Name: Chicken Salad
Ingredients: 1 cooked chicken; 2 stalks of celery; 2 hard-boiled eggs; 1 teaspoon prepared mustard; ½ teaspoon salt; ¼ cup mayonnaise

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

Mince the white meat of the chicken or pull it into bits.
Chop the white parts of the celery.
In a bowl, rub the yolks of the hard-boiled eggs smooth with a spoon.

Make the dressing and combine

Add the mustard, salt, and mayonnaise to the egg yolks and mix well.
Combine the chicken, celery, and dressing in a large bowl and mix until well coated.

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.

Celery + mustardtop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,169 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Chicken + mustardtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,192 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
Chicken + celerytop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,375 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Egg + mustardtop 28% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,210 recipes

Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Chicken + eggtop 30% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,991 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

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

What each ingredient does

Cooked chicken: Provides the main body and bulk of the salad.
Mayonnaise: Adds moisture and richness, binding the salad together.
Hard-boiled eggs: Yolks mash into the dressing, adding richness and a creamy texture.
Celery: Adds crunch and a fresh, mild flavor to contrast the soft ingredients.
Prepared mustard: Adds sharpness that balances the richness of the mayonnaise and yolks.