by graycat | 2025-07-05 04:48:56+00:00
Some years ago tried Caesar salad many times and settled on the recipe below.

The Caesar dressing is in the family of oil and vinegar mixtures with flavorings and emulsifiers.

The salad also has croutons (pieces of toast flavored with some of the dressing) and grated hard, dry cheese, Parmesan or Pecorino Romano (and I prefer the second).

The lettuce is Romaine. If separate the leaves, rinse them, shake dry, wrap in some clean kitchen towels, refrigerate for several hours, then the lettuce usually will be crisp, which is desirable. Just before combining all the ingredients to make the actual salad, tear the leaves into irregular pieces.

For the egg, boil it the 10 seconds not to cook the egg but to sterilize the outside before cracking the egg.

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Note:

This oil/vinegar mixture has close to the usual (by volume) 3 parts of the oil to 1 part of vinegar. For a brighter flavor, might use more vinegar, maybe as high as a ratio of 3 to 2.

And the other measurements here are also subject to change.

One issue is, some of the ingredients, e.g., basil, oregano, parsley, fresh versus dried, can vary in flavor by a lot. Some garlic is mild and some very strong. And the flavors of the red wine vinegar and olive oil vary.

So, the results tend to vary, between two cooks a lot and even between two trials by one cook.

So for each trial, it's good to have good notes on what did so that can repeat the trial if it was good or adjust the trial if it was not.

So, the notes here are from some trials that seemed good but are subject to adjustment.

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Abbreviations (common in the US)

T -- tablespoon t -- teaspoon C -- cup

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Good to have three bowls, 1 quart plastic or stainless, 5 quart stainless, ~3 quart wooden.

The wooden bowl is for style and the serving, and the large volume of the 5 quart bowl is to ease tossing the croutons and lettuce to coat them with the Caesar dressing.

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Caesar Dressing.

In a one quart bowl, combine

1 egg boiled 10 seconds 1 T Worcestershire sauce 2/3 C red wine vinegar (what you pay for wine vinegar can vary significantly) 1 1/2 T finely minced garlic 3 T Dijon mustard (what you pay for the mustard can vary significantly) 1/2 T basil (fresh or dried) 1/2 T oregano (fresh or dried) 2 T parsley (fresh or dried) 1/2 t salt 1/2 t freshly ground black pepper One 2 ounce can flat anchovies packed in oil, minced, with the oil 2 C olive oil (what you pay for olive oil can vary significantly)

Combine all but the olive oil. Whip to start the emulsification of the oil and vinegar with the egg and mustard emulsifiers.

Add olive oil slowly with whipping. Seek good emulsification of the oil with the vinegar and the rest.

Makes about 3 C.

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Grated Cheese.

Grate some solid Parmesan or Pecorino Romano hard, dry cheese to yield ~1 C of grated cheese.

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Toast for Croutons.

Toast four slices of bread (might use some bread other than US lunch box white bread). Stack the four slices and cut in two parallel cuts, rotate 90 degrees and repeat so cut each slice of toast into 9 pieces.

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Dress the Lettuce.

In 5 quart stainless steel bowl, tear three Romaine hearts into irregular pieces.

Add 3/4 C of the dressing (right, will have plenty of dressing left over for more salads).

Toss.

Goal is to flavor the lettuce with the dressing but still keep the lettuce crisp, not wet or 'soggy'; so try to use the least dressing for the needed flavor.

Notes:

A nice way to present and serve is with a stylish wooden salad bowl full of the salad with croutons and grated cheese on top.

Thus the stylish wooden bowl is too small for tossing; use the 5 quart bowl for tossing and the wooden bowl for presenting and serving.

For the serving, might also use some stylish wooden salad tongs or fork and spoon.

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Toss Croutons.

Add the cut toast to the 5 quart bowl and toss with some of the salad dressing.

Goal is just to flavor the toast but keep it crisp, not soft or soaked.

Add the toast on top of the dressed lettuce in the wooden salad bowl.

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Sprinkle the grated cheese over the toast.

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Serve.

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With the egg, bread, cheese, and oil, it's filling.