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Chicken Salad

A cold salad of chicken, sweetbreads, olives, mushrooms, and mayonnaise, topped on lettuce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Chicken Salad

Why it works: Lettuce and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,356 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Chicken Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Ensure all ingredients are very cold.

Make the dressing

  1. For the dressing, beat the egg yolk in a saucepan.

  2. Add melted butter, sugar, mustard, vinegar, cream, and flour to the egg yolk.

  3. Cook over low heat, stirring until thick.

Assemble

  1. Mix the chicken, sweetbreads, olives, and mushrooms with the mayonnaise.

  2. Place the mixture on shredded lettuce leaves.

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. Lettuce + mustardtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,356 recipes

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

  2. Chicken + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,172 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-butyl acetate (fruity, banana).

  3. Olive + lettucetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,580 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  4. Olive + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,571 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans,trans-2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  5. Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

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

What each ingredient does

Chicken
Forms the bulk of the salad and provides its main protein texture.
Mayonnaise
Binds the chopped ingredients and adds richness and moisture.
Egg yolk
Emulsifies and thickens the dressing as it cooks.
Flour
Thickens the dressing so it sets to a stable, spoonable consistency.
Heavy cream
Adds fat and smoothness, mellowing the dressing's tang.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that balances the richness of the dressing.

The step that matters

Cook the dressing over low heat, stirring until thick. Egg yolk can scramble if it gets too hot or is left unstirred. Gentle heat and constant stirring let the yolk and flour thicken the dressing smoothly without curdling.

Swap the lettuce

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, olive, mushroom, egg, butter, sugar, mustard):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, olive, mushroom, egg, butter, sugar, mustard. 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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