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Chicken Salad

A salad made with chopped cooked chicken, celery, hard‑boiled eggs, vinegar, flour, sugar, mustard, oil, cream, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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 cooked chickens and celery coarsely.

  2. Hard-boil the eggs. Remove the yolks and mash them finely.

Make the dressing

  1. Mix the mashed yolks with salt, mustard, and oil until well combined.

  2. Add cream to the mixture.

  3. Stir in the vinegar.

Combine

  1. Finally, add the chopped chickens, celery, and diced egg whites. Mix everything together thoroughly.

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. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Flour + mustardtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,066 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Chicken + mustardtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,192 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Mashed yolks emulsify with oil and mustard to form a creamy, thick dressing base.
Oil
Adds fat and richness, helping the mashed yolks form a smooth, stable dressing.
Cream
Adds moisture and softness, loosening the dressing and giving it a rich mouthfeel.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the richness of the yolks and oil.
Celery
Adds crunch and fresh texture that contrasts with the soft chicken and dressing.

The step that matters

Mix the mashed yolks with salt, mustard, and oil until well combined.. The yolks must be mashed fine and mixed with oil gradually so they emulsify into a smooth base. If the oil is added too fast or the yolks are left lumpy, the dressing can split or feel greasy.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, egg, vinegar, flour, sugar, mustard, cream):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Nutmegfits about as well
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, egg, vinegar, flour, sugar, 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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