# Ceasar Salad



## ChocolateFrosting (Aug 12, 2011)

I might be putting this on the wrong board (sorry if so) but I went to a restaurant recently and ordered ceasar salad.

It would have been nice - apart from the anchovies!
Now it might just be me, but since when did ceasar salad have anchovies in it?! My friend mercilessly mocked me saying that ALL ceasar salad has anchovies in.

Is this true? I looked online and only found recipes without, so am I missing some universal truth that 'ceasar salad always has anchovies' or is my friend in the wrong?

Thanks in advance all!


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## binny (Aug 12, 2011)

Traditionally no, the bastardized one that everyone uses yes oh and the caesar sauce has anchovies in it btw.


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## Snip 13 (Aug 12, 2011)

Yes the dressing has anchovies in it.


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## ChocolateFrosting (Aug 12, 2011)

See, I knew the dressing had anchovies but these were full-fish-layered-on-my-chicken-breast anchovies, gave me quite a scare lifting a lettuce leaf to see them staring at me!

Haha, I knew the little critters weren't meant to be in there!! I shall go gloat 

Thank you xx


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## Selkie (Aug 12, 2011)

No, it's not true, anchovies are not a key ingredient for the original Caesar Salad.

The salad's creation is generally attributed to chef Caesar Cardini, an Italian-born Mexican. He was living in San Diego on July 4, 1924 when it's said he invented his salad. Julia Child claimed to have eaten a Caesar salad at Cardini's restaurant when she was a child in the 1920s, however the earliest contemporary documentation of Caesar Salad is a 1946 Los  Angeles restaurant menu, twenty years after the 1924 origin asserted by  the Cardinis.

The original Caesar salad recipe did not contain pieces of anchovy. The slight anchovy flavor comes from the Worcestershire sauce. Cardini was opposed to using anchovies in his salad.

Just a bit of culinary history. 

Ingredients, according to the Hotel Caesar's recipe from about 2006:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesar_salad#cite_note-12 

romaine lettuce
olive oil
fresh crushed garlic – often in olive oil
salt to taste
fresh-ground black pepper
wine vinegarhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesar_salad#cite_note-13
lemon juice or lime juice - fresh squeezed
Worcestershire Sauce
raw or coddled egg yolks
freshly grated Parmesan cheese
freshly prepared croutons


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## ChocolateFrosting (Aug 12, 2011)

Selkie said:


> No, it's not true, anchovies are not a key ingredient for the original Caesar Salad.
> 
> The salad's creation is generally attributed to chef Caesar Cardini, an Italian-born Mexican. He was living in San Diego on July 4, 1924 when it's said he invented his salad. Julia Child claimed to have eaten a Caesar salad at Cardini's restaurant when she was a child in the 1920s, however the earliest contemporary documentation of Caesar Salad is a 1946 Los Angeles restaurant menu, twenty years after the 1924 origin asserted by the Cardinis.
> 
> ...


 
Thanks Selkie, that's fantastic! I'm now educated and vindicated in my surprise


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## ChefJune (Aug 12, 2011)

ChocolateFrosting said:


> I might be putting this on the wrong board (sorry if so) but I went to a restaurant recently and ordered ceasar salad.
> 
> It would have been nice - apart from the anchovies!
> Now it might just be me, but since when did ceasar salad have anchovies in it?! My friend mercilessly mocked me saying that ALL ceasar salad has anchovies in.
> ...


 
Caesar Salad is traditionally made entirely in the salad bowl.  First rub the bowl with a garlic clove that's been halved.  Then, mash in several anchovies.  Fresh lemon juice mixes in with that, and olive oil is stirred in in dribbles.  This makes the emulsion that dresses the romaine lettuce leaves.  Traditionally there is no "sauce" to pour on, you make the dressing first. But yes, there ARE anchovies in Caesar Salad.  Just not set on top to scare the bejeezus out of  you!


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## Dawgluver (Aug 12, 2011)

I had a similar experience years ago in Florida.  Whole anchovies :shudder::cringe:


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## babetoo (Aug 13, 2011)

l love anchovies anyway i can get them. ceasar salad is unfinished without them. either whole or mashed in the dressing. i love pizza with them. my body doesn't. sucks up liquid big time. however i always ask for them and eat them anyway.


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## Snip 13 (Aug 14, 2011)

I would have eaten the scary anchovies for you if I were there lol! I love them, would eat them straight from the jar!


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## Claire (Aug 14, 2011)

Every expensive, table-side prepared Caesar I had did have anchovies.  I learned later that the original had Worcestershire sauce, which, surprise, surprise, contains anchovies.  I make mine with the sauce nowadays.  We don't like the anchovies enough to buy a container then have it sit in the fridge until I throw them away!


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## Snip 13 (Aug 14, 2011)

Claire said:


> Every expensive, table-side prepared Caesar I had did have anchovies.  I learned later that the original had Worcestershire sauce, which, surprise, surprise, contains anchovies.  I make mine with the sauce nowadays.  We don't like the anchovies enough to buy a container then have it sit in the fridge until I throw them away!



You should perhaps consider buying a tube of Anchovy paste. It works well in the dressing and it can be used to perk up soups, stews, tomato sauces and many more! It last longer in the fridge and tastes less harsh than anchovy fillets.


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## Claire (Aug 14, 2011)

I have done that in the past and did use it.  It isn't all that easily obtained locally, though, and haven't bought it in a few years.  It's sort of like Vietnamese fish sauce.  I like it a little, but only seem to find it in bottles that last me years.  Come to think, maybe a dash of that would zip up a Caesar!


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## Snip 13 (Aug 14, 2011)

Claire said:


> I have done that in the past and did use it.  It isn't all that easily obtained locally, though, and haven't bought it in a few years.  It's sort of like Vietnamese fish sauce.  I like it a little, but only seem to find it in bottles that last me years.  Come to think, maybe a dash of that would zip up a Caesar!


I find mine at most Deli's and the fish sauce could work for a Ceasar Dressing I'm sure


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## ChefJune (Aug 15, 2011)

Snip 13 said:


> I would have eaten the scary anchovies for you if I were there lol! I love them, would eat them straight from the jar!


 Me, Too.  How about an anchovy sandwich?


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## Snip 13 (Aug 15, 2011)

ChefJune said:


> Me, Too.  How about an anchovy sandwich?



Oh yummy! Toasted Baguettes with Anchovies or Pizza with Anchovies and capers! I really like white anchovies but you don't see them often here


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## bolero88 (Aug 15, 2011)

I had forgotten about the anchovies. I haven't made it in years but my favorite recipe in the NYT cookbook, I believe uses anchovies. I think a few small pieces are a nice addition to the salad.


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## CharlieD (Aug 16, 2011)

It seems that it is not a very clear issue. Read what Wiki says:

Caesar salad - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## ChefJune (Aug 16, 2011)

CharlieD said:


> It seems that it is not a very clear issue. Read what Wiki says:
> 
> Caesar salad - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


 
It's always been a controversial issue.  Most folks I know go with the anchovies if they like them and not if they don't. Truth to tell, does it really matter?

Over the years, any time I've ordered it in a restaurant anchovies were always involved one way or another.

OTOH, I don't really like wikipedia as an authority. Anyone can enter info to it.


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## CharlieD (Aug 16, 2011)

Reminds me of a russian salad called O'Livie(r). There thousands of recipes and all are different. Though majority agree on the idea. But everybody is extremely pationate on the fact that their recipe is the original one. It is much harder to proove anything though, becasue the recipe is from the 19-th century.


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