Caesar dressing from scratch......why and why not.....? - Page 3

I never liked wooden salad bowls.  You weren't supposed to wash them.  So what happens to oil when it's been sitting around soaking into the wood ? it goes rancid is what it does.  bla. 

 

anyway, I've always rubbed my salad bowls with garlic.  Metal or glass or ceramic bowls, but always rubbed with garlic. 

 

I agree it's the proper way but hey with a smile like that who cares about the salad?

At home I rarely rub-a-dub the bowl as I usually make the dressing in a food processor.

 

Dave

I do on occasion, but not most of the time. Depends on the meal and the guests.

If it were me, scavenge 1 (or 2) refrigerators (assuming you have the room), clean them out and hold your stock there. Better yet nab a freezer and use a ranco or other temp controller to keep it where you want it.  Have the store txt you when they are at 1/4 stock so you can plan and refill. 

Sorry for going OT, but since we've devolved to the bowl aspect of the dressing hopefully nobody will mind.  My son trumped a guy at a cookout recently.  One guy brought along a tube of ground Bhut Jolokia and me being the hot food lover I am asked for it to put on the pork chop.  A little sprinkle and the guy was like "That's WAAAY too much!".  I said "Sterling come over here" (my eldest son, just turned 10).  "You want some pork chops buddy".  "Sure daddy".  He ate the rest and didn't skip a beat, he didn't even make a face nor did he run for liquids or bread.  The guy couldn't believe it.  I'm all about getting proper spice levels in dishes but I am also someone who loves to have fun with food and sometimes fun to me means going into a hot pepper induced endorphin coma, slugging down some Pilsner.  Heheh.  You can see my sadistic side when you eat my wings because people will cry from the pain but still be compelled to eat more (it's not a macho thing, it's an actual compulsory thing)...muahahahah....but I digress...

 

 

Now about those salad bowls.  It's amazing how in some dishes the technique of rubbing a garlic clove on the surface of the bowl or pan will impart a very strong flavor, more-so than one might think, yet in other instances you can add sufficient garlic and it just falls into the background...I love food and cooking...

Wow, Petals, thank you for reminding me of prepping the bowl for the salad, TOTALLY forgot about that step.  It seems that in the years that have flown by me, I have neglected some of the fundimentals, and that is one of them.

 

As to anchovies, I have taken to drizzling some of the oil from the tin over the greens just before setting the bowl down in front of my husband, he LOVES it!

 

And then to the topic at hand, Caesar Salad, we haven't had that since leaving Hononlulu, were they have real food.  The cowboys look at us like we're from MARS!!!  "What? Make salad dressing? How do you do that?"

I want mine made the classic way, in a HUGE wooden bowl and it's always made for two.  How romantic ...

I almost never disagree with Chef Petals. But, the "seasoned bowl" is pretty much a thing of the past.

A couple of decades ago American and English cooks and diners -- especially women -- worried about "TOO MUCH" garlic; and so they limited it by doing things like seasoning bowls, and kept the scent of garlic off their fingers by using garlic presses.

Now we enjoy garlic in abundance and aren't afflicted with the need to use the same work-arounds. Setting aside garlic presses for the moment, it's obvious that you can't get the same flavor by rubbing half a clove of garlic against a bowl as you can by crushing a couple of cloves into the dressing. And, if you do add a decent amount of crushed or minced garlic, you obviously don't need a seasoned bowl.

BDL

Going along with this latest conversation ... I kinda think that a lot of those going through all the steps, with all the different ingredients (seasoning the bowl, anchovies and such), may just be in love with the original concept. You know, the "romance of the salad", sorta. I think that in the biggest place I ever worked that featured CS's, we would serve maybe 6-8 a night. I would even do them table-side; 5-10 minutes out of the kitchen was nice. As for the wodden bowls ... just how often do you use it that you really need to worry? I would blast them with scalding water and wash them like any other at the end of shift. An average bowl was good for 3-4 months, then we'd pitch it out. $4 was easy enough to replace I guess. 

Zoe,

 

Your son sounds  like a real trooper.

 

"a hot pepper induced endorphin coma". --- When I read that it reminded me of all the times when I ate sushi with ginger and the beautiful mind-blowing wasabi rush it gives. Its a nasal freeze of the worse/best kind. When  your whole body shudders from the intense burning sensation and your eyes well up with tears , your nose twitches, the perspiration, your heart pounding out of its skin , and then all of a sudden, YOU GRAB ANOTHER PIECE !!!!! ....."wasabi rush" all over again. Why do I torment myself ? Ummmm..... I enjoy it.

 

 

 

"Compelled to eat more" ---- You can say that again......it is compulsory.....lol As far as your wings go ? Mine could be hotter than yours....

 

Well, there are some here  that season the bowl and there are some that don't. As the great INK SPOTS would say , " To each his own". I was taught this way, the generation continues after me, nothing wrong with that as my niece so kindly showed.

There is no romance about it, and when you add the minced garlic to it, its a STrrongggg taste that lingers . Speaking of romance : a couple should both have it or else.....

The Swiss still rub out thier fondue pots with a whole clove of garlic.......

 

To clean out a wooden salad bowl, or one that smells skanky, here's what you do:

 

Sprinkle some salt in the bowl, and rub the bowl out with a half lemon using the salt as an "abrasive". 

This was actually what came to mind when I was writing the above.  To clarify what I was jabbering about, was that it all depends on what else is going into the dish and what ingredients.  The example of how just rubbing a fondue pot with garlic can actually come through and be recognized in a traditional fondue has always amazed me. 

I like to "season" a martini glass by swishing vermouth and ice cubes in it, then dumping it out before filling it with freshly shaken, ice cold gin. I want the vermouth to perfume and not flavor the cocktail, because I don't like my martinis to taste like vermouth.

Similarly, "seasoning" a salad bowl is a way of greatly limiting the garlic flavor you get in the salad. Ditto fondue pots. If you want more than the aroma of garlic, you don't get it by rubbing the salad bowl or fondue pot. In any case, it's all about control. I'm not telling you how much garlic you should want. If you eat at my house, you'll get plenty of garlic in the Caesar salad, and far less in a Gruyere type fondue.

Ice -- you're wrong about both the "seasoning" and the anchovy in Caesar. Seasoning is about restricting the role of garlic to practically nothing (to my mind a mistake) . Anchovy in Caesar isn't about the "ritual" in that it makes a profound difference. If you're crushing or mashing it into the dressing it's about "bottom," aka "umami." If you're adding whole or cut up fillets to the salad itself, it's about anchovies. I do both.

BDL

As an aside....last year I grew over 20 lbs of Rocambole, etc.  I like the concept of "garlic as a food", which is how Ron Engeland (author of Growing Great Garlic) pitches it.  Unfortunately not a clove went into the ground this past year as we are in a transitional phase. 

I can tell you what too much garlic is - when the smell of it on my husband's breath wakes me up like a loud bell. 

 

I rub the bowl (real 1960s thing) with garlic because otherwise i would have a garlicless salad.  We don't make dressing, it's an italian thing.  We just dress the salad with oil and vinegar, salt and pepper.  But i like a little garlic flavor, so rubbing the bowl gives it but doesn't ring fire alarms in the middle of the night when garlic breath hits my nose.  Italians don't put garlic in salad, so it's a way of adding garlic, not diminishing it.    No, you can't get the same flavor by rubbing the bowl with garlic as you can if you crush it in the salad, but not always do i want more flavor, which can be overpowering and i do like the (delicate) flavor of the greens and carrots and celery and fennel and radishes. 

 

By the way, i have made your caesar salad recipe, bdl, and it's wonderful, but not something for every day - i find it too rich for a side dish - good as a one dish meal.  Too rich in proteins, but also too rich in flavors (lemon, garlic, parmigiano, anchovies...)

 

My favorite way to eat anchovies?  as is, on a piece of hefty bread.  Or the salted kind, washed and deboned and cut up with lots of parsley and a hint of garlic, on bread. 

 

I agree Siduri, my husband's American-Italian family has taught me "their way" of making a salad and that's just how they do it. 

It's taken me a while, but I do like alot LESS dressing on my salad now.

 

And as to Caesar Salad as just and entree, I also agree.

Add maybe a few shrimp or some chicken, yum!  That's a great supper!

Yes, my Caesar salad is both very intense and very rich. You're right that my version is even less an everyday salad than most. 

 

I most often serve Caesar as a first course or as a side for a meal which involves large portions of grilled or barbecued meat, poultry or fish.  Turning it into a ceremony by making it at the table adds to its special nature; and even if it's just the two of us, that's how the way I do.

 

It goes very well with martinis.

 

BDL

The ritual part sounds nice.  But I guess the egg, cheese and anchovies make me see it as less of a side for meat and more a dish on its own.  Maybe with fish, or a light pasta as a first course and a caesar salad as a second, and nothing else.  Or perhaps some more elaborate cooked vegetable dish (eggplant halves baked with garlic, bread, gaeta olives, parsley and oil mixed together and rubbed into the cross-hatched flesh, baked till tender, or something like that). 

siduri,

perhaps a solution would be to roast the garlic first. roasting  takes the raw edge off and turns the garlic all nutty and buttery...it's wonderful for people who love  their garlic but cannot tolerate it later.   no 'repeats' or monster garlic breath in the middle of the night. i have replaced a lot of raw garlic these days for use in the restaurants pestos, dressings and condiments with roasted garlic. customers are very appreciative.

of course i buy my garlic in 5# peeled tubs so the obvious chore for you would be the peeling of it.....do they sell it peeled there? maybe give it a try...you never know!

joey

I learned something cool recently.  You take two small stainless bowls, throw the garlic cloves in and shake like mad for a minute or two and that is sufficient to eject the clove from the peel.  It doesn't seem to cause much surface trauma either.  Great if you are prepping a ton by hand.  I am not sure how it would work with fresh hardneck but with standard aged supermarket softneck it works like a charm.  I was amazed :D

i'm not sure i understood - you take two small bowls, and how do you put them, one like a cover to the other?  the garlic inside the globe made of the two bowls?  or are they one nested inside the other and pressing on the garlic?  or how? If the first, couldn't you just put them in a large jar and shake them up and not risk them flying all over the place if the bowls slide off each other?

 

Some day i should try roasted garlic.  I can eat tons of garlic if it's cooked, in any way, and it doesn';t bother the stomach or the nose of the person next to you either - but i'm not sure i would like the taste of roasted garlic in a salad, which for me is about fresh and simple flavor.  It;s a different taste.  I like the hint of garlic in salad.  Actually i like the hint of any flavoring in my food, like herbs, etc.  .Anyway,  I don;t like salad to be overpowered by other tastes, and really, in the end, prefer oil and vinegar put directly on the leaves, to any dressing or vinaigrette you may want to try.  They're nice, i can like even enjoy very strong salad dressings, like bdl's caesar dressing, or a blue cheese dressing, which i would order in the states since i never can get that sort of thing here, but in the end, for everyday, i prefer lighter taste.  Salad, for me, is eaten at the end of a meal, to counter the strong flavors and heavy ingredients, freshen the mouth, help the digestion perhaps (psychologically anyway) and get ready for the desert. 

Never liked salad as a first course because on my hungry stomach i don;t want sharp flavors of vinegar or the cold crunchiness of lettuce.  I prefer warm soft things to open a meal. 

It can be a one-course meal only accompanied by a lot of bread.  For me that is. 

If you are looking for an easier way to peel garlic just rub the cloves between the palms of your hands in a rapid vertical motion. You can just lay them on a cutting board and cover them with the side of a chefs knife and slap the side of the blade with the heel of your hand. That accomplishes the same thing as using two bowls.

 

Dave

Like a clamshell. I imagine you could use just about any container (I did it with two plastic cups) but I think the stainless is both easier to clean and the hardness of the surface is important. 

that's what i do, with the knife, but when garlic is fresh, it doesn't come off very well.  But i still don;t get the bowls, one nested inside the other or one over the other like a dome?

Like a dome.

siduri,

this is what zoebisch is referring to.....petals posted this a while back as well.....seems like a good job for the kiddies....

joey

http://youtu.be/0d3oc24fD-c

Wow, Jo, that's impressive.  i'll try it and let you know how it works. 

Joey,

 

Can't take credit for that , it was Kuan who posted that:

Peeling Garlic. Anybody try this?

 

Petals.

thanks

Being a practical person, i tried the method, but not with two bowls, but with a jar. (The two bowls seems excessive, and the risk is that they slide off each otehr and the garlic goes flying)   I only did 2 cloves (didn;t need more) and it worked!  It was a bit more work than i wanted to do, and i would have done the two cloves on the cutting board much more quickly, but for a lot of garlic, it's great. 

 

I used a jam jar but i think a larger jar would work better since it would give the cloves a longer distance to fly before hitting the glass and would probably break apart sooner. 

Edited by siduri - 6/17/12 at 2:21pm