{"id":193862,"title":"Authentic American Caesar Salad","modified":"2026-10-29T19:48:00+01:00","plain":"Whole romaine leaves tossed in an olive oil, lemon and egg dressing, with grated Parmesan and garlic baguette croutons.\n\n\n\nOn a summer evening, you crave something fresh, but the kind of fresh that fills you up. An ice-cold romaine leaf, picked up by the stem, glistening with dressing, with Parmesan clinging everywhere and a golden crouton that crunches between your teeth. \n\n\n\nThe lemon is sharp, the Worcestershire sauce adds depth, and the egg binds everything into a light cream that coats every leaf. You think you know Caesar salad by heart, until the first leaf you eat with your fingers.\n\n\n\nAnother American sauce for raw vegetables: ranch dressing\n\n\n\nWhat Is Caesar Salad?\n\n\n\nCaesar salad is a salad of whole romaine leaves, dressed at the last minute with olive oil, salt, pepper, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce and eggs cooked in their shells for one minute. It is finished with grated Parmesan and baguette croutons browned in garlic oil. The original version does without chicken, bacon, anchovies and mayonnaise.\n\n\n\nIts name comes from Caesar Cardini, an Italian restaurateur based in Tijuana, Mexico, and has nothing to do with Julius Caesar. In Mexico, it is called ensalada C\u00e9sar.\n\n\n\nTijuana, 1920s: A Salad Born at the Border\n\n\n\nCaesar salad was born in Tijuana in the 1920s, during Prohibition. Americans crossed the border to drink and go out, and Caesar Cardini welcomed them at his restaurant. He made the salad in front of them, in a large wooden salad bowl, with a fork and a spoon.\n\n\n\nRomaine is also the base of this reimagined Ni\u00e7oise salad\n\n\n\nThe leaves were left whole because the salad was eaten by hand, holding each leaf by the stem. Later, Alex Cardini, Caesar\u2019s brother, added anchovies to his own version. The salad then traveled the world and became a classic of American cuisine, most often with chopped leaves drowned in dressing.\n\n\n\nThe Main Ingredients in Caesar Salad\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRomaine provides the crunch and the shape. Its long, firm leaves can be held by the stem and hold up under the dressing, as long as they are well chilled. The croutons are thin baguette slices brushed with garlic oil, dried in the oven, then browned in a frying pan. The garlic flavors the croutons and nothing else. For another crispy garlic topping, there\u2019s fried garlic.\n\n\n\nThe dressing comes together right on the leaves with olive oil, salt, pepper, lemon or lime juice, a few drops of Worcestershire sauce and two barely cooked eggs. The Worcestershire sauce brings saltiness and a note of umami, without anchovies. The eggs bind the oil and lemon into a light cream.\n\n\n\nThe Parmesan is finely grated so it clings to the leaves. Romano, which is saltier, makes an easy substitute. Shavings, on the other hand, fall to the bottom of the bowl.\n\n\n\nFor another big salad, there\u2019s Greek salad\n\n\n\nKey Techniques for a Successful Caesar Salad\n\n\n\nIt all happens in the bowl. The leaves get the oil, salt and pepper first, then you roll them with the fork and spoon, turning them over without breaking them. The lemon and Worcestershire sauce go in next, followed by the eggs, cracked directly onto the leaves.\n\n\n\nKeep rolling, without stirring, until the dressing turns creamy and coats every leaf. The croutons and Parmesan go in last. If your bowl is too small, work in two batches.\n\n\n\nEggs cooked for one minute stay almost raw. The risk of salmonella is low: according to the American Egg Board, one in 20 000 eggs may contain it.\n\n\n\nFor the rest of the meal, oven-baked pulled pork\n\n\n\nArrange the leaves on the plates, stems facing out, so they can be eaten with your fingers. Plates and forks chilled in the refrigerator keep the salad nice and cold all the way to the table. Anchovy lovers can have them on the side, on a crouton or in a small bowl.\n\n\n\n\n\n\tAuthentic American Caesar Salad\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\tGarlic Croutons120 ml olive oil4 cloves garlic, (crushed)16 slices baguette, (0.5 cm thick (4 per person))Salad3 heads of romaine lettuce (medium)Caesar Dressing2 tablespoons olive oil1 teaspoon salt, (about)1 teaspoon black pepper, (or 8 turns of the pepper mill)Juice of 2 lemons or 2 limes, (or one of each)12 drops Worcestershire sauce2 eggs50 g Parmesan (grated, or Romano)\t\n\t\n\t\tGarlic CroutonsMake the garlic oil by adding the crushed garlic cloves to the olive oil.Cut the baguette into 0.5 cm thick slices, 4 per person.Brush the slices with the garlic oil using a pastry brush.Dry them in a low oven at 120\u00b0C until they are completely dry.Then fry them in the rest of the garlic oil until they are golden and the oil has been absorbed.For a stronger garlic flavor, blend some of the garlic with the oil and add it only at the very end of cooking the croutons, as garlic burns very quickly.Set the croutons aside in a bowl, ready for assembly.SaladRemove the dark outer leaves from the romaine.Cut through the core about 5 cm from the base to release the leaves.Keep the leaves whole, without cutting or tearing them.Keep the leaves in the fridge until assembly: they need to be well chilled.Caesar DressingSqueeze the juice from the lemons.If you like, strain it through cheesecloth or squeeze it directly with a citrus juicer.Grate the Parmesan.Set it aside in a bowl, ready for assembly.Bring a saucepan of water to a boil.Lower the whole eggs, still in their shells, into the water and cook them for exactly 1 minute.Take the eggs out of the water and set them aside.Before you start assembling, set out on the counter the salt, pepper, olive oil, Worcestershire sauce, citrus juice, eggs, grated cheese, croutons and well-chilled romaine leaves.AssemblyHave ready a large salad bowl, preferably a wooden one (it was always Caesar Cardini's choice), along with a salad fork and spoon.Work in two batches if the bowl is too small to hold everything.Put the romaine leaves in the bowl.Add the olive oil, salt and pepper.Roll the leaves with the fork and spoon, gently turning them over on themselves, until they are well coated with oil.Drizzle with the citrus juice and Worcestershire sauce.Crack the eggs directly over the leaves in the bowl.Roll the leaves again rather than tossing them, until the egg and the other ingredients form a creamy dressing that coats the leaves.Add the croutons and grated cheese.Toss to coat the croutons in the dressing and make the cheese cling to the leaves.Arrange the leaves on the plates with the stems facing outward, so they can be eaten with your fingers.\t\n\t\n\t\tAnchovies were not part of Caesar Cardini's original recipe: it was his brother Alex who added them. For anchovy lovers, you can offer a crouton spread with a little anchovy paste, and a small bowl of mashed anchovies served on the side.\nFor the citrus, you can use one lemon and one lime. Nobody knows exactly what Caesar used, because what is called a lemon in Mexico often corresponds to what we call a lime.\nThe leaves are arranged with the stems facing outward because the salad used to be eaten by hand. Chilling the plates and forks before serving adds to the elegance of the meal.\nSome people make the dressing ahead of time, right in the salad bowl, mixing it with a fork. Many other little techniques have been added to the recipe over the years.\n\t\n\t\n\t\tSaladeAm\u00e9ricaine","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193862\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/193440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}