Why it works: Celery and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,518 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Morrison Sandwiches
Ingredients
Directions
Mince the cold cooked chicken very fine.
Add boiled salad dressing to moisten the chicken enough to shape into rolls the size of your little finger.
Season with finely minced celery and a little onion.
Cover each roll with very thin rolled baking powder biscuit dough, pinching the ends tightly.
Brush with the beaten egg and bake.
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.
-
Celery + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,518 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Onion + biscuittop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together428 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Chicken + oniontop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,814 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
-
Celery + biscuittop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together150 recipes
Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
-
Chicken + celerytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,375 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the celery
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, onion, biscuit, egg):
- Capersfits better
- Garlicfits better
- Tarragonfits about as well
- Celerythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, onion, biscuit, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
You might also like
The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.
Chicken Broth257 recipes
Chicken Soup156 recipes
Cream of Celery Soup113 recipes
Creamed Chicken89 recipes