Homemade Caesar Dressing from Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat

"Abandoning precise measurements when using salt requires an initial leap of faith. When I was first learning how to cook, I always wondered how I'd know when I'd added enough. I wondered how I'd avoid using way too much. It was discombobulating. And the only way to know how much salt to use was to add it incrementally and taste with each addition. I had to get to know my salt."

- Samin Nosrat

This homemade Caesar salad dressing is all about your taste buds, so cleanse that palate, and get in touch with your sense of taste. You're going to need it if you want a Caesar dressing that tastes as good as it looks on your salad.

Caesar dressing was invented by an Italian-American in Tijuana, Mexico, and you get to enjoy it wherever you like. Isn't life grand?

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Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat

This recipe comes from Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking by Samin Nosrat, and I was inspired to try it after the Food Network's Gabe Bertaccini shared his recipe for Spaghetti Carbonara with a helluva good lookin' salad.

You already possess the very best tool for evaluating how much salt to use - a tongue. Conditions in the kitchen are rarely, if ever, identical twice. Since we don't use the same pot every time, or the same amount of water, the same size chicken or number of carrots, measurements can be tricky. Instead, rely on your tongue, and taste at every point along the way.

With time, you'll learn to use other senses to gauge how much salt to use - touch, sight, and common sense can be just as important as taste. The late, great Marcella Hazan, who authored the indispensable Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, could tell when a dish needed more salt by simply smelling it!

How to Make Caesar Dressing

Ingredients

• cheese - freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano is the best, but use what's available
• anchovies - you can pound whole anchovies or buy them neatly sliced in a jar and save yourself the effort
• garlic - pounded or minced garlic with a pinch of salt added
• salt - use your favorite salt
• Worcestershire sauce
• oil - we like Giadzy's Italian Riviera extra-virgin olive oil, and they have a couple to choose from if you like
• egg - the egg should be room temperature and as fresh as possible since you're consuming the raw yolk
• lemon - squeeze a little lemon juice into your Caesar dressing
• vinegar - white vinegar

Equipment

• prep bowls
• cheese grater
• whisk
• chef knife
• cutting board
• measuring spoons
• salt tiger
• measuring cup

Prep the Caesar Dressing's Salty Ingredients

Wash your hands with soap and water. Grate the cheese, pound or dice the garlic, grab your salt tiger, and remove the cap on the Worcestershire sauce. Pound or cut the anchovies into small pieces for minced anchovies.

Make the Mayonnaise

Separate the egg from the yolk, and add the yolk to the bowl. Wash your hands. Slowly add half of the oil while whisking. Add the remaining oil faster while whisking.

Add Each Salty Ingredient

Slowly add each salty ingredient, a little at a time.

Add Lemon & Vinegar

Add a little lemon juice and vinegar.

Taste & Adjust

Taste the Caesar dressing and think about what it needs. Choose between the anchovies, parmesan, Worcestershire, garlic, or a combination.

Repeat Until it Tastes Just Right

Taste it again. Need to add something else? How about some salt? Keep adding what you think it needs and adjusting based on taste until it's perfect.

Pour some over lettuce or massaged kale and taste it again. Add croutons, parmesan, and some fresh black pepper as desired for a full-on Caesar salad experience.