Anthony Bourdain's Go-To Ingredient For Next-Level Chicken Salad

Even seven years after his passing, Anthony Bourdain's reputation for living life to the fullest and elevating everyday dishes with unique ingredients lives on in the hearts of professional and home chefs everywhere. Bourdain could enhance anything, from a plate of scrambled eggs to a perfectly cooked steak. Even the humble chicken salad didn't stand a chance at remaining in the land of normality once Bourdain got his hands on it, turning it from an often-overlooked recipe into a showstopper.

Bourdain's go-to ingredient when making chicken salads was celery salt. In the cookbook recipe, Bourdain doesn't give much explanation for the addition, simply recommending that cooks add one teaspoon of celery salt for a stellar chicken salad. Bourdain is legendary for revealing some of the absolute best cooking lessons, so when he tells us to add a teaspoon of celery salt along with 1/4 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce and 1/4 teaspoon of Tabasco sauce, we listen. Among other advice in the recipe, Bourdain recommends poaching and dicing the chicken breasts into 1/4-inch pieces for the best, most finely shredded results.

While celery salt is a fairly common ingredient, the effect it has on chicken salad is nothing short of magical. Per usual, salt will always embolden the flavor of a dish, but celery salt delivers a punchy aftertaste with a bit more bite, though not too overwhelming. Paired with other seasonings, such as Bourdain's recommended chopped tarragon and various sauces, the celery salt stands out even amongst the denser flavors like mayonnaise. Bourdain isn't the only one to use celery salt as a secret ingredient for zesty flavors, either, as Geoffrey Zakarian loves to use it as a steak rub.

Bourdain's recipe does call for one stalk of actual chopped celery and a diced red onion, but celery salt's use is entirely different than simply substituting it for plain salt and chopped vegetables. Celery salt is most commonly made from plain, old table salt combined with crushed celery seeds. You can buy it at the store among other spices, or, to make your own, grab a mortar and pestle and crush the celery seeds into a fine powder, then combine with table salt. To make your own celery salt from celery leaves instead, dry out the leaves in low intervals in the microwave, crumble them with your fingers, and combine with table salt.