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Salad

Chicken Salad

A chilled salad of diced chicken, celery, and a mayonnaise-based dressing with lemon, mustard, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 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. Remove the skin and bone from the chicken and cut it into half-inch dice.

  2. In a bowl, combine the chicken, lemon juice, salt, and pepper; let it stand in a cold place for 2-3 hours.

  3. Dice enough celery to make 3 cups and mix it with the chicken.

Make the dressing

  1. In another bowl, season the mayonnaise with dry mustard, salt, white pepper, and cayenne; mix well.

  2. Fold the whipped cream into the seasoned mayonnaise.

Assemble and serve

  1. Mix half of the dressing with the chicken and celery, then arrange in a salad bowl.

  2. Pour the remaining dressing on top and garnish with crispy celery bits or leaves.

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. Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Lemon + celerytop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,467 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

  5. Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 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

Chicken
Provides the main body and protein of the salad.
Mayonnaise dressing
Adds fat and moisture, binding the salad and keeping it creamy.
Whipped cream
Lightens the dressing and makes it smoother and softer in texture.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the flavor of the chicken.
Celery
Contributes crisp texture and fresh flavor that contrasts the soft chicken.

The step that matters

Letting the chicken stand with lemon juice and seasoning. Acid and salt given time in the cold penetrate the chicken and season it evenly. Rushing this step leaves the meat bland and under-seasoned beneath the dressing.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, lemon, pepper, celery, mustard, cream):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, lemon, pepper, celery, mustard, cream. 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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