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Caesar Salad
Recipe serves
:
4
A Little Background
Caesar salad is perhaps the most popular and wide spread salad anywhere. I don't think I have worked in an establishment where Caesar salad wasn't served in one form or another. Invented by the Italian Caesar Cardini, in a restaurant in Tijuana, Mexico. The story is, that on a holiday weekend in 1924 supplies were running short and in a last minute improvisation Caesar said to one of his staff: "Take all of these ingredients to the table and make a real ceremony out of preparing that salad. I want the guest to feel that they are getting the house speciality prepared for them". So it happened and perhaps the most famous of salads today was born, "prepared a la minute" in an improvised setting.
I love that story, mainly because I believe that we chefs excel so much when the pressure is on and the heat levels are up in our kitchens. It just brings out the best in us. Below are both recipes, the one for "a la minute" (table side preparation in front of your guest) and the recipe for the ceasar dressing prepared ahead of time. Whichever method you prefer, once the salad is tossed it needs to be sprinkled with Parmesan, bacon bits and croutons.