[Sca-cooks] Ceasar Salads, was Valentine's Day dinner.

[Sue Clemenger]

Yeah, I've noticed.  It definitely seems to be the fashionable salad of 
the moment, like when mesclune became popular.
I'd like to try a real Caesar salad sometime--all I've ever seen (and 
tasted) are the pseudo-wannabe versions.  Am I wrong in assuming that 
the real thing wouldn't be completely coated with bad bits of parmesan 
and completely greasy with dressing? (mind you, I like salad dressing, 
I'd just prefer a bit of green stuff with it....)
--maire, feeling salad-snobbish....

kingstaste at mindspring.com wrote:

> Something has recently struck me about Ceasar salads.  I like them, I make
> them well, I even like the addition of anchovies or anchovy paste for the
> flavor they bring.  However, I am afraid that this once-often spurned dish
> has gone the way of too many foods into the popular lexicon.  Take Wendy's,
> for example.  They recently came out with a line of sandwiches (not a
> salad), with the term 'Ceasar' in the title.  However, they are so far from
> a ceasar salad that I'm not sure what they think that means anymore.  The
> one I recall was a southwestern chicken ceasar sandwich, the only 'ceasar'
> thing about it seems to be the inclusion of (I think) romaine lettuce on top
> of the chicken, chili, beans, yellow cheese and white bread sandwich.  There
> may be something like a 'creamy ceasar' dressing on the bread, which is
> another rabid departure from the original dressing, being more like a ranch
> with some parmesean in it.
> Has anyone else noticed this trend?  I remember very well lots of folks not
> liking Ceasar, it being the less-often chosen item on the menu.  Now, it
> seems to be relegated to the iceberg and creamy-ranch imitations, and from
> there bastardized further to mean "it contains lettuce, maybe even romaine
> if you're lucky".