This Caesar salad recipe should have some crispness and Pop to it!

The romaine lettuce should be cold and crunchy, the dressing creamy and tangy, and the croutons rustic and freshly made.

The most quotable source on the history and construction of an authentic Caesar salad comes from From Julia Child’s Kitchen, published in 1975.

In the book, she recounts a 1925 childhood expedition to Tijuana, the supposed birthplace of the salad, which had been created the year before by Caesar Cardini, a San Diego restaurateur who made the trip south of the border to avoid Prohibition-era laws.

Julia recounts how “Caesar himself rolled the big cart up to the table, tossed the romaine in a great wooden bowl…. I can see him break two eggs over that romaine and roll them in, the greens going all creamy as the eggs flowed over them.” The original, according to Julia, was made with the inner leaves of romaine lettuce—left whole, to be eaten with your fingers—tossed with olive oil, lemon juice, Parmesan cheese, black pepper, garlic, and eggs that have been boiled for exactly one minute.

Sounds so yummy, I’m getting Caesar Salad hungry just reading this.

Dairy Free Caesar Dressing Recipe from CCNE Chef Michael