Name: Chicken Salad
Ingredients: 2 or 3 hard-boiled eggs; 1 tablespoon mixed mustard; 1 teaspoon salt; 2 tablespoons oil or cream; black pepper to taste; cooked chicken, chopped; celery, chopped

Why it works: Mustard and celery 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

Mash the yolks of the hard-boiled eggs with the mustard, salt, oil or cream, and black pepper.
Chop the whites of the eggs, chicken, and celery.
Combine all ingredients and mix well.

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.

Mustard + celerytop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,169 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together16,012 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Hard-boiled eggs: Yolks mash into a creamy base while chopped whites add body and texture.
Mixed mustard: Adds sharp, tangy flavour that cuts the richness of the eggs and oil.
Oil or cream: Adds fat and moisture, making the mashed yolks smooth and binding the salad together.
Cooked chicken: Provides the main protein and substance, holding its chopped texture in the salad.
Celery: Adds crisp texture and a fresh, mild flavour that contrasts with the soft ingredients.

Swap the mustard

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

Capsicumfits better
Spinachfits better
Potatofits about as well
Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, cream, pepper, chicken, celery. 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.