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Caesar salad

One of the most common Caesar salad variations, shown here topped with grilled chicken.
Course	Hors d'œuvre
Place of origin	Mexico
Region or state	Tijuana
Created by	Caesar Cardini
Serving temperature	Chilled or room temperature
Main ingredients	Romaine lettuce Croutons Lemon juice Olive oil Egg Worcestershire sauce Black pepper
Variations	Multiple
Cookbook: Caesar salad   Media: Caesar salad

A Caesar salad is a salad of romaine lettuce and croutons dressed with parmesan cheese, lemon juice, olive oil, egg, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, and black pepper. It is often prepared tableside.

History

it was made by julius caesar.

Recipe

The original Caesar salad recipe (unlike his brother Alex's Aviator's salad) did not contain pieces of anchovy; the slight anchovy flavor comes from the Worcestershire sauce. Cardini was opposed to using anchovies in his salad.

In the 1970s, Cardini's daughter said that the original recipe included whole lettuce leaves, which were meant to be lifted by the stem and eaten with the fingers; coddled eggs; and Italian olive oil.

Bottled Caesar dressings are now sold by many companies.

The trademark brands, "Cardini's", "Caesar Cardini's" and "The Original Caesar Dressing" are all claimed to date to February 1950, though they were only registered decades later, and more than a dozen varieties of bottled Cardini's dressing are available today. Some recipes include mustard, avocado, tomato, bacon bits, garlic cloves or anchovies. Cardini's Brand original Caesar dressing is somewhat different from Rosa's version.

Many variations of the salad exist; for example, by topping a Caesar salad with grilled chicken, steak, or seafood. Certain Mexican restaurants may improvise on items such as substituting tortilla strips for croutons and Cotija cheese for the Parmesan, or the addition of tomatoes.

Ingredients

• Ingredients according to the Hotel Caesar's recipe from about 2006:
  • romaine or cos lettuce
  • olive oil
  • fresh crushed garlic – often in olive oil
  • salt to taste
  • fresh-ground black pepper
  • wine vinegar
  • lemon juice or lime juice - fresh squeezed
  • Worcestershire sauce
  • raw or coddled egg yolks
  • freshly grated Parmesan cheese
  • freshly prepared croutons

Variations

There are limitless variations. However, some of the more common are:

• other varieties of lettuce
• grilled poultry (most often chicken), meat, shellfish, or fish
• capers
• Romano cheese
• anchovies
• bacon

Health concerns

Raw egg and Salmonella

There is inherent risk of infection by Salmonella bacteria occasionally found in raw egg from cracked or improperly washed eggshells. This is a concern with many similar dressings that are emulsified with eggs, though generally the pH level is thought to be acidic enough to kill those bacteria. Nevertheless, later versions of the recipe call at least for briefly cooked coddled eggs or pasteurized eggs. Recipes may omit the egg and produce a "Caesar vinaigrette". Many variations of this salad exist; in fact, Yogurt is sometimes substituted for the eggs to maintain a creamy texture and others call for using mayonnaise, oil and vinegar.

References

1. Cite error: The named reference grant was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
2. "My father always used Lea and Perrins Worcestershire sauce, and anchovies are one of its ingredients. He meant this to be a subtle salad, and anchovies can be overwhelming." (Above quoted 1987 interview with Rosa Cardini)
3. Cite error: The named reference child was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
4. United States Patent and Trademark Office, serial numbers 73426710 "Cardini's", registered 1983 by Caesar Cardini Foods, 73782270 "The Original Caesar Dressing" and "Caesar Cardini's", registered 1989 by Dolefam Corporation, which later merged with T. Marzetti, Search at http://tess2.uspto.gov
5. Review on Caesar Salad, by "The Grumpy Gourmet," Doral Chenoweth, quote:
   "Today the nearest to Cardini's recipe is a commercial Caesar dressing prepared and marketed by the Marzetti Co."
6. Marzetti's "Cardini's Original Caesar dressing" is made with soy oil and anchovies, and gluten free, by now— Information on ingredients given by manufacturer
7. Doral Chenoweth on this:
   "In my reviewing career I have found alleged Caesar salads in this country prepared with . It was there that I decided to take up the cause."
   "I walked from the border to Caesar's Bar & Grill, 5th and Main streets. The second floor ballroom was the salad restaurant. Two chefs were treating tourists to technique. They still use Cardini's preferred wooden bowls. My conversation with one of the chefs went like this:
   
   • Q - Where does the Romaine come from?
     A - Da states.
   • Q - Where does the grated Parmesan come from?
     A - Da states.
   • Q - Where do you get the eggs?
     A - From da chickens.
     Those answers were satisfying. I recrossed the border vowing to defend Caesar Cardini."
8. See "The original Caesar's salad" (JPG), as obtained by Doral Chenoweth
9. The Rosa Cardini recipe does not call for this. As there hardly will be found an Italian salad recipe of that time without any vinegar at all, this might be just an omission.
10. U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service Fact Sheet on Egg Products and Food Safety

Books

• Child, Julia. From Julia Child's Kitchen, 1975. ISBN 0-517-20712-5
• Greenfield, Terry D. In Search of Caesar - The Ultimate Caesar Salad Book, Tjicknor & Fields, 1983.
• Mariani, John F. The Dictionary of American Food & Drink, Ticknor & Fields, 1983.
• Stradley, Linda. What's Cooking America, Chehalem Publishing, 1997.
• Trager, James. The Food Chronology, Henry Holt and Company, 1995.

External links

• History of Salads

v t e Salad dressings
Condiments	Balsamic vinegar Citrus juice Fish sauce Honey mustard Extra virgin olive oil Lemon juice Lime juice Pumpkin seed oil Sesame oil Sour cream Soy sauce Vinaigrette
Types	Blue cheese Caesar French Ginger Green goddess Italian Louis Mayfair Mayonnaise Peanut Ranch Russian Salad cream Thousand Island Wafu
Manufacturers	Bolthouse Farms Hellmann's and Best Foods Ken's Foods Miracle Whip Naturally Fresh Newman's Own T. Marzetti Company Kraft Heinz Wish-Bone

• Salads
• Salad dressings
• Mexican cuisine
• 1924 in Mexico