I’m sometimes asked how I decide which hundred-year-old recipes to make. Often I make recipes that sound like something I think I might like; other times I select recipes because I’m intrigued by an unusual combination of ingredients or preparation methods.
This week, was a first. Another blogger’s post inspired me to select a particular hundred-year-old recipe.
I recently read Automatic Gardening and Real Gluten Free Food’s recipe for Cold Chicken Rice Salad – and thought, “I think that I’ve seen a similar recipe in a hundred-year-old cookbook.” Next thing I knew, I was making a 1919 recipe for Chicken, Rice, and Celery Salad.
Chicken, Rice, and Celery Salad has a nice texture, and is packed with flavor. Both a hundred years ago and now, this salad is perfect for a summer lunch or picnic.
Here is the original recipe:
When I made the recipe, I used some lettuce, but not an entire head. Similarly I used less mayonnaise than the old recipe called for.
Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:
Chicken, Rice, and Celery Salad
2 cups cooked chicken, chopped
1 cup cold long-grain cooked rice
1 cup celery, chopped
1 cup lettuce, shredded
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon paprika
Put chicken, rice, celery, and lettuce in a bowl, then gently mix together.
In a separate small bowl, stir together mayonnaise, salt, and paprika, then add to the chicken mixture and gently stir to combine.
A Hundred Years Ago 
That is an interesting combo! Going to have to try this one!
I think that you’d like it.
Thank you! How are you doing? I haven’t been blogging much for awhile.
I see you found the recipe. It looks perfect for summer. Thanks for the shout-out.
Thanks for inspiring me to make this recipe. It’s a winner.
Nice recipe for today too.
I agree. 🙂
This sounds like a great salad!
It’s tasty.
What is Crisco mayonnaise? This sounds interesting. I may give it s try.
The 1919 cookbook that I got this recipe from (Recipes for Everyday) was a promotional cookbook for Crisco that was published by Proctor and Gamble. It also contains a recipe for Mayonnaise made with Crisco. Somehow that didn’t seem very appealing to me, so I ignored the directions to use Crisco Mayonnaise and just used regular mayonnaise.
Interesting.
I’ve had rice salads and chicken salads but never one that combined them both. I’m sure I would enjoy it.
The combination of chicken and rice works well together.
I like this recipe. I am always looking for new recipes that use rice. Thanks for sharing. You gave me some ideas.
It’s wonderful to hear that this post gave you some ideas.
How unusual. And it sounds so delicious.
It’s yummy.
Sounds good! I like mayo and paprika.
This sounds like it would be a great thing to make on a hot summer day when you don’t want to heat up your kitchen. I’m always in the market for cold meal/side dish ideas like this!
That sounds as if it would be really good! Sometimes old recipes are the best….
This sounds really good. Especially now that the temps are hitting 95ºF. I think I might try this with chard stalks instead of celery. To me, chard favors celery a lot in taste and we have oodles if it in the garden. If I try it, I’ll post it on my blog and give you a link back here.
Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Very old but look so delicious, thank for sharing