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Chicken Salad

A salad made from boiled chicken, vegetables, pickles, eggs, and a mustard‑vinegar dressing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 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 chicken in 2 quarts of water with 2 teaspoons of salt until cooked.

  2. Shred the chicken and cut it into small pieces.

Prepare the vegetables

  1. Chop the celery, cabbage, cucumber pickles, and hard boiled eggs finely.

  2. Combine the chopped ingredients with the shredded chicken and mix well.

Make the dressing

  1. For the dressing, mix 1 tablespoon of mustard with 2 tablespoons of hot water, 1 teaspoon of pepper, and 2 teaspoons of salt.

  2. Add ½ cup of the liquid and oil from the chicken to the dressing mixture.

  3. Beat 1 egg and stir it into the dressing, then heat it on the stove until it thickens.

  4. Remove from heat and stir in ½ pint of vinegar.

  5. Pour the dressing over the chicken mixture and mix well.

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. Cucumber + mustardtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,281 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Cabbage + mustardtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,645 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,081 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Beaten egg thickens the warm dressing so it becomes a creamy coating for the salad.
Chicken liquid and oil
Adds savory flavor and moisture to the dressing, carrying taste through the salad.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the richness of the eggs and oil.
Mustard
Adds sharp flavor and helps emulsify the dressing.
Celery
Adds crisp texture and fresh, mild flavor to the salad.

The step that matters

Heating the egg dressing. Beaten egg thickens when gently heated, but if it gets too hot the egg will scramble and curdle, leaving the dressing grainy instead of smooth.

Swap the celery

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, cabbage, cucumber, 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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