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Salad

Celery Salad

A salad of finely chopped celery and cabbage dressed with a vinaigrette of vinegar, egg yolks, butter, mustard, salt, sugar, cayenne pepper, and sweet cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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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 ↓

Celery Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop the celery and cabbage finely.

Make the dressing

  1. In a bowl, mix vinegar, egg yolks, butter, mustard, salt, sugar, and cayenne pepper until smooth.

  2. Heat the mixture until it begins to thicken, stirring continuously.

  3. Allow to cool slightly, then stir in the sweet cream.

  4. If the dressing is too thick, add more vinegar.

Serve

  1. Pour the dressing over the salad just before serving.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

  5. Celery + cabbagetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,840 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

Egg yolks
Thicken the dressing when gently heated and give it a smooth, rich body.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the dressing and balances the sweetness and richness.
Butter
Adds fat that gives the dressing a smooth, rounded mouthfeel.
Sweet cream
Adds fat and moisture that softens the dressing's sharpness.
Celery
Provides the crisp, fresh bulk of the salad.
Cabbage
Adds crunch and bulk to the salad.

The step that matters

Heating the dressing. Egg yolks thicken as they warm, but if the heat is too high or stirring stops, they can scramble into lumps. Constant stirring keeps the custard smooth and evenly thickened.

Swap the celery

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

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Dillfits better
  3. Capersfits better
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cabbage, vinegar, egg, butter, mustard, sugar, 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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