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Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Caesar salad


I have cravings for it. I think it's the raw garlic and parmesan cheese, with that earthy, dirty anchovy undertone all made good and simple and safe for your sainted aunt with fresh lemon juice. Why do I say fresh lemon juice..? Who uses the stuff in those ghastly little yellow plastic lemons? Where was I? Oh, garlic upon garlic. The oil-toasted croutons rubbed while hot with a raw clove. The rain of fine cheese as the salad is tossed. Barely firm, still-warm eggs. The snap of romaine lettuce in the teeth. The crack of smoky bread.

You have a Caesar story. You know you do. What's yours?
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10 comments:

  1. beautifulbotanyApril 4, 2012 at 6:23 PM

    Ours has coddled egg. (We talk to it gently and try not to hurt its feelings...) And now that you mention it, I was doing a pasta, but why not both??

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  2. dinahmowApril 4, 2012 at 6:54 PM

    I like the version I got from Vincent Price. With a little crisped bacon and some young spinach leaves. "That poor, pale lettuce is anaemic-it needs the iron!"

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  3. betsyApril 4, 2012 at 9:09 PM

    A very soft boiled egg yolk whipped into the oil, vinegar, garlic, mustard, s&p, lemon juice....

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  4. webbApril 4, 2012 at 9:37 PM

    Lunch at the Ritz-Carlton in Boston years ago when I was on my own for a whole day of exploring there. It was so fresh, so crisp, so good. Also, it was back in the day of coddled eggs! I still compare all caesars with that one!

    Yours looks scrumptious!

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  5. MarieApril 4, 2012 at 11:03 PM

    3 mentions of coddled eggs! I also like to make the dressing that way. And I see one source says that the salad should be eaten with the fingers, by the leaf, with coddled eggs. Next time.

    dinahmow - you met Vincent Price???

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  6. GApril 5, 2012 at 11:22 PM

    I took my dad out for dinner recently and he was served a deconstructed caesar, with huge, complete romaine leaves to be eaten - I suppose - with the hands. It was all a bit of a mess, but he was game about it. I love the caesar salad-making scene in Peter Sellar's The Party.

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  7. GApril 5, 2012 at 11:23 PM

    Oh, and on Nigella Express (a bad series, I mean, if you have no time to cook, make a great sandwich or something!), Nigella Lawson used lemon juice out of a little plastic bottle. I turned off after that.

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  8. MarieApril 6, 2012 at 12:52 AM

    G - are you serious???? She used the plastic lemon????

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  9. RosieApril 6, 2012 at 2:05 AM

    JP Roussouw (from Roussouws Restaurants, the only decent guide for SA) appears to judge a restaurant by the quality of the Ceasar Salad. It's his standard order when he's trying out a new place. I love it.

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  10. MarieApril 6, 2012 at 10:58 AM

    Rosie - yes, I have a similar twitch: judging a place by its salad - , period. What does JP do if there ain't no Caesar?

    The funniest Caesar I ever ate was at Buitenverwachting. I laughed till I cried. We never went back.

    http://66squarefeet.blogspot.com/2009/03/funniest-salad-in-world.html

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