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Salad

Chicken and Corn Salad

A chilled salad of eggs, corn, chicken, and pepper, set with gelatin and served on lettuce with whipped cream mayonnaise.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Gelatin and cream match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,628 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓

Chicken and Corn Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Beat the yolks of the eggs in a bowl.

  2. Add grated corn, salt, pepper, and milk; mix well.

  3. Cook in a double boiler for 20 minutes.

  4. Dissolve the gelatin and add it to the mixture.

  5. Remove from heat and stir in chopped chicken and minced pepper.

Set and serve

  1. Pour into a mold and refrigerate until set.

  2. Unmold, slice, and serve on lettuce leaves with whipped cream mayonnaise.

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.

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. Gelatin + creamtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,628 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  2. Pepper + lettucetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,037 recipes

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

  3. Corn + lettucetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together270 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  4. Corn + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,955 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

  5. Corn + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,324 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Yolks thicken the corn mixture and help it set into a firm, sliceable custard.
Gelatin
Sets the mixture so it holds its shape when unmolded and sliced.
Grated corn
Provides the main body, sweetness and flavour of the custard.
Cooked chicken breast
Adds protein, substance and a mild meaty texture to the set mixture.
Rich milk
Adds moisture and richness, giving the custard a smooth, tender texture.

The step that matters

Cook in a double boiler. Egg yolks thicken gently as they warm; direct high heat can curdle them and leave a grainy custard. Gentle, indirect heat keeps the mixture smooth before the gelatin sets it.

Swap the lettuce

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, corn, pepper, milk, gelatin, chicken, cream):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Lettucethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, corn, pepper, milk, gelatin, chicken, 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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