Why it works: Lemon and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Chicken Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the meat
Boil the chicken and veal until tender.
Let them cool, then cut into small pieces, discarding the skin and gristle.
Make the salad
Combine equal parts of the chicken and veal with chopped celery.
Add lemon juice and chopped walnuts.
Season with salt and pepper, then mix with mayonnaise dressing.
Just before serving, fold in the whipped cream.
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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Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Celery + lemontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,467 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together16,012 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Celery + walnuttop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together852 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
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Lemon + walnuttop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,149 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Chicken
- Provides the main cooked meat that gives the salad its bulk and texture.
- Loin of veal
- Adds a second tender meat that makes the salad milder and more delicate in flavour.
- Celery
- Adds crisp texture and a fresh, slightly savoury crunch against the soft meat.
- English walnuts
- Add crunch and a rich, nutty flavour to the salad.
- Mayonnaise dressing
- Adds fat and moisture that bind the salad and carry its flavour.
- Whipped cream
- Adds lightness and a smooth, airy richness to the dressed salad.
The step that matters
Fold in the whipped cream just before serving. Whipped cream is an foam of air bubbles held in fat. Mixing it in early or stirring vigorously lets the bubbles collapse and the cream turn loose and watery, so it is folded gently and added at the last moment.
Swap the walnut
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, veal, celery, lemon, pepper, cream):
- Beansfits about as well
- Walnutthe original
- Chestnutfits about as well
- Pistachiofits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, veal, celery, lemon, pepper, cream. 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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