VodkaPundit thinks he knows his Caeser salads. Pshaw, I say. Just pshaw.
As Charles Austin points out in VP’s comments section (and I concur), one shouldn’t even think about coming to praise the Caeser unless one brings with him a tin of anchovies as tribute. Not anchovy paste, either. Real filets.
Also, you want to use raw egg yolk and lime juice in addition to your Worcestershire sauce and garlic. Everyone knows that.
My advice? Stick to the martinis, VodkaMan. (Speaking of which, I like mine like I like my women: dirty, and generously stuffed with Pimento).
Making the Caesar for Melissa and myself, I don’t bother to coddle the egg (insert juvie crime joke here). I just do that for worrysome company.
But LIME juice in a Caesar? Dude, that’s some Mexican dish, not a real Cardini Caesar salad. I’m sure it’s tasty and all, but Cardini knew what he was doing with the lemon.
I thought worchestershire sauce was used <b>instead</b> of anchovy paste in the dressing, rather than in addition to the paste. Think I’ll take a stroll through the ol’ Fanny Farmer to see what Marion Cunningham says about the subject.
I have checked two trusted cookbooks. Marion Cunningham’s Fanny Farmer uses:
Olive Oil
Garlic
Lemon Juice
Salt
Anchovy Fillets
The fillets are pounded and mashed into the other dressing ingredients.
The equally authoritative Christopher Kimball, editor of Cooks Illustrated uses the following in the book, The Best Recipe:
whole egg, tempered
lemon juice
worchestershire
salt
black pepper
garlic
either anchovy paste of fillets
olive oil
Nowhere can I find a recipe that includes lime juice. Although that sounds pretty good to me. My own personal favorite dressing is non-caesar and includes lime juice, grapefruit juice, canola oil, salt, pepper and dijon mustard. That’s based on a salad dressing that used to be served at Kinkaids in Oakland CA, long a favorite place of mine until they food poisoned me.
Ah, amateurs…
<b>Caesar Salad</b>
<a href=”http://www.sonorangrill.com/recipes/display.asp?rec=189″>This famous salad is not Italian, but rather a true treasure of Baja.</a> Originally from Tijuana, Mexico, it was created by the famous chef Alex-Caesar Cardini, who first called it
My recipe is based on the one from the New York Times Cookbook, but I have embellished it a bit by experimentation and by trying out other recipes from time to time. I think Mark Miller (of Coyote Cafe fame) has the wettest Caesar recipe out there—it calls for 8 egg yolks! I’d go for 8, but my wife freaks out over more than 2 and some friends balk at more than 0 eggs out of fear of salmonella. The proper response for that is “That’s ok, it leaves more for me!”
And yes, it was invented in Tijuana, so it does qualify as a Southwestern food item!
So, Professor Goldstein, what’s going to be the next food and drink debate subject?
Good question, Will. Crabs? I’m a Marylander, you understand…
I’m not too partial to seafood. (Shimp occasionally isn’t too terrible a thing.) But having been born and raised in the San Francisco area I will make an uninformed assertion that dungenous crab is superior to your Maryland critters.
There’s not a SF Bay crab alive that can stand up to a Maryland Blue crab.
I’m beginning to wonder how you’ve sustained yourself on the diet you favor…