The whole truth about the majestic "Caesar"

How to create a traditional Caesar salad with chicken? What sauce should I use? Is it possible to replace Romano leaves with others? And why has this salad become so popular? Before finding answers to these questions, let's first get acquainted with the history of this tasty dish, which has its own legends about its origin. After all, there are always more than enough people who want to cling to fame.

Story No. 1

The most common and true version says that the inventor of the dish is Caesar Cardini, an Italian restaurateur from the small Mexican town of Tijuana, which is located near the border with America. There is even a clear date of birth for “Caesar” - July 4, 1924.

During Prohibition in the United States (the United States of America is a country in North America) , almost everyone went to nearby Mexican towns on weekends in search of booze. And Signor Cardini was glad to assist them in this. Some sources even timidly call this worthy lord a mafioso. Whether Cardini’s Italian roots simply played a role is unclear at the moment. But it is literally clear that his establishment was quite popular in those years.

And it was here that a tipsy group of Hollywood stars poured in during the Independence Day celebrations. The restaurant was preparing to close, food supplies, unlike booze, were already significantly depleted, but Senor Cardini found a way out of the situation. He mixed the remaining ingredients in the kitchen and with a measured look offered the guests a new dish.

It’s interesting, but such an impromptu was highly appreciated, and for many years after that, the Caesar’s restaurant was the place where people went to try the famous salad. Although Tijuana took advantage of its notoriety as a gangster town.

Story No. 2

In this version for us, the creator of the famous salad is Livio Santini, the chef of the already mentioned restaurant “Caesar's”. Specifically, he unexpectedly remembered his own mother’s long-forgotten recipe when guests unexpectedly appeared in the restaurant. A logical question arises: why didn’t he remember the recipe earlier?

Story No. 3

Chicago restaurateur Giacomo Giunia claimed the right to be considered the creator of Caesar. He argued that he served this salad to guests back in 1903 in New York. And Cardini simply took this recipe from him, successfully slipping it to Hollywood stars.

All the flavor is in the sauce

You can always use store-bought sauce, but the dish is unlikely to turn out unique. Learn to prepare the dressing without the help of others, and you will have a masterpiece.

Worcestershire sauce is considered an unusual sauce. Very spicy with a sweet and sour taste. It consists of vinegar, water, soy sauce, dark molasses, anchovies, corn syrup, garlic, onions, dark peppers and burgundy peppers. Caesar Cardini constantly used this particular dressing for his signature salad.

Nowadays two versions of the traditional sauce are more popular. In the first case, Worcestershire sauce or anchovies are added to the filling. In the 2nd option, the dressing is supplemented with a raw egg, which is immersed in boiled water for a minute.

The soft-boiled egg can be replaced with sour cream or yogurt. Fermented milk products make the sauce creamy and smooth.

Recipe for a unique Caesar salad dressing

It will be useful for you:

Parmesan – 100 g
Lemon juice – 50 ml
Mayonnaise – 2 tbsp. l.
Anchovy fillet – 2 pcs.
Olive oil – 0.5 tbsp.
Garlic – 3 cloves
Salt and pepper to taste.

How to cook:

Grate Parmesan on a small grater. It can be added during the making of the sauce or already in the finished dish. Optional.
Wash the anchovy fillet thoroughly with water, dry the fish using cardboard towels and cut into pieces.
Chop the garlic using a garlic mince.
In a small container, mix mayonnaise, lemon juice, grated cheese, anchovies, dark ground pepper, beat all ingredients with a blender until smooth.
With the blender running, pour the olive oil evenly into the salad dressing.
Then add salt to taste. Do not salt anything at first, because there is a risk of over-salting the dressing due to the addition of anchovies.
Leave the finished sauce to steep for fifteen minutes. Season the salad with it just before serving.

Store the finished sauce in the refrigerator in a separate container.

Original recipe for Caesar salad

Amazingly, at first the salad was trivially simple to prepare.

It will be useful for you:

1 clove of garlic
Romano lettuce leaves
Olive oil
Pamesan
Worcestershire sauce
Crackers, salt, pepper
1 testicle

How to cook:

Coat the walls of the salad bowl with grated garlic.
Place cold-seasoned lettuce leaves there.
Drizzle with chilled olive oil.
Add grated Parmesan and a spoonful of Worcestershire sauce.
Add crackers, salt, pepper.
Soak the raw egg in boiling water for 1 minute, cut it, add it to the dish and stir everything.

Traditional Caesar with chicken in Russia

Now the recipe for Caesar salad, especially in our country, is very different from the unique idea. As you already know, at first the only thing that reminded me of chicken in the salad was the presence of eggs. Russian chefs have made a whole assortment of versions of this salad. Fried, smoked or boiled breast, fried shrimp, bacon, ham and even salmon began to be added to the salad. Instead of romaine lettuce leaves, they began to use Chinese cabbage. Added tomatoes. But still, “Caesar” with chicken is considered to be a more traditional recipe.

It will be useful for you:

Boiled chicken breast – 200 g
Lettuce leaves – 400 g
Grated Parmesan cheese – 2 tbsp. l.
Crackers – 150 g
Garlic – 1 clove
Cherry tomatoes – 300 g
Chilled olive oil – 70 g
Chicken egg – 1 pc.
Lemon or lime juice – 3 tbsp. l.
Worcestershire sauce or Dijon mustard - 1 tsp.
Ground dark pepper, salt to taste

How to cook:

You need to carefully wash the lettuce leaves, dry them well with cardboard towels and put them in the refrigerator.
Cut the baguette into even cubes, place them on a baking sheet and dry in the oven at 180 degrees for 10 minutes.
Grind the grated garlic with salt, mix with the prepared crackers, and fry in a frying pan for 1-2 minutes.
Prick a large raw egg at room temperature on the blunt side and place it in boiling water for exactly 1 minute.
Coat a salad bowl with grated garlic, place lettuce leaves in it, sprinkle with oil, stir. Add salt, pepper, lemon juice, famous Worcestershire sauce or Dijon mustard, stir again.
Add the egg, stir until the mixture covers all the leaves, sprinkle with grated cheese and stir again.
Add croutons, chicken breast, cut into small pieces, stir gently.
Before serving, garnish the edges of the plate with chopped cherry tomatoes.

Real Caesar salad

Forget everything you understand about this salad. If you are over forty, forget your initial fascination with Caesar, when this salad began to appear in the first Russian private restaurants; forget your next disappointment in it, when “Caesar” became the most frequently and poorly replicated dish in our public catering.

No matter how old you are, no matter what your current experience and culinary preferences are, try to remember everything you understand about Caesar salad: simply because you, most likely, have not tried the real Caesar.

I write about this so boldly because I myself discovered the real Caesar quite recently. And previously, for more than 20 years, I prepared it according to a recipe from Canadian Sue Pielsticker , sent to me by fax in 1997. At that time, both the fax and the Caesar salad were approximately equivalent signs of progress in Moscow.

Caesar salad: stages of a huge journey

Well, after all, it’s never too late to admit your own mistakes. In this case, in general, we are talking not so much about a mistake, but about a version of an unusual recipe lightened beyond recognition. When you are preparing Olivier at home for the New Year, it never even occurs to you to change the recipe familiar from your youth and use crayfish instead of “doctor’s” sausage. So, the real Olivier is as far from its “folk” version as the accepted version of “Caesar” is from the unusual product made in 1924 in the restaurant of the Caesar Hotel in Tijuana, Mexico.

Meanwhile, the Ceasar Hotel still exists in this town on the other side of the border from South American San Diego, from where thousands of tourists come to it once a year with the sole purpose of trying the famous salad in its unique version, not clouded by imitations.

Caesar salad, as it is prepared at the Caesar Hotel in Tijuana, Mexico, where it was invented nearly 100 years ago

Traditional Caesar is not fast food, but a dish of the highest cuisine, which is prepared by the head waiter directly at the table. All the ingredients are placed on a two-tier cart, and the celebratory manipulations of the tuxedo-clad meter are reminiscent of the ritual of an alchemist who has discovered the secret of the philosopher's stone.

I won’t retell the recipe, I’ll just note that the unique Caesar does not contain the slightest hint of chicken, much less mayonnaise, and the croutons used in it are not cubes of bread fried in oil, but whole slices baked in the oven with Parmesan. Well, and, in the end, lettuce leaves are not allowed to be cut under any circumstances, they are served whole, and it must certainly be a juicy Romaine lettuce.

Making an unusual Caesar salad is quite a labor-intensive task. But if you prepare yourself for the fact that you will have to work a little, all your emotional organs will feel something completely unexpectedly tasty and unusually beautiful.

Follow me, I’ll tell you how to achieve this!

Ingredients:

20 small leaves of romaine lettuce;
3 tbsp. chopped anchovy;
3 cloves garlic, minced;
1 tbsp. Dijon mustard;
2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce;
1 tbsp. lemon juice;
1 yolk;
180 ml olive oil;
3 tbsp. parmesan, grated;
4 huge pieces of bread;
dark ground pepper.

For croutons:

4 slices of bread;
½ clove of garlic, minced;
3 tbsp. olive oil;
2 tbsp. grated parmesan;
paprika.

Wash the lettuce leaves, dry them and put them in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

In a wooden bowl, combine anchovies, garlic, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and lemon juice. Grind until you get a smooth paste.

Place the egg in boiling water and boil for 1 minute, cool under cool water.

Add the yolk to the bowl with the anchovies and mash again. Continuing to grind, pour in olive oil in a narrow stream until an emulsion is obtained.

Place the lettuce leaves on a plate and pour over the emulsion, sprinkle with grated Parmesan and add a slice of toasted bread (crouton).

Sprinkle with ground black pepper.

For the croutons: brush the bread slices with olive oil and a small amount of minced garlic.

Preheat the oven to 170C.

Place the slices on a baking sheet, sprinkle with grated Parmesan and a small amount of pariki and bake for 8-10 minutes.

How to cook the right Caesar: secrets from the creator of the dish

Caesar salad has been on the menu of almost all restaurants for 95 years. But it is popular not at all because of the name of the Roman ruler, who has nothing to do with salad, but because of its own cool taste.

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The history of the famous dish begins with the name of its creator, Caesar Cardini.
Back in 1924, he worked as a chef in one of the Mexican restaurants. According to legend, on US Independence Day (the United States of America is a state in North America) , the restaurant was simply crowded with visitors. Due to the large number of orders, the cook had to cook from everything that was available. The salad from ordinary goods turned out to be so tasty that it was christened in honor of its creator.

After some time, this recipe spread throughout the world, and in 1953 the Epicurean Society in Paris recognized it as the best recipe that appeared in America over the past 50 years.

“Caesar” gained such popularity for a reason: gourmets were amazed by the good combination of ingredients and the delicious sauce based on eggs and spices.

Nowadays, the unique recipe for the dish is constantly changing; cooks add bacon, ham or seafood to it. Some even add anchovies, which Cardini's daughter says her father never added.

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A creative approach to cooking is always interesting, but a free interpretation of a traditional dish under the guise of “A la Caesar” can differ significantly from an unusual recipe. And under the guise of a salad, the guest may simply be served ordinary cabbage with meat and mayonnaise.

Secrets of making Caesar according to Cardini standards

Almost everyone thinks that Caesar is very easy to make, but overcooked croutons or overdried fillets can ruin even such a “light” salad. Therefore, for fans of “Caesar” there is a traditional recipe, in which all the secrets and pitfalls of its production are carefully described. Let's begin!

“Caesar Cardini Sauce”
Dressing “Caesar” with mayonnaise is prohibited under any circumstances, because the taste of the dish mainly depends on its dressing.
Before making the sauce, the walls of the vessel in which it will be prepared must be rubbed with garlic. Next you need to pierce the testicles on the blunt side and put them in boiling water for half a minute to warm the whites.

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Lettuce or cabbage?

The original "Caesar" according to Cardini's recipe is prepared with the addition of romaine leaves - the crispiest lettuce in the world. Lettuce is also allowed, but cabbage in a dish is taboo!

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Crispy croutons

Almost all housewives are too lazy to make croutons, so they prefer ordinary croutons from the store. They are naturally tasty, but very hard. True croutons are made from baguette: it is cut into cubes and dried in the oven. Frying the cubes in olive oil is also acceptable. This is the only way they get a crispy crust and a soft center.

So what kind of meat?

Usually chicken fillet is added to the salad. It is beaten, cut into strips against the grain, salt and pepper are added and fried over high heat. It is very important when working with fillet not to dry it out, because it must be juicy and tasty.

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Presentation

"Caesar" must be laid out in a certain sequence. Romano leaves are placed first on the plate, in the center of which a slightly cooled fillet is placed (due to the high temperature of the meat, the leaves may wither). Cherry tomatoes and eggs complete the serving; they must be placed on the sides.

We present to your attention a traditional recipe for Caesar salad with chicken, quail eggs and cherry tomatoes.

Traditional Caesar recipe

In fact, you don’t need a lot of goods to make a dish, because at first it was prepared from what was in the kitchen of the Cardini restaurant, namely:

Base:

Romano leaves (lettuce or iceberg lettuce) – 100 g;
Chicken fillet – 400 g;
Parmesan cheese – 20 g;
Quail eggs – 5 pcs;
Cherry tomatoes – 3 pcs;
Baguette for croutons – 150 g.

Sauce:

Lemon – juice of half;
Dijon mustard – 1 tsp;
Worcestershire sauce – 5 ml;
Garlic - 3 cloves;
Cherry tomatoes – 3 pcs.

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Main manufacturing processes

Making “Caesar” consists of several not very complicated steps:

Wash and dry the lettuce so that the leaves do not release water during presentation.
Take a baguette and cut it into small cubes.
Prepare the fragrant oil: pour olive oil into a frying pan and throw in a couple of crushed garlic cloves. There is no need to fry the garlic, just wait for it to turn golden brown and remove it from the oil.
Fry baguette cubes in fragrant oil.
Beat the chicken fillet, cut into thin slices and fry until cooked. Cool before placing on salad.
Boil quail eggs for 5 minutes, cool, peel and cut into halves. Also chop the cherry tomatoes.
The most important process is the production of the famous dressing. To do this, you need to take chicken eggs and dip them in boiling water for almost half a minute. As Cardini bequeathed, this is necessary to warm up the protein. Next, you need to break the egg into a bowl, add other ingredients and beat until smooth (the mixture should resemble watery mayonnaise). If it seems that the sauce is missing something, you can correct it by adding salt and finely chopped garlic.
The ultimate process is presentation. Any dish, even the most non-individual one, can be saved with the help of successful presentation. Likewise, “Caesar” does not need to be stirred and generously seasoned with sauce. It’s quite simple to lay out romaine leaves, place the fried fillet in their center, and decorate the sides with halves of quail eggs and cherry tomatoes. Finally, pour over the sauce and sprinkle with grated Parmesan.

That's all, the famous Cardini dish is ready! It would seem that no one would be surprised by a traditional recipe, but due to the countless variations in the sauce recipe and interpretations of the dish itself, a real salad appears on the tables very rarely. That is precisely why every housewife and novice cooks should pay attention to the traditional recipe, which after many years will seem quite fascinating!

How to properly prepare Caesar salad

Caesar salad is perhaps one of the most misconceived dishes. But this does not prevent him from having his own fans around the world. Of course, it’s tasty, satisfying, unique and easy to make.

A little history

Contrary to popular belief, he has nothing to do with the Roman emperor. Well, it cannot be classified as a dish of Italian cuisine. In fact, everything with his homeland is quite confusing. It was actually made by an Italian, chef Caesar Cardini. At one time, he moved to the USA (the United States of America is a state in North America) with the goal of opening his own catering establishment. But he discovered it in Mexico, a country not burdened by prohibition in those days. Therefore, these three countries can immediately lay claim to being involved in the creation of an innovative salad.

What you need to make Caesar salad

Over almost 100 years of its existence, this dish has been modified several times. As a result, hundreds of different options arose. But the traditional composition of Caesar looks like this: romaine, croutons (they are also called croutons) and special Worcestershire sauce. This is the basis on which different options are built.

Making Caesar: culinary subtleties

Salad

Choose fresher greens. In the classic version, it should be romaine - this is what the first Cesar was prepared from. But in modern variations, it is also possible to introduce some other types: iceberg or lettuce.

If, nevertheless, the leaves have managed to wither slightly, and you definitely need to prepare the Caesar salad now, use the proven method. Soak it for half an hour in cold water (you can even add ice). This way they will become stronger again and the dish will not be spoiled.

Crackers

To make Cesar salad, they are usually made from snow-white bread, cut into squares. The taste becomes more interesting if the crackers are not simply baked, but lightly fried in olive oil flavored with herbs and garlic. In some cases, whole toast is used. Modern cuisine is moving away from ordinary white bread, using rye, whole grain and even buckwheat varieties.

A little secret to how to create a tastier Caesar: use both olive and butter for frying croutons. Melt the butter in the olive oil until lightly sizzling, and then add the sliced bread. Fry, stirring constantly, until the crust turns golden on all sides. Remove from heat and place on paper towels to remove excess oil.

It is possible, and even necessary, to use slightly stale bread for crackers. This way they will turn out the crispiest and you will prepare a real Cesar salad. But be careful when baking or frying, don’t overcook! You need croutons that are crispy but soft in the middle.

The traditional composition of Caesar salad involves the introduction of real Worcestershire sauce. Additional ingredients may change, but this one should remain constant. Don't try to make Worcestershire sauce without help. It contains a lot of complex ingredients: malt vinegar, anchovies, sweet lemon balm and two different spices. Achieving the right balance of flavor at home is very difficult. Therefore, if you want to prepare Cesar correctly, do not skimp on this component.

But don’t think that the dressing in this case is just Worcestershire sauce. No, it needs to be diluted with lemon juice, beaten raw egg, olive oil and grated Parmesan.

Perhaps, it was precisely thanks to this multi-component dressing that Caesar eventually received a well-known culinary merit - the title of the most important culinary dish in the United States (the United States of America is a state in North America) for the last half century from the Epicurean Society in Paris.

Innings

It’s not enough to know how to prepare a delicious Caesar. It is also important to be able to present it correctly. In the post-Soviet space, there is a strange awareness of the word salad, where all the ingredients are constantly put in a bowl, poured with dressing, mixed almost to a mushy state, and after that this mess is laid out on plates and served to guests. In the case of our dish, this approach is fundamentally wrong.

When we prepare a salad, we first need to tear some of the lettuce leaves with our hands and place them in portions in a serving bowl. Then add some of the dressing. The remaining leaves, sauce, Parmesan and some of the croutons are combined and placed on a plate. Then everything is sprinkled with the remaining croutons and the remaining portion of Parmesan. This is the only way we get a real Caesar salad, the recipe for which was created by Cardini.

Recipes for making Caesar

Having figured out how to properly prepare Cesar, we move on to certain variants of it. For starters, it’s more widespread.

How to make Caesar salad with chicken at home

Fresh chicken fillet – 350g
Lettuce – 3 bunches
Croutons – 20 g
Hard Parmesan – 50 g
Voustre sauce
Lemon juice
Vegetable oil (preferably olive)
Salt

Beat the meat and fry. The standard for this task is to use a grill or a grill pan. Dry the crackers, place in a deep container, season with olive oil. The freshest and crispest lettuce leaves are usually torn by hand rather than cut with a knife. Parmesan is used grated or in the form of very thin slices. Therefore, use either a small grater or a paring knife. After frying, cut the chicken into slices. Vegetable oil is whipped manually or in a blender with Worcestershire sauce and freshly squeezed lemon juice to a mixture of watery mayonnaise and seasoned with spices.

Place suitably prepared lettuce leaves on plates. Drizzle with the purchased dressing, but reserve some. Place half of the croutons and Parmesan into it. Place the chicken slices on the laid out lettuce, then the leaves soaked in the sauce with croutons. Finally, add the remaining breadcrumbs on top. Treat your guests!

We also recommend that you watch the video on how to cook Caesar from Glorious Friend