle, and skin from the chicken.

  2. Mince the chicken finely.

  3. Cut the celery into ½-inch pieces.

  4. Mix the celery with the chicken.

  5. Set the mixture aside in a cool place.

Make the dressing

  1. Rub the yolks of the hard-boiled eggs to a fine powder.

  2. Mix the powdered yolks with salt, pepper, and sugar.

  3. Add the salad oil gradually.

  4. Grind the mixture.

  5. Incorporate the mustard into the mixture.

  6. Whip the raw egg to a froth.

  7. Mix the whipped egg into the dressing.

  8. Pour in the vinegar gradually.

  9. Whip the dressing until well combined.

Assemble and garnish

  1. Transfer the salad to a bowl.

  2. Garnish with the whites of the hard-boiled eggs cut into rings and sprigs of celery tops.

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
Forms the bulk of the salad and provides its main texture.
Celery
Adds crunch and fresh, watery bite that contrasts the soft chicken.
Hard-boiled egg yolks
Mashed and blended into the dressing, giving it body and richness.
Beaten raw egg
Whipped into the dressing to add foam and help bind it.
Salad oil
Added gradually to form an emulsified, creamy dressing with the yolks.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the richness of the oil and eggs.

The step that matters

Adding the salad oil and vinegar gradually. Oil and vinegar form an emulsion only when added slowly while whisking; adding them quickly lets the dressing separate and turn greasy.

Swap the celery

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

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

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