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Salad

Chicken Salad

A salad made with shredded chicken, celery, hard‑boiled eggs, and a dressing of vinegar, butter, mustard, sugar, cream, and spices.

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 base

  1. Cook the chicken, let it cool, then chop the meat.

  2. In a bowl, combine the chopped chicken, celery, and chopped hard-boiled eggs.

Make the dressing

  1. In another bowl, work the yolks of the hard-boiled eggs smooth with a wooden spoon.

  2. Slowly stir in the vinegar, melted butter, mustard, sugar, sweet cream, red pepper, white pepper, and salt.

  3. Beat the dressing until well combined, then bring it to a boil.

  4. Let the dressing cool before adding it to the chicken mixture.

Combine and serve

  1. Mix everything together and serve.

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. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

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

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

  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

Chicken
Provides the main protein body of the salad.
Hard-boiled eggs
Yolks mashed into the dressing add richness and body; whites add texture to the salad.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, giving the dressing a smooth, rounded mouthfeel.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the rich fat.
Sweet cream
Adds fat and moisture, making the dressing creamier and softer.
Celery
Adds crisp texture that contrasts with the soft chicken and eggs.

The step that matters

Cooling the dressing before adding it to the chicken. Adding a hot dressing to the chicken and eggs can make the eggs and cream separate or turn watery and can soften the celery. Cooling it first keeps the salad smooth and with a better texture.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, egg, vinegar, butter, mustard, sugar, 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, butter, mustard, sugar, 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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