Caesar salad is probably one of the mostelegant salads of our cuisine. This high-ranking overseas guest has not yet become a familiar everyday dish for us and still remains an expensive restaurant dish. Of course, we are talking about the real "Caesar", and not at all about those surrogates with chicken, seasoned with mayonnaise, which are prepared in delicatessens and sold in portioned plastic boxes. The original "Caesar" recipe includes a very rare (for our cuisine) component - Worcestershire sauce. In fact, it is the Caesar salad sauce that makes this dish unusual, refined and "elegant". And if the recipe for the salad itself is known to almost everyone, then few people know about the "correct" dressing for it. Those who prepare this salad at home, in the old-fashioned way, season it with mayonnaise or, in pursuit of originality, add anchovy fillet or spicy sprat to the salad. However, even a homemade version of the sauce for "Caesar" can be tried to be closer to the real thing. This is exactly what we will try to do – to select a sauce recipe that will bring it as close as possible to the original taste of Caesar.
Classic Caesar Sauce
He who thinks that is deeply mistakenthe classic Caesar salad recipe included anchovies. The specific taste of the original salad was explained by the presence of fish (Worcestershire) sauce in it, although in the modern interpretation, the classic American Caesar is considered to be a salad with anchovies, and not with chicken or bacon. But there are so many options for preparing this salad that you can argue until you are hoarse about which of them is real. Today, Caesar salad is prepared with fish, and chicken, and shrimp, and bacon, and the most incredible sauces are used for it. But the original sauce recipe is very simple and includes the following ingredients:
- Egg - 1 piece;
- Olive oil - 2 tablespoons;
- Lime - 1 piece;
- Worcestersky sauce - half a teaspoon.
Preparation:Making this dressing is not that easy, even if you have a bottle of real Worcestershire sauce. First, you need to learn how to boil an egg. Put a raw egg (in the shell) in boiling water for one minute, take it out and immediately crack it and pour it into a bowl. Then add freshly squeezed juice of one lime or lemon, olive oil and mix it all well. Finally, pour half a teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce into the mixture and mix again. The sauce is ready and you can dress the salad.
Worcester sauce
This exotic dish can be prepared at home,turns out that it is also possible. So if you still can't get this ingredient in the vast expanses of modern supermarkets, take a chance and cook it yourself. Ingredients:
- Soy sauce - a half cup;
- Onion - 1 onion;
- Garlic - 2 cloves;
- Fresh ginger root - 1 piece;
- Buds of a carnation - 1 teaspoon;
- Mustard seeds - 3 tablespoons;
- Cardamom - 1 teaspoon;
- Black pepper peas - 1 teaspoon;
- Water - a half cup;
- Curry - half a teaspoon;
- Red ground pepper - half a teaspoon;
- Cinnamon stick - 2 cm;
- Balsamic vinegar - 2 cups;
- Tamarind - 50 g;
- Sugar - half a glass;
- Salt - 3 tablespoons;
- Anchovies - 2 pieces.
Preparation:Garlic, onion and ginger root should be cut into pieces and wrapped in cheesecloth together with mustard seeds, cloves, cardamom and cinnamon. Tie the cheesecloth into a bag and place it on the bottom of the pan. Add the tamarind pulp and sugar to the same pan, pour in the soy sauce, vinegar and boil everything over low heat. Then boil the mixture for another forty minutes. The next step is to prepare the anchovies. They should be finely chopped, add salt and curry, pour in cold water, stir and pour into the sauce cooking on the fire. Boil everything together for another five minutes, remove the pan from the heat and pour the contents into a glass bottle or jar. The sauce should be infused in a cold place for at least two weeks, after which the bag of spices is removed from it, and the sauce itself is poured into bottles. Store it in the refrigerator and shake it before use. It would seem that there is nothing difficult. However, preparing this sauce is still problematic. For example, where can you get the exotic Indian date tamarind? At best, you will be able to buy a paste from it. Therefore, we suggest you choose an alternative recipe for Caesar salad sauce.
Honey sauce
This sauce recipe will suit almost any Caesar version: with chicken, with shrimp or with bacon. To prepare it, we will need the following ingredients:
- 2 eggs;
- juice of half a lemon;
- 1 teaspoon of liquid honey;
- 10 teaspoons (50 ml) of olive oil;
- 1 pinch of salt;
- 1 teaspoon sweet mustard;
- 1-2 cloves of garlic.
Preparation:Place raw eggs in their shells in boiling water for one minute, remove and cool at room temperature. Next, grind the eggs using a blender, add all the ingredients except the olive oil and beat. Finally, pour in the oil in a thin stream. Note: To prevent the eggs from bursting when immersed in boiling water, you can first hold them in very warm salted water for about half an hour.
Raw egg sauce
This recipe is also suitable for Caesar with chicken or shrimp. Ingredients:
- 2 eggs;
- 2 teaspoons of lemon juice;
- 1 teaspoon French mustard;
- 3 tablespoons of olive oil;
- Salt, garlic, pepper - to your taste.
Preparation:This sauce is very easy to make. You need to whisk the egg yolks, add all the other ingredients and mix everything well and lightly whisk again. Note: To make a sauce of varying thickness, you need to increase or decrease the amount of vegetable oil. By the way, this sauce can not only be used to season Caesar salad, but also to season boiled or fried chicken breasts or serve with any chicken dish.
Sauce based on mayonnaise
You can also make Caesar sauce usingthe usual mayonnaise with the addition of quite affordable Parmesan cheese and anchovies. True, this recipe is hardly suitable for a chicken salad, but you can dress it with a Caesar salad with shrimp. Ingredients:
- 150 g of mayonnaise;
- 50 g of Parmesan cheese;
- 1 tablespoon anchovies;
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice;
- 2 cloves of garlic.
Preparation:The recipe for this sauce is more than simple. To make it, you need to mix mayonnaise with grated cheese and lemon juice, then add finely chopped anchovies and garlic crushed into a pulp.
Sauce with cheese tofu
This is a recipe for a sauce with soy cheese. By the way, this cheese is a great substitute for mayonnaise in various salad dressings. Ingredients:
- 1 lemon;
- 8 cloves of garlic;
- 2 tablespoons sweet granular mustard;
- 4 olives without pits;
- 6 tablespoons of olive oil;
- 2 anchovies;
- 450 g of tofu cheese;
- Pepper and salt are at your discretion.
Preparation:First, lightly fry the garlic in vegetable oil, then put it (along with the oil) in a blender. Add the anchovy fillets, olives, mustard, lemon juice, tofu and make a smooth puree. Continuing to whisk, pour in the remaining oil (in a thin stream or drop by drop) and add the spices. Note: When a sauce recipe (except Worcestershire) includes anchovies, it is canned fish. As a last resort, anchovies can be replaced with spicy-salted sprats, and fresh anchovies with anchovies. As you can see, the Caesar salad sauce can be prepared according to the classic version, or you can fantasize on this topic. After all, there is always room for impromptu in the kitchen. By the way, Caesar salad is also an impromptu recognized as a culinary classic. So cook with pleasure! Bon appetit and successful impromptu. We recommend reading:
