Recipes / Salads / American Salads Classic Caesar Salad Anchovy mashed to a paste, egg yolk whisked to an emulsion, and croutons fried in the garlic oil. No bottled dressing comes close.
Time 30 min
Serves 4
Difficulty Medium Ingredients Servings
− +
Quantities for 4 servings
2 large romaine hearts, leaves separated 150 g day-old sourdough or ciabatta, torn into 2 cm pieces 60 g Parmesan, finely grated, plus more to serve 6 anchovy fillets in oil, drained 2 large egg yolks, at room temperature 2 garlic cloves 1 tbsp Dijon mustard Juice of 1/2 lemon 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce 150 ml mild olive oil, plus 3 tbsp for the croutons Salt and plenty of coarsely ground black pepper
Treat this list as a starting point rather than a shopping order. Swap what you haven't got, leave out what you dislike, add what you love — this is exactly the kind of dish that rewards poking around in the fridge.
Method 1 Heat the oven to 190°C / 170°C fan / 375°F. Toss the torn bread with 3 tbsp olive oil, a crushed garlic clove and a pinch of salt, and bake for 12–15 minutes until golden and crisp at the edges but still slightly chewy in the middle. Tear the bread rather than cutting it — the ragged edges catch far more dressing than neat cubes. 2 Mash the anchovies and the remaining garlic clove to a smooth paste with the flat of a knife and a pinch of salt. Chopped anchovy leaves salty fragments; a paste disappears into the dressing and just tastes savoury. 3 Whisk the egg yolks, anchovy-garlic paste, mustard, lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce in a bowl until completely smooth. 4 Add the 150 ml olive oil drop by drop at first, whisking hard, then in a thin steady stream once it starts to thicken. Rushing the oil at the start is the one way this splits. If it does, start again with a fresh yolk and whisk the split mixture into it. 5 Whisk in the grated Parmesan. The dressing should be thick enough to coat a spoon; loosen with a teaspoon of cold water if it is claggy. Season with black pepper and taste before adding salt — the anchovies and Parmesan have already done most of that work. 6 Keep the romaine leaves whole or tear them into large pieces, and make sure they are bone dry. Wet leaves dilute the dressing and it slides straight off. 7 Toss the leaves with most of the dressing using your hands, coating every leaf inside and out, then add the croutons and toss once more. Adding croutons at the end keeps them crisp rather than sodden. 8 Pile into a wide bowl, shave or grate over more Parmesan, and finish with a heavy grind of black pepper. Tap a step to cross it off. Your place is saved on this device.
Cook’s notes Raw egg yolk: use the freshest eggs you can, and pasteurised ones if you are pregnant, elderly or serving anyone immunocompromised. See the food safety note in our terms.
The dressing keeps for 2 days in the fridge and thickens as it sits — loosen with a splash of water.
Caesar Cardini invented this in Tijuana in 1924, not Italy, and the original was eaten with the fingers using whole leaves. Grilled chicken is a much later American addition; add 2 sliced breasts if you want it as a main.
How it should look Photos of the finished dish, so you know what you’re aiming for.
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