Caesar Salad

[blue_dolphin]

23 hours ago, Smithy said:

One thing, though: it may not be as showy as the original, but I'll probably chop that lettuce into smaller pieces before tossing. Is that heresy? 😉

 

I guess I'm a lazy eater but I also prefer salads with more bite-sized ingredients than something that needs carving.  I've gone to Little Gem lettuce in a Caesar instead of full-size Romaine.  More crunch, less limp. Some curly escarole/frisée in the mix if I've got it for a touch of bitterness. 

[Katie Meadow]

1 hour ago, blue_dolphin said:

 

I guess I'm a lazy eater but I also prefer salads with more bite-sized ingredients than something that needs carving.  I've gone to Little Gem lettuce in a Caesar instead of full-size Romaine.  More crunch, less limp. Some curly escarole/frisée in the mix if I've got it for a touch of bitterness. 

I have a small mouth and need my salad bite size. My husband, on the other hand, could eat a whole romaine leaf no problem. I gave up asking him to make smaller pieces in a Caesar salad, but now I just ask him for a knife.

[AlaMoi]

I've always heard the "tear the Romaine, not cut / chop it" . . .

someone using whole, intact leaves?

[rotuts]

I chop.  I also use drops of RB40 rather canned anchovies 

 

TJ's  parmesan-ish  etc

 

taste mighty fine .

[Smithy]

15 minutes ago, AlaMoi said:

I've always heard the "tear the Romaine, not cut / chop it" . . .

someone using whole, intact leaves?

That's the way it looks in the photo.

[AlaMoi]

hmmm.  sometimes the quest 'to be different' doesn't work . . .

[FrogPrincesse]

That’s actually the way it is served at its birthplace, Caesar’s.

[FrogPrincesse]

Here is one more article about its centennial, which includes a video showing its preparation.

 

https://sandiegomagazine.com/features/caesar-salad-history-tijuana/

[rotuts]

NYTimes had an article on C.S.:

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/01/dining/caesar-salad.html?searchResultPosition=2

 

highlights for review purposes:

 

''''   Diners have long flocked to the restaurant for a taste of the original Caesar salad. But the version on the menu today — which has garlic, whole anchovies, Dijon mustard, Parmigiano-Reggiano, lime juice, olive oil, salt, freshly cracked black pepper and a coddled egg yolk in the dressing — is but a distant cousin of the one served 100 years ago. And like many cuisine cornerstones, aspects of the original recipe — including Mr. Cardini’s role in its creation — continue to be disputed.   '''

 

'''   According to Mr. Escobedo, Mr. Cardini, an Italian immigrant to the United States, arrived in Tijuana in 1920. As prohibition sent wealthy Americans streaming into Mexico to drink, feast, smoke and take in horse races and boxing matches, Italian hospitality professionals, including Mr. Cardini, followed suit to cater to them.  '''

 

'''   

Within a few years, Mr. Cardini was creating a spectacle of his own as he rolled out imported ingredients and an immense wooden bowl in front of glamorous diners at the first location of Caesar’s, which he opened in 1926. But according to Mr. Escobedo, Mr. Cardini had created the salad two years prior — on July 4, 1924 — at another restaurant he’d owned, the Alhambra Cafe.  '''

   '

'''  

he original recipe included a whole coddled egg, lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce, and did not include anchovies, Mr. Escobedo said. Instead of emulsifying the dressing before tossing the salad, the lettuce was laid in the bowl and topped with the dressing ingredients, one by one, then mixed. '''

  

'''Just when it seemed like diners could not get enough of the salad, Mr. Cardini sold Caesar’s in 1936 on the heels of a yearslong economic recession and a gambling ban instated in Mexico 1935. He returned to the United States, where he started Caesar Cardini Foods Inc., a business he eventually shared with his only daughter, Rosa.  '''

 

'''

By the 1980s, the salad was still prepared tableside, but with store-bought croutons, shelf-stable, pregrated Parmesan and little care.

A halt in tourism to Tijuana after Sept. 11, 2001, coupled with the worst decade of crime, kidnappings and cartel violence in the city’s history, hampered business at Caesar's. The restaurant shuttered in 2008.   '''

 

''' The salad served at Caesar’s can easily be made at home. A large wooden bowl is critical.Credit...Christopher Testani for The New York Times..  ''

 

I think the wooden bowl  sort of thing might be dramatic , but unless you can keep it clean somehow , the residual oil is going to oxidize .  a polite term for going rancid.    to each their own.

 

are is the NYTime Rx :

 

 

for review purposes , of course .   the wooden bowl ?  up to you and your taste buds.

 

Edited July 6 by rotuts (log)

[weinoo]

On 7/6/2024 at 2:29 PM, AlaMoi said:

I've always heard the "tear the Romaine, not cut / chop it" . . .

someone using whole, intact leaves?

 

The only time I chop for a salad is for a "chopped salad," @rotuts !

 

 

Here is the Caesar, as served at Zuni Cafe (March, 2024).  Small, whole, inner leaves. 

[weinoo]

Maybe some of them (above) were hand torn; can't remember (nor tell) from the photo.

[rotuts]

I'm a ' less fiddle fiddle ' at the table sort of person.

 

Steamed whole lobster ?  plastic bib ?  

 

I had some stuffing Chinese dishes , 

 

in Chinatowns where very little to no english was spoken.   

 

you pointed to what someone else   ( Chinese ) was having , etc

 

esp crab .   but it was too much work dealing w the shells 

 

at the table  .  I prefer to do the work in the kitchen 

 

the gobble down at the table.

 

I use the whole head of romaine .  larger outer leaves  

 

in good shape 

 

are sliced down the middle , as are many of the smaller leaves

 

then sliced into generous proportions .

 

works better at the table.

 

and its true  : if you only use the inner leaves

 

the pale ones

 

of any head of lettuce , you get a different taste result.

 

truth be told , I usually make C.S. with Bibb.

 

some tome all the leaves , sometimes , if the head is tight and heavy 

 

only the inner leaves.

 

tasty is tasty after all

[AAQuesada]

I made this Caesar recently from French Chef Jean Francois Piege. Pretty fantastic, and like Amy good Parisian Caesar salad i topped out with chicken and a hats cooked egg (obviously going for authenticity! 😂

 

 

https://www.lepoint.fr/gastronomie/la-sauce-caesar-de-jean-francois-piege-19-05-2018-2219729_82.php#11