Name: Old-fashioned Chicken Salad
Ingredients: equal parts white meat of chicken, chopped; cabbage, chopped; celery, chopped; 12 hard-boiled eggs, chopped; mustard, to taste; coarse sea salt, to taste; black pepper, to taste; vinegar, to taste; ½ cup melted butter or olive oil

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 ↓

Old-fashioned Chicken Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Combine equal parts of chopped chicken, cabbage, and celery in a bowl.
Add the chopped hard-boiled eggs.
Season with mustard, coarse sea salt, black pepper, and vinegar to taste.
Stir in ½ cup of melted butter or olive oil.
Mix thoroughly until well combined.

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.

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).
Cabbage + mustardtop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,645 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together16,012 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,081 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Cabbage + celerytop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,840 recipes

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

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 and bulk of the salad.
Hard-boiled eggs: Add richness and a soft, creamy texture to the salad.
Butter or olive oil: Adds fat and moisture, carrying flavor and binding the salad together.
Cabbage: Contributes crisp texture and freshness that contrasts the richer ingredients.

Swap the cabbage

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

Capsicumfits better
Lettucefits better
Horseradishfits better
Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, chicken, celery, egg, mustard, pepper, vinegar. 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.