Things that do not go into a Caesar Salad
I like chicken caesar salad a lot. It is my go to salad when I’ve not brought my lunch. I understand that by adding chicken, I am deviating from the original caesar salad recipe , but besides the addition of a protein, I am a stickler for the basics or acceptable modern modifications thereof. These are things beyond lettuce, croutons, Parmesan cheese and chicken that have been in my salads that should not have been, from least offensive to most offensive:
Pita chips
These were put in instead of croutons. Not a heinous transgression, by all means, and in fact pretty tasty. Acceptable to advertise as this dish as a chicken caesar salad.
Tomatoes
Maybe they just don’t know. “Tomatoes are a salad item! They should go in this here salad I’m making!”
No. They should not. I will scoff at your lack of culinary knowledge, but I understand your caesary intent.
Sauteed red peppers
Sauteed green peppers
Sauteed onions
Sauteed mushrooms
This is the only time I can recall ever returning to a restaurant and asking for my money back after having ordered a to go lunch. All of these items were placed, still hot, on top of a bed of mixed greens. If this is, in fact, “how you make” a chicken caesar salad, you need to a) advertise on your menu that you are adding foreign items into a standard, understood salad or, b) stop calling it a chicken ceasar salad. If I can’t trust my standard lunch, what can I trust in the world?
And yes, I just blogged about my lunch. Suck it.
3 comments September 30th, 2008