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
Cut the chicken meat and celery into small squares and mix together.
Sprinkle a little salt over the mixture and set it in a cool place while preparing the dressing.
Rub the yolks of the hard boiled eggs to a fine powder.
Add salt, pepper, and sugar to the yolks, then slowly add the salad oil, a few drops at a time.
Incorporate the mustard and let the dressing stand while you whip the raw egg to a froth.
Add the whipped raw egg to the dressing, beating briskly.
Gradually mix in the vinegar.
Combine the dressing with the chicken and celery mixture using a wooden spoon.
Garnish with rings of the whites of the hard boiled eggs and parsley or bleached 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
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.
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