The Caesar Salad was born 100 years ago, on July 4, 1924, in Tijuana, Mexico. Topped with Grilled Romaine Lettuce Caesar Salad Boucherie, a restaurant in uptown New Orleans.
Randy Schmidt/Bucciri
hide title
Switch title
Randy Schmidt/Bucciri
On the 100th anniversary of the Caesar salad, you’ll find countless variations being eaten across the United States. They’re prepared tableside at fine-dining restaurants, at the counter at fast-casual salad chains, and served with chicken fried steak and cherry tomatoes at McDonald’s.
Chef Nathanial Zimet insists on using bocroneHe adds it to the grilled Caesar salad at Boucherie restaurant in New Orleans. Cured white Spanish anchovies are much better than salted anchovies, he said. Romaine lettuce spears won’t wilt in flames, he added.
“It’s almost like it locks in its crunch,” he said, as the bright green leaves curl and darken during the rapid searing process. He places the lettuce on a plate, drizzles it with the dressing (lemon, garlic, Worcestershire and Tabasco sauce), then generously sprinkles it with chunky basil croutons and coarse shavings of Parmesan cheese.
“Is it cold? No, is it hot? No, is it cooked? No, is it burnt? Absolutely.
Not many classic dishes can have a specific birthday. But Caesar Salad was first created on July 4, 1924 in Tijuana, Mexico.
Jeffrey Pilcher says this is not a Mexican salad. He is a culinary historian who studies Mexican foodways.
“This is an Italian salad,” Pilcher said. “Cesare Cardini, the inventor of the salad, was an Italian immigrant, and there are many Italian immigrants in Mexico.”
Pilcher said Tijuana, a bustling border town built by people as diverse as Mexicans, Chinese and North Americans, had no unique local cuisine in 1924. During Prohibition, tourists flocked to its spas, bullrings, and nightclubs where they could enjoy perfectly legal cocktails.
Cardini’s original restaurant, located on Revolution Avenue in downtown Tijuana, is still open. The original Caesar salad remains on the menu. The story goes that on that fateful Fourth of July, Caesars was packed with holiday partygoers. They ate everything except a few pantry staples: olive oil, parmesan cheese, eggs, Worcestershire sauce and lettuce. Someone, perhaps Cardini or his brother, scraped the food into a large wooden bowl. Caesar salad is very popular.
Vegan Caesar Salad.
JM Hirsch/AP
hide title
Switch title
JM Hirsch/AP
Over the years, the dish has gone from what is now called the “Classic Caesar Salad” (recipe from our friends at PBS Food) to what writer Ellen Cushing mocked in a very interesting recent article Something for “uncontrolled Caesar salad fraud.”
“In October,” she wrote, “Food Magazine delicious A list of “Caesar” recipes was posted, including variations with bacon, maple syrup and celery; asparagus, broad beans, smoked trout and dill; and tandoori shrimp, prosciutto, kale chips and mung bean sprouts. The so-called Caesar at Kitchen Mouse Cafe in Los Angeles includes “pickled carrots, radish and coriander seeds, garlic croutons, crispy oyster mushrooms, lemon curd.”
But Nathaniel Zimet believes that the reason why Caesar Sala has endured for so long is precisely because of these freedoms, not in spite of them. Boucherie chefs believe salads can showcase innovation while remaining resourceful and creative in the kitchen. He said, this is today’s salad. Maybe even forever.
Edited for broadcast and online by Jennifer Vanasco.
