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Chicken Salad

A salad of chopped chicken, celery, and egg yolks dressed with mustard, vinegar, and melted butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 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

  1. Boil the chicken tender with a small piece of salt pork, then chop the chicken finely, discarding the pork.

Make and combine the salad

  1. In a bowl, mix the egg yolks into a paste, then add cayenne pepper, black pepper, mustard, vinegar, and melted butter.

  2. Pour the dressing over the chopped chicken and celery, and stir well.

  3. Chop two of the egg whites and mix with the chicken.

Garnish and serve

  1. Slice the remaining two egg whites into rings and place on top of the salad.

  2. Garnish each ring with a small sprig of celery tops.

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. Chicken + porktop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,417 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Chicken
Forms the main body of the salad, providing the substance that the dressing coats.
Egg yolks
Mashed into a paste, they bind and thicken the dressing, giving it a smooth, rich texture.
Melted butter
Adds fat and richness, helping the dressing taste smooth and coat the chicken.
Mustard
Adds sharp, pungent flavor that cuts through the richness of the butter and yolks.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the fat.
Celery
Contributes crisp texture and a fresh, mildly savory flavor to the salad.

The step that matters

Mixing the egg yolks into a paste before adding the liquids. Yolks mashed smooth first emulsify more evenly with the melted butter and vinegar. Adding everything at once can leave the dressing greasy or lumpy.

Swap the celery

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, pork, egg, pepper, mustard, vinegar, 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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