Information about Caesar Salad

Caesar salad is a salad of romaine lettuce and croutons dressed with Parmesan cheese, lemon juice, olive oil, egg, Worcestershire sauce, and black pepper, originally prepared tableside. Caesar Cardini, who ran restaurants in Tijuana, Mexico, in the 1920s-1940s, is commonly credited as the inventor. ^{[1] [1]}

History

There are several stories about the specifics of the salad's creation. Cardini was living in San Diego but also working in Tijuana where he avoided the restrictions of prohibition. As his daughter Rosa (1928-2003) reported,^[2] her father invented the dish when a Fourth of July 1924 rush depleted the kitchen's supplies. Cardini made do with what he had, successfully adding the dramatic flair of the table-side tossing "by the chef".

Another story is that the salad was created for a group of Hollywood stars after a long weekend party, and still another, that Cardini's brother Alex created it as "Aviator's salad" for a bunch of San Diego aviator comrades who were in a hurry, and the dish was renamed later, when Alex was a partner of his brother. A few fellows among Cardini's personnel also claimed the authorship, but without success. ^{[3] [4]}

As a historical addendum, the salad recipe was created at a place operated by Cardini on the ground floor of the Hotel Comercial at the corner of 2nd Street and Main. In 1929-1930, Cardini moved his restaurant to the newly constructed Hotel Caesar on Main St., nowadays Avenida Revolución, near the corner of 5th St. The Hotel Comercial is long-gone, but the historic "Comercial" building still stands at the same location, and the Hotel Caesar's continues to operate to this day. It was renovated before 1999, and after a several years break, they resumed preparing table-side "ensalada Caesar per tradition" and claim to serve the "original Caesar salad". ^[5]

<gallery perrow="5" caption="Historical <em>Caesar's locations"> Image:Kahn Building San Diego Hillcrest.jpg|The San Diego Kahn Building housed a Caesar's from 1923-1972. Image:Hotel Caesar's Place, Tijuana, early 1920s.jpg|The probably earliest Caesar's Place in Tijuana, early 1920s Image:Caesar's 'original' or 'hotel' restaurant - Tijuana c.1930.jpg|Original Caesar's restaurant - Tijuana c.1930 Image:Caesar Cardini Cafe, Tijuana, on opening night c1935.jpg|Caesar Cardini Café, Tijuana, on opening night, c.1935 Image:Hotel Caesar, Tijuana Main Street, 1940s.jpg|Hotel Caesar on Main Street, 1940ies-early 1950ies </gallery>

Nowadays Hotel Caesar's on Avenida Revolución, c.2000

Nearby Caesar's Sports Bar and Grill in 2006: "Home of the famous Caesar's salad since 1930"

In todays Tijuana, Hotel Caesar's, nearby Caesar's Sports Bar and Grill and Restaurant Caesar's Palace, all on or near Avenida Revolución,^[6] are associated with Caesar's salad.

Recipe

Contrary to popular belief, the original Caesar's salad recipe (unlike Alex's Aviator's salad) ^[7] did not contain pieces of anchovy; the slight anchovy flavor comes from the Worcestershire sauce. Cardini was opposed to using anchovies in his salad.^[8]

In the book From Julia Child's Kitchen, Julia Child describes how she ate a Caesar's salad at Cardini's restaurant when she was a child in 1920s, and some 50 years later she sought out and called Cardini's daughter, in order to discover the original recipe. In this recipe, the lettuce is served whole on the plate, because it is meant to be lifted by the stem and eaten with the fingers. It also calls for coddled eggs and Italian olive oil. ^[1]

The Cardini family trademarked the original recipe in 1948, and more than a dozen of bottled Cardini's dressing varieties are available today. Many other bottled versions are sold, too. Some recipes include one or more of mustard, avocado, tomato, bacon bits, or garlic cloves. Rochelle Low is credited with the creation of the "nouveau-Caesar" style by adding the hotly contested ingredient of anchovies to the dressing recipe. Cardini's Brand original Caesar dressing is somewhat different from Rosa's version ^{[10] [11]} in order to serve today's customer's and manufacturer's needs.

Today, there are many variations. Many restaurants offer a more substantial salad by topping a Caesar salad with grilled chicken, salmon or shrimp. Certain Mexican restaurants even improvise on items such as substituting tortilla strips for croutons and Cotija cheese for the Parmesan. ^[12]

Ingredients

• Ingredients according to the Hotel Caesar's recipe from about 2006: ^[13]
• romaine lettuce
• olive oil, actually garlic oil
• salt
• fresh-ground black pepper
• wine vinegar ^[14]
• lemon juice
• Worcestershire sauce
• raw or coddled egg yolks
• freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• freshly prepared croutons
• Capers
• Recipe according to Julia Child's description of her 1970's telephone interview with Rosa Cardini, 4 servings: ^[15]
• 1/2 cup day-old bread, cubed
• 3/4 cup garlic oil*, divided use
• 2 small heads romaine lettuce
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 2 eggs, coddled (boiled in the shell for 1 minute)
• Juice of 2 medium lemons
• 8-10 drops of Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
  * = Quote: "To prepare the garlic oil, place 4-5 cloves of garlic, peeled and quartered, in a good quality (e.g. Extra Virgin) olive oil and let it stand at room temperature several hours or even up to 5 days."
• Widely accepted, but unlikely to be original:
• Freshly crushed garlic instead of garlic oil
• mustard, powdered or prepared
• anchovies

Raw egg and salmonella

Some people are concerned about the safety of Caesar salads due to the potential risk of infection by salmonella bacteria occasionally found in raw eggs. This is a concern with many similar dressings like mayonnaise, 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. Today, many recipes even omit the egg and produce a "Caesar vinaigrette". Yogurt is sometimes substituted for the eggs to maintain a creamy texture. However, purists disdain these alternatives which do not use raw eggs, as "not being true Caesar's salads".

Caesar salad humor

• The Canadian comedy duo Wayne and Shuster performed sketches based on the popular idea that Caesar salad was invented by or for Julius Caesar. In one variant, Caesar's chef (Shuster) prepares a modern Caesar salad, and says, "You shall name this salad, Caesar." After a pause, Caesar (Wayne) replies, "I name it... coleslaw." Brutus then offers his knife to the cook when the cook disparages the new name.
• Another joke, a pun, is set up by bandits who invade Julius Caesar's birthday party seeking lettuce. Caesar shows them a truly beautiful salad. The bandit chief then replies, "We come to seize your salad, not to praise it!"

References

Books

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

External links

• History of Salads.
• How to make a Caesar Salad - 5 minutes Video shot, Tijuana, B.C., Mexico.
• Narrative and original recipe from From Julia Child's Kitchen