Why it works: Celery and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,810 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Chicken Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Make the French dressing
Mix ¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt, ⅛ teaspoon white pepper, ¼ teaspoon onion juice, 1 tablespoon vinegar, and 3 tablespoons olive oil or melted butter for the French dressing. Add the oil slowly.
Make the boiled dressing
Mix 1 teaspoon mustard, 2 teaspoons salt, 2 tablespoons sugar, ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper, and 1 heaping teaspoon flour for the boiled dressing.
Add 1 beaten egg and 1 cup hot water.
Cook in a double boiler for 10 minutes.
Add ½ cup hot vinegar while cooking.
Stir in 1 tablespoon melted butter or Lucca oil.
Cool in a bowl on ice.
Assemble the salad
Combine shredded chicken and chopped celery in a bowl.
Season with French dressing and keep on ice until ready to serve.
Mix the boiled dressing with the salad just before serving.
Prepare the filberts
Pour boiling water over filberts. Let them sit briefly. Cool in cold water. Remove skins. Break into halves. Add to the salad.
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 + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,810 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Chicken + celerytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,375 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
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Chicken + parsleytop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,314 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cold boiled chicken
- Forms the bulk of the salad and gives it substance.
- Celery
- Adds crisp texture and fresh crunch to the salad.
- Egg (in the method)
- Thickens the boiled dressing as it cooks and helps bind it.
- Flour (in the method)
- Thickens the boiled dressing so it holds together smoothly.
- Vinegar (in the method)
- Adds acidity that sharpens both dressings.
The step that matters
Cooking the boiled dressing. The egg and flour thicken the dressing as they heat. Gentle heat in a double boiler, with steady stirring, lets it thicken smoothly without the egg scrambling into lumps.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, celery):
- Tarragonfits better
- Thymefits better
- Rosemaryfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, celery. 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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