Day #43, Caesar Salad with Chicken Breast

I was so excited to be able to blog about the Caesar Salad today. It's one of my absolute favorites, and I actually order it exactly how it is supposed to be made- with out any deletions or substitutions.

Our Caesar salad is made very similar to others: Caesar dressing, Romaine lettuce, grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, croutons, and fresh ground black pepper. I think all Caesar salad fans know it's really the dressing that can make or break this salad, and I think the dressing on this salad is what made me fall in love with it. The dressing is made in house using fresh ingredients. Some of the main ingredients in our Caesar dressing are egg yolks, vegetable and olive oil, Parmesan cheese, and lemon juice.

I never tried Caesar salad until I worked at a yacht club up north. We had pasta nights, and the staff always ate the leftover Caesar salad. Since then, I have become a very loyal fan. What deterred me for all those years was the fact that the dressing contains anchovies. I thought this was incredibly disgusting, even though it does not taste at all fishy.

It is believed that the salad's creation is attributed to Caesar Cardini, and Italian-born Mexican restaurateur. It is believed that he created the salad because they were out of many supplies and he had to make do with what he had at the time. There is no direct documentary reference to it until the mid-1940s— twenty years after the 1924 origin asserted by the Cardinis. It appeared on a Los Angeles restaurant menu in October 1946.

This is by far my favorite salad on our menu, and everyone here knows how much I love it. I always try Caesar salad at other restaurants, and it is never quite as good as this one!