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Chicken Salad

A salad of boiled chicken, cabbage, pickles, and a creamy dressing of egg yolks, butter, mustard, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 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 and cabbage

  1. Boil the chickens until tender.

  2. Let the chickens cool.

  3. Chop the chickens finely.

  4. Chop the cabbage to match the amount of chicken.

  5. Mix the cabbage thoroughly.

  6. Sprinkle the mixture with salt and celery seed.

Make the dressing

  1. Beat the egg yolks in a bowl.

  2. Add pepper, butter, pickles, mustard, vinegar, and sugar to the yolks.

  3. Cook the mixture in a double boiler, stirring constantly until it thickens.

Combine and serve

  1. Once cooled, pour the mixture over the chicken and cabbage.

  2. Mix well.

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. Cabbage + mustardtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,645 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

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

  4. Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,081 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Cabbage + celerytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Chickens
Provide the main body and protein of the salad, with finely chopped texture.
Egg yolks
Cook into a thick custard that binds the dressing and gives the salad a creamy texture.
Butter
Adds richness and smoothness to the cooked dressing.
Vinegar
Adds sharpness that balances the richness of the yolks and butter.
Cabbage
Adds crisp texture and bulk to the salad.

The step that matters

Cooking the dressing in a double boiler. Egg yolks thicken as they heat, but high direct heat can scramble them. Gentle, constant stirring over simmering water keeps the custard smooth, so it thickens evenly without curdling.

Swap the cabbage

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Lettucefits better
  3. Chivefits better
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, celery, egg, pepper, butter, mustard, vinegar. 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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