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Chicken Salad

A chilled salad of minced chicken, celery, broth, cream, butter, and mayonnaise.

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 pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,012 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Chicken Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the chicken

  1. Boil the chickens until tender.

  2. Remove all bones and skin, then mince the meat finely.

Make the salad

  1. Add the chicken broth and heavy cream to the minced chicken.

  2. Stir in the chopped celery, salt, pepper, and butter.

  3. Once cool, mix in the mayonnaise dressing 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 + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

  2. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Chicken + celerytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,375 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  4. Chicken + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,902 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  5. Chicken + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,958 recipes

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

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 of the salad, which is cooked until tender and then minced.
Chicken broth
Adds moisture and savory flavor to the minced chicken.
Heavy cream
Adds richness and a smooth, moist texture to the salad.
Chopped celery
Adds crisp texture and fresh flavor to the salad.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, contributing flavor and a softer mouthfeel.
Mayonnaise dressing
Binds the salad and adds moisture, tang, and richness.

The step that matters

Let the chicken cool before adding the mayonnaise dressing. Mayonnaise is an emulsion that can break or turn oily and loose when mixed into warm, fatty meat. Cooling the mixture first helps the dressing stay smooth and cling to the chicken.

Swap the celery

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

  1. Garlicfits about as well
  2. Tarragonfits about as well
  3. Thymefits about as well
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, cream, pepper, butter. 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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