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
Make the dressing
Heat the vinegar and butter in a saucepan, but do not let it boil.
Slowly stir the beaten egg yolks, mustard, and salt into the hot mixture until well cooked.
Set the dressing aside in a cool place to thicken.
Prepare the chicken
Cut the meat from the chickens into fine pieces and sprinkle with a little salt.
Combine the chicken with an equal amount of cut celery.
Assemble and serve
When ready to serve, pour the dressing over the chicken and celery, stirring well.
Add 1 quart of rich cream, whipping part of it if preferred.
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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Mustard + celerytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,169 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Mustard + chickentop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,192 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
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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
What each ingredient does
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the dressing as they cook gently in the warm vinegar and butter mixture.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, rounded body to the dressing.
- Vinegar
- Provides the acidity that gives the dressing its sharp, tangy flavour.
- Cream
- Adds moisture and richness, lightening the salad's texture.
- Chicken
- Forms the main body of the salad, providing most of its substance.
- Celery
- Adds crisp texture that contrasts with the soft chicken and dressing.
The step that matters
Heating the dressing and adding the egg yolks. Heat the vinegar and butter without letting them boil, and add the beaten yolks slowly while stirring. Boiling or rushing the yolks can scramble them, leaving the dressing lumpy instead of smooth and thick.
Swap the celery
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, butter, egg, mustard, chicken, cream):
- Tarragonfits better
- Capersfits better
- Garlicfits about as well
- Celerythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, butter, egg, mustard, chicken, 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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