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
Boil the chicken until tender and chop it moderately fine.
Chop the whites of the hard-boiled eggs and add to the chicken.
Add equal amounts of chopped celery and cabbage.
Dress and mix
Mash the yolks of the eggs and mix in the butter, sugar, mustard, pepper, and salt.
Stir in the cider vinegar and mix thoroughly with the salad.
If celery is unavailable, substitute with chopped pickled cucumbers or lettuce and add celery seed.
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 + mustardtop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,169 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Cabbage + mustardtop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,645 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together16,012 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,081 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Celery + cabbagetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Chicken
- Forms the bulk of the salad and provides its main protein.
- Hard-boiled eggs
- Add body and richness; the mashed yolks bind the dressing to the salad.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, mellow mouthfeel to the mashed yolk dressing.
- Cider vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the richness of the eggs and butter.
- Sugar
- Softens the sharpness of the vinegar and mustard for a rounder flavour.
The step that matters
Mash the yolks with butter, sugar, mustard and seasoning before adding the vinegar. Yolks blended with fat form a smooth emulsion-like base that coats the chicken evenly. Adding vinegar too early or without thorough mixing can leave the dressing thin and unevenly flavoured.
Swap the cabbage
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, egg, celery, butter, sugar, mustard, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Asparagusfits better
- Chivefits better
- Cabbagethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, egg, celery, butter, sugar, mustard, 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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