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Chicken Salad

Chicken Salad is a dish of chopped chicken and celery dressed with egg yolk, mustard, pepper, salt, vinegar, and olive oil.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 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

  1. Chop the meat of two chickens and celery.

Make the dressing

  1. In a bowl, mix the egg yolks with mustard, pepper, and salt.

  2. Gradually stir in the olive oil, a few drops at a time, until it thickens.

  3. Add vinegar and mix well.

Assemble and serve

  1. Pour the dressing over the chicken and celery, and serve.

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

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

  3. Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Mustard + olivetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,950 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Chicken + olivetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,888 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid hexyl ester (sweet, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Emulsify the oil and vinegar into a thick, creamy dressing.
Olive oil
Adds richness and body to the dressing as it is whisked in slowly.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the richness of the oil and yolks.
Mustard
Helps stabilize the emulsion and adds sharp flavor.
Celery
Adds crisp texture and fresh, mild flavor to the salad.

The step that matters

Gradually stir in the olive oil, a few drops at a time. Adding oil slowly lets tiny droplets coat in the egg yolk and mustard, forming a stable emulsion. Adding it too fast can break the dressing so it stays thin and separated.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, chicken, egg, mustard, pepper, vinegar, olive):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, chicken, egg, mustard, pepper, vinegar, olive. 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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