This is close to the 'original' Caesar Salad recipe that I have been making for almost forty years. The only difference being that my recipe does NOT include any red wine vinegar but another third of a lemon's juice, six to eight dashes of Worcestershire, a few more anchovy filets and 'KEEN's Hot English Mustard' instead of Dijon but Dijon is fine (The 'KEEN'S' gives it a bit more zip!). The preparation is very easy to mess this up if not done delicately, thoroughly and carefully and I think from the comments of the worst reviews that the 'chefs' were not prudent and messed up....from my own past mistakes.
ALSO, folks who claim to not like or want anchovies in their Caesar Salad are then NOT eating a Caesar Salad and any chef who claims to make a Caesar Salad without anchovies is not making a Caesar Salad...it MAY be a good salad but it is 'something else', just NOT a Caesar.
NB...the 'original' Caesar Salad was created in Northern Mexico at the Caesar Brothers restaurant circa 1938 to feed the cast and crew when shooting ran late during the filming of the movie 'STAGECOACH'. There is nothing Italian or anything to do with Rome or Julius Caesar about it.
Ok, and for the tweeks.... Instead of the raw egg I use about 1/2 cup mayonnaise, eliminate the vinegar, reduce the olive oil by half, add 1/2 cup grated fresh parmesan and whip together with the other ingredients. I use anchovy paste as it blends into the whole dressing better without the overwhelming flavor of fishy anchovy. It is a must in Caesar dressing. This makes a wonderful creamy Caesar dressing with no fear of raw eggs, and people always ask for the recipe.
Fabulous traditional caesar salad, faithful to the original. I can't help but add...It is so frustrating when people review a recipe that they haven't even actually tried. A few small adjustments to a recipe is one thing but when there are Major changes - adding mayonaise and removing vinegar and egg - no problem if that's the dressing you like but its not a classic caesar salad dressing and its certainly not this recipe. Some posters stray so far from the plot it leaves me wondering if they are rating the submitted recipe at 3 stars or are they giving their creation 3 stars?
Great recipe. Easy to follow and liked by everyone even my non-salad eating husband!
The dressing is best when using a coddled egg instead of a raw egg yolk:
Bring a pot of water to a full boil, place an egg in the water for exactly 60 seconds (no more!), then remove and put under cold running water to stop the cooking process
Whisk this into the dressing in place of the raw yolk.
I can't imagine a ceasar salad without fresh, course ground black pepper! I also worked at a fancy restaurant and we back waiters always assembled the salad at the table-and theatrics COUNTED! Kitchen prep was crushing garlic cloves and steeping them in EVOO for at least an hour and mixing anchovy paste with the juice of fresh lemons- this makes the anchovies taste more "nutty" and less "fishy" and the salt in the paste takes the acidic "edge" off of the lemon. We washed and seperated the romaine leaves and let them dry completely. The croutons were buttered and sprinkled with an italian spice blend and were always oven fresh and hot at assembly. We always began our presentation by rubbing the entire inside of the WOODEN bowl with a split clove of garlic. We then added the oil/garlic to the bowl, broke and seperated an egg yolk (discard the sac) into the oil. We then gently placed the lemon juice/anchovy in the bowl (beside the oil, being careful not to blend the two) and broke another egg yolk into it , whisking it. The romaine was then torn into the bowl and the whole lightly tossed, trying hard to maintain flavor seperation. Then we added finely crumbled bleu cheese and hot croutons and the salad was tossed once more, immediately plated and served with us grating the parmesan and grinding the pepper for the diner(s). We NEVER added salt to this salad. A dry white wine was usually served with this salad, but a rose' goes well with it also!
Excellent as-is my sweety was very happy with it and I'll use the same recipe again. I only had anchovy paste in a tube...but a teaspoon of that worked fine. Forgot to buy fresh garlic so had to use powdered which was the only mis-step in terms of taste -- not the recipe's fault.
When I saw this called for an egg yolk I knew it was a traditional recipe. I use a tablespoon Anchovy Paste in place of the whole anchovies when making a salad for four it mixes well and taste great. Adjust to your liking. Thanks for the recipe!
I liked this a lot. I think next time I will use a little less lemon juice it was a bit tart. Also maybe another anchovy filet or two. I also will try using balsalmic vinegar for 1/2 the red wine vinegar.
