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
Cut the chicken and celery into small squares, sprinkle with a little salt, and set aside in a cool place.
Rub the yolks of the hard boiled eggs to a fine powder.
Make the dressing
Add salt, pepper, and sugar to the yolks, then slowly mix in the salad oil.
Add the mustard and let the dressing stand while you whip the raw egg to a froth.
Incorporate the whipped raw egg into the dressing, beating briskly.
Gradually add the vinegar, mixing lightly with a wooden spoon.
Serve
Transfer the salad to a bowl and garnish with rings of the egg whites and parsley or celery tops.
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.
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Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together16,012 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Chicken + meattop 13% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,449 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,814 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Chicken + celerytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,375 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cold boiled chicken
- Forms the bulk of the salad and gives it a firm, meaty body.
- Hard boiled eggs
- Their yolks break down into a fine powder that thickens and enriches the dressing.
- Raw egg
- Whipped to a froth, it helps bind the oil and vinegar into a creamy, stable dressing.
- Salad oil
- Adds richness and a smooth mouthfeel, carrying flavour through the dressing.
- Vinegar
- Provides the sharp acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the fat.
- White sugar
- Adds a small amount of sweetness that rounds out the vinegar's sharpness.
The step that matters
Add the salad oil slowly. Oil must be dispersed gradually into the yolks so tiny droplets stay suspended. Adding it too fast makes the dressing split into a greasy, loose mixture instead of a smooth, thick emulsion.
Swap the celery
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, meat, egg, vinegar, sugar, cream, pepper):
- Tarragonfits better
- Garlicfits about as well
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Celerythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, meat, egg, vinegar, sugar, cream, pepper. 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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