This is one of my favorite salads.  Use a very crisp romaine that can stand up to this thick garlicky dressing.  This is great for last night’s left-over steak (from Ruth’s Chris if you were really lucky). A Winn-Dixie rotisserie chicken chopped into chunks over a bed of romaine would make a great salad. Or open a can of good tuna.  And don’t overlook the importance of the croutons.  To make the croutons, melt some butter and add a little garlic powder and/or some dried herbs.  Pour it all over your cubed bread or dip the bread in the melted butter.  Bake the cubes at 375 to 405-ish degrees and watch carefully!  Don’t burn the croutons and don’t let the bread dry out. You can add more anchovies to the salad, boiled eggs, more cheese, whatever.  This is YOUR work of art.  And by the way, a Caesar salad has nothing to do with Julius.  The dressing was invented by an Italian named Caesar Cardini at a restaurant in Tijuana, Mexico. I am sure he didn’t use jarred mayonnaise, but I’ve made this dressing with raw eggs and oil (creating an emulsification, i.e., a mayonnaise) and frankly I prefer the taste and texture of Hellman’s or Blue Plate.

And here’s another version of Caesar salad – this is a handwritten recipe given to me in 1981 (when I was very young) by a man who made a mean Caesar salad.  This is a very good old-school OG salad.  You need one of those great big wooden salad bowls to make it.