4 Levels of Caesar Salad: Amateur to Food Scientist

[ingredients make noise]

[kicking drum music]

I'm John, and I'm a level-one chef.

Hi, I'm Daniel, and I'm a level-two chef.

Hi, I'm Saul,

I've been a professional chef for the past 21 years.

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[kicking percussive music]

I'm making a grilled chicken Caesar salad.

This is a super simple salad,

mostly with store-bought ingredients,

but I'm making my own dressing.

I am making a veganized Caesar salad.

Basically no dairy, no meat, no cheese, none of that stuff,

we're keeping it plain and simple.

All plants, baby.

So the Caesar salad I'm making today,

basically, it's a grilled Caesar salad.

I'm adding a lot of flavors.

Who doesn't like bacon?

Who doesn't like bread?

Who doesn't like cheese?

Who doesn't like a avocado and a little bit of lettuce?

[whooshing]

[pointer unsheathes and whips]

[words ding]

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I feel like every time I get a Caesar salad,

it's usually romaine lettuce.

Star of the show for my salad is romaine.

That's how you make classic Caesar salad.

There is nothing classic going on here.

I'm using baby lettuce,

because my daughters are so into making everything little,

cooking little things,

everything's tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny.

So guess what?

I have a tiny lettuce.

It's gonna add some freshness, some crispiness,

and also some char, because I'm going to grill it.

I did not know you can grill lettuce.

You learn something new every day.

When you do things on ice bath,

what's going to happen is it's gonna be more crunchy.

You're going to clean it,

so we're getting rid of all the dirt.

Oh look, I have a little friend right here,

His name is Antonio.

And this is why you wash your lettuce,

'cause you don't want Antonio on your salad.

Now it's time to pour my lettuce in the bowl.

Pretty simple.

For those of us who don't have a lot of time,

this is an easy way to prep your Caesar salad.

Step one, done

My baby lettuce, it's ready to go.

Now, the frisse.

The frisse salad, what it's going do to the dish,

it's gonna add the bitterness,

and also some crunchiness to the dish.

This is how I like to do my frisse,

I remove the green parts,

they're normally a little bit more bitter.

All the bitter people in my life, that's what I do,

I put 'em on the side.

Look how beautiful that looks.

Romaine hearts in my salad, because it's got that crunch.

Nobody likes wilty, wet greens.

How easy was that? Damn.

My lettuce is all clean. Next step, grilling

Dried-clean romaine is going into this bowl,

and this will be set to the side

while I work on the rest of the salad.

It's time to grill my baby lettuce.

A little bit of vegetable oil,

because I want beautiful marks.

Just little bit of salt, black pepper.

It's just like cooking steak.

I'm not cooking the lettuce,

I'm just adding one level of flavor.

It's gonna be a little, charrey, smokey flavor.

Now I'm gonna put this straight on top,

and this is gonna help to get those marks a little faster,

'cause I don't wanna cook my lettuce,

I want to keep my lettuce nice and fresh.

Let's see.

Now I want to twist it a little bit

to get those beautiful grill marks.

Want to cook it on the other side a little bit.

Oh, it's looking sexy.

It looks so beautiful

that I'm gonna take a picture for my Instagram.

And there you have it, grilled baby lettuce.

It can't be a Caesar salad without the dressing,

let's make some. [suave jazz music]

I like Caesar salad dressing, but I don't love anchovies,

so for my dish, I do the dressing without any anchovies.

I love anchovies.

A lot of people can't stand the taste, I'm sorry for you,

but listen, after this I'm gonna take this home.

Typically, Caesar salad dressing

is made with egg yolks and anchovies,

so if you're going plant-based, I've got some stuff here

that is going to hopefully emulate those flavors,

and give you something

that resembles a good Caesar salad dressing.

Two tablespoons of mayo.

All these ingredients you can get at the supermarket.

I don't want to spend an hour making dressing.

Now I'm gonna be making my avocado Caesar dressing.

Instead of the egg yolks, I'm gonna be using avocado.

Avocado instead of egg yolks.

I see ya.

Instead of Parmesan cheese,

I'm gonna be using cotija cheese.

It's very similar to Parmesan cheese,

it's salty, it's grainy.

And the rest of the ingredients are very simple.

You remove the stem right here,

and if it's like a nice green yellow,

that means it's perfect.

Also, the color.

So this is like dark brownish, so this is perfect.

Do no squeeze the avocado, 'cause that's not how you do it.

This is gonna make this dressing very creamy.

You have an egg allergy? Boom, you're welcome.

[Daniel] And I'm simply gonna grate...

[Saul] Garlic. Garlic powder.

I know the fresh stuff is better,

but again, this is ready to go.

Garlic powder is my friend.

Cotija cheese, the Mexican...

[Saul And John] Parmesan cheese.

Half a teaspoon of black pepper,

and then we'll do the same amount of salt.

I love salty things, I love anchovies in general,

so I put two, I'm gonna put three,

because I'm making this salad for me.

And I'm also gonna put some of this oil right here,

instead of vegetable oil.

[John] A little bit of, Lemon juice.

[Daniel] Next up,

you're gonna do like a quarter cup of tahini.

This is like gonna be our thickener.

Next up gonna add,

[Daniel And Saul] Dijon mustard.

[John] Yellow mustard.

No hot dog mustard,

the water is gonna make a little bit liquid.

And, black pepper.

And I'm gonna mix this all together

until it's nice and creamy.

Now for the last part,

I'm gonna slowly pour in my olive oil, while stirring it,

just to emulsify it and get it nice and mixed.

Perfect.

And what did it take? Less than two minutes?

Okay.

Hmm.

A little bit of salt.

More anchovy oil.

This dressing, it's garlic, oh, oops, oops.

Two anchovies just went there by accident.

In lieu of anchovies, I will be using capers,

it adds that briny kind of salty flavor.

Probably like a teaspoon of the actual caper,

and then two teaspoons of the brine.

A little salt, and a hit of pepper.

All right, it's got the little speckles in there,

like typical Caesar dressing.

This is veganized Caesar salad dressing.

Not that hard, eh?

Hmm. Okay, now it's worth it.

So I'm gonna put this on a squeeze bottle,

and I'm gonna be using it for my grilled Caesar salad.

Now it's time for croutons. [beat music]

I'm using a bag from the store.

I know you might think it's lazy, but this is one step

where I think it's really not worth it

to bake your own croutons.

I don't get croutons in a bag, my wife does that,

I like to make everything complicated.

I love croutons so much

that I decided to make them myself for this recipe.

For my Caesar salad,

I'm going to be making garbanzo croutons

we're toasting them with cumin,

more paprika and chili powder.

I'm gonna bake it in the oven,

and then, you know, nice and crispy.

I'm basically going to take a loaf of french bread,

crunchy, and like very absorbent,

soak up all the olive oil, soak up up all the garlic.

Now what I'm going to do is make like a garlic olive oil,

and drizzle that over the top of the croutons.

And the only thing that's better than olive oil,

is olive oil and garlic.

It's one of my two favorite things.

Three, if you count the bread

I'm gonna throw a little bit of salt and pepper on here,

give it another toss.

Another simple step,

I'm just gonna open the bag and pour it in the bowl.

And now, I'm just gonna put it in this tray

with a paper towel underneath.

And the reason why I do this

is because I'm gonna be removing

the skin of the garbanzo beans,

that will help the garbanzo beans

to be a little bit more crispier.

Try to remove most of them,

it's okay if you don't do all of them.

Don't smash them.

I know if you can see, but look,

all the skins are coming off.

Chef, but you removed the skins and you put it all back.

Yeah, 'cause I want that to also be crunchy.

I would love all these to kinda look

like they have a crunchy, kind of crusty side,

and then like a cheesy side.

So I'm flipping all of them over onto the crust,

and then letting the spongy side of the bread

sit face up in the sheet tray.

Extra-virgin olive oil, a little bit of salt,

black pepper, chili powder, smoked paprika, cumin.

So the star of my homemade croutons

is actually going to be this vegan Parmesan cheese,

and it actually tastes pretty close to regular Parmesan.

When you throw this in the oven,

it actually does melt a lot like cheese.

Croutons are set,

all that's left to do is bake them in the oven

at 375 for like 10, 15 minutes, and they will be good to go.

So good. Look at that.

It tastes like a crouton. I'm happy.

Look how happy this looks already.

Oh my gosh. [beat music continues]

So this is gonna be great for my Caesar salad,

but this can be a perfect snack on its own.

So now I want to bake my garbanzo beans

at 425 for 25 to 30 minutes.

Check these croutons out, right?

They're garlicky, they're olive-oily,

they're crunchy, they're crispy, they're cheesy.

I mean, look at that.

That's why you make 'em yourself.

And there you have my crispy garbanzo beans.

Oh my gosh, these are gonna be great on my Caesar salad.

Now, for some additions. [groove music]

For my additions, I'm gonna add some grilled chicken.

My additions are pretty simple.

I've got some chopped walnuts,

I've got some pumpkin seeds, pepitas,

and some dried cranberries.

They add a little bit of color,

add a little bit of crunch to the salad.

I'm gonna be adding crispy pancetta lardons.

Wow, okay, that sounds fancy.

No idea what that is.

Pancetta basically is an Italian bacon, this thick.

Anytime you're using pancetta, it's gonna be good.

Dried cranberries are good as, is not much to do here,

so they are gonna chill there

while I work on the walnuts and the pumpkin seeds.

So the seeds and nuts

do a good job of adding extra hardiness to the salad.

We're gonna go into the oven at like 375,

and for like 10, 15 minutes, get nice and toasty,

a little crunchy, and they'll be good to go.

So now we're gonna cut this into little pieces.

So these are lardons to me.

Now that I know what lardons are, all about it.

I'm gonna throw a little bit of olive oil,

just to help to speed the process,

'cause I'm getting hungry now. [groove music continues]

Now you're gonna start with low heat,

and then you go high heat,

'cause if you start this on a high heat,

you probably burn it.

I have to keep moving this,

because otherwise it will burn.

This is intentionally supposed to be

a quick and easy dish,

so grilled chicken from the supermarket

is the way to go for me.

Nice, thick strips,

just like you got in in the restaurant.

[Saul] After they get a little cold,

they're gonna be crispy.

All right, fresh out of the oven,

pumpkin seeds and walnuts are toasted.

Now they're gonna go into a bowl,

and set them aside until I'm ready to plate everything.

But this is not the only thing

that I'm putting into my salad, there is more.

I'm gonna be making Parmesan cheese frico.

Frico basically is a fried cheese.

So here we have some grated Parmesan cheese,

so basically, we wanna make like a tortilla shape,

so when we bake it, it's gonna be melting,

and then it's gonna be crispy.

It's like the cheese chips. [groove music continues]

So I have six lovely cheese patties,

we're be baking these babies at 425,

for three to five minutes.

And we're gonna keep eye on this, I don't wanna burn them,

I want to eat them.

And go ahead and get this on my plate here,

and now it's ready to add to my salad

And here you have it,

look at this beautiful Parmesan cheese frico.

Let's see if they're perfect.

Oh my god, look at this.

This is so pretty.

Wow.

Mm.

And now I'm gonna put it on this plate.

All right, it's going is gonna go into my Caesar salad.

And now it's time to put it all together.

I'm just gonna mix up my dressing a little bit more,

the oil does start to separate after a bit.

I kind of want to put all the ingredients separate

so you can eat it with a fork and knife.

And I'm gonna start with the sauce.

And I like a covered salad, so I'm gonna use all of this.

A light coating of dressing on everything,

just makes for a better salad, [whimsical music]

I don't wanna like water down the greens.

I prefer that every bite of green

has some dressing on it.

I'm not mixing the salad,

'cause see, I'm not a salad kind of guy,

so I want to treat this like if it was a steak.

You throw some of the croutons in here

so they can get covered in the dressing.

[Saul] I'm gonna make like a little bed for my salad,

'cause I want the salad to feel comfortable.

Now we want to do one lettuce, two lettuces.

It already looks beautiful.

Add micro-ed chicken.

We're gonna pretend we're in a restaurant,

with our store bought ingredients. [laughs]

We are all here for the croutons,

so I'm gonna add some dry ones on top,

just so people know that I put all that hard work

into making my own croutons

that are covered in Parmesan cheese.

I got the chopped walnuts and the pumpkin seeds,

cranberries, for a little bit of sweetness and color.

Now this Parmesan cheese, I wanna put it right here,

this beautiful piece right there.

It looks like a professional chef make this salad.

A little bit of bacon. [whimsical music continues]

Fried chickpea, where you going?

Go back in there.

I'm becoming too fancy, I think, with these videos.

What happened to the old Saul?

The shy guy that was afraid of everything.

And we're gonna finish it with a little Parmesan cheese.

Vegan Parmesan cheese. That is pretty.

Last but not least,

a little bit of freshly ground pepper.

I know this wasn't very difficult,

but that was the purpose,

it was supposed to be quick and easy,

and this is my grilled chicken Caesar salad.

And this is my vegan Caesar salad.

And here's my Caesar salad.

[whimsical music continues]

It looks like a delicious green steak,

and I can't wait to eat it.

There we go.

I know it's gonna be delicious, I know that for sure.

Hmm. Mm.

Really good. Hmm.

The best healthy steak ever.

You know, for a simple Caesar salad

with mostly store-bought ingredients

and a quick-and-easy dressing, pat on the back to me.

The char of the lettuce,

it makes it a little more complex.

It's not just lettuce, you know?

Vegans oftentimes get a bad wrap.

I feel like, you know, the food never tastes quite as good

as how it's supposed to be,

but I promise you, give this a shot,

it'll taste pretty solid.

Look, I'm not a salad kind of guy,

and I'm almost done with the salad.

That's how good it is.

Look, the salad boy, eating it.

Making your own croutons is a game changer,

and it's so simple, why wouldn't you?

[crunches loudly] [thudding]

Classic Caesar salad is crunchy, salty,

rich and satisfying,

let's see how each of our three chefs made theirs.

[drums beat] [kicking percussive music]

John used bagged chopped romaine lettuce.

This lettuce is picked, washed, chopped,

and then bagged with modified atmospheric packaging,

to keep the torn lettuce leaves fresh.

As a food safety procedure

that lowers aerobic microbial loads,

the bags are flushed with nitrogen

just prior to adding the lettuce, and then sealed.

Daniel also used romaine.

Romaine is a long, compact head of lettuce.

It's mild in flavor, and has a definitive crunchiness

due to full water vacuoles in the cellular structure.

Saul used grilled gem lettuce.

Grilling caramelized the sugars

that came in contact with the grill,

because the temperature increased,

a chemical reaction called paralysis,

or thermal degradation without oxygen, occurred.

This created smaller volatile compounds

that impart a smokey, slightly roasted flavor,

making the flavor profile of the lettuce more complex.

Saul also used frisse.

Its bitter taste

comes from compounds called sesquiterpene lactones.

These are found in the latex,

which is the milky-white, viscous liquid that leaks out

when you break open the ribs of the frisse.

[drums beat]

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Daniel made an original vegan dressing, based on tahini

combined with other traditional Caesar dressing ingredients,

like lemon, garlic, and mustard.

Tahini is a savory, oily paste made from sesame seeds,

which are mechanically hauled and ground.

It gave a distinctive, nutty, slightly astringent flavor

to his Caesar dressing.

Instead of using a more traditional egg

for emulsifying his dressing, Saul included an avocado.

Avocados are high in monounsaturated fatty acids.

These are molecules that are mostly fats,

but have a bonding site for water,

making them good emulsifiers.

The high fat profile added viscosity to his Caesar dressing.

[drums beat]

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John used bagged, pre-made herbed croutons.

These are uniform in size,

and have several food additives, such as natural flavors,

which are extracts of an ingredient

naturally occurring in a food,

and then added back in in measured quantities.

Daniel made his own croutons

from a commercially made baguette,

which he cubed and tossed in garlic-infused olive oil.

He also added a vegan Parmesan,

made with various gums, like guar and carrageenin,

starches, like potato or oat,

and other plant-based ingredients.

These all combine to mimic the taste and texture of cheese.

Saul's spicy, crispy garbanzo beans,

also known as chickpeas,

are an original addition to his Caesar salad.

Roasted garbanzo beans take on a crunch from dehydration,

and roasted qualities from Maillard browning.

[whimsical music] Traditional or not,

next time you're in the mood

for a well-dressed Caesar salad,

we hope you'll take some inventive tips

from our three amazing chefs.