The Best Caesar Dressing (in my opinion anyway)

I find it humorous when Italian restaurants serve Caesar salads and claim them to be from the homeland.  Caesar salad is from Mexico, made by an italian chef, but in Mexico.

There is some confusion as to who actually invented the salad as many people assert that they created it.  All of them worked with Caesar Cardini during the 1920's in Tijuana where Cardini owned a restaurant.  Cardini himself is cited by most when the creator of the Caesar salad is the topic being discussed.

The salad in it's current form is slightly different from the recipe that is purported to be the original.  According to my research, the anchovies used in today's caesar salads were absent in the original unless you take into account their presence in Worcestershire sauce.

Caesar salad is one of my favorite menu items.  It can be an amazing dish that I dearly love to eat.  That is if it is a good one.

I make a pretty kick-ass Caesar dressing, most of the dressings that are used in restaurants are decidedly not kick-ass.  In fact most of the caesar salads that I have had while out dining are horrible.  For this reason, it is one of the items that I will almost never order in a restaurant unless I am sure that it is a good version.

This recipe is a cold emulsion similar in technique to creating an aioli or mayonnaise.  For those of you who are unfamiliar, an emulsion is where two liquids are combined in a homogenous liquid that combines both where neither is individually recognizable.  I guess to be fair, in this recipe the "liquids" are lipids, or a type of fat.  I don't know if egg yolk can really be called a liquid.  I'm a little fuzzy on the subject there.  

The final difference between the aioli and mayonnaise in this recipe is the addition of favors and liquids to manipulate the texture of the final product.

Here is my recipe:

1 egg yolk

1 T Dijon Mustard

20 oz Canola/Olive Oil Blend

1 T Anchovy Paste

2 oz Lemon Juice

2 T Cold Water

1/2 tsp Kosher Salt

3 oz Pecorino Romano (finely grated)

2 tsp Minced Garlic

Black Pepper

I make my dressing in a glass bowl with a wire whip.  In order to stop the bowl from rocking around on the counter, I make a ring for it to sit in with a kitchen towel.

I start with an egg yolk and some Dijon mustard.  The Dijon does not add a whole lot of flavor to the dressing, it helps with the emulsion.  Egg yolks are an amazing little beastie that can hold a ton of oil in suspension, but I want a helping hand, so I add the mustard.  It is not necessary to add the mustard to the dressing.  Your call.

Whip the yolk until it begins to thicken in texture.

Slowly add about two oz of oil while you continue to whip the mixture.  Continue until the oil is completely emulsified.

Continue this method of slowly adding a couple of ounces at a time and incorporating it.  The mixture will start to get really thick, like a heavy mayonnaise.  

I add two tablespoons of cold water at this point to make the texture more loose.

Now you can go a little faster with the oil.  Be careful to not go too fast as you will run the risk of breaking the emulsion.

Once all of the oil has been incorporated, it is time to flavor it.  Add the garlic, kosher salt, pepper, anchovy paste and lemon juice.  With the wire whip mix all of these into the dressing.  

The last thing that I put in is the cheese.

When all of the ingredients have been added, taste it to see if it is balanced.  A word of warning, if you don't taste the garlic right away, that is o.k., it will come out in a day or so.

Make this one and let me know if you're going to continue eating caesar when you go out, and if you do, who makes the best regardless of where you live, I'd like to know.