How to Make the Original Caesar Salad — The 1924 Tijuana Recipe From Caesar Cardini's Actual Restaurant (It's Mexican, Not Italian)

Transcript

Speaker: July 4, 1924. American Independence Day. Caesar Cardini's restaurant in Tijuana, Mexico — packed with American tourists who crossed the border for the holiday because Prohibition is in full effect back home and the booze is flowing in Tijuana. The kitchen is running low on supplies during the dinner rush. Caesar Cardini, an Italian-born restaurateur in his late twenties, looks at what he has left — romaine lettuce, garlic, eggs, lemons, Worcestershire sauce, olive oil, Parmesan cheese, day-old bread. He grabs a large wooden bowl and improvises. He mashes the garlic into a paste, cracks two coddled eggs into the bowl, drizzles in the olive oil while whisking, adds the Worcestershire and lemon, tosses in the romaine leaves whole, showers it with grated Parmesan and the day-old bread cut into croutons. He serves it with the leaves whole, meant to be eaten with the hands. American tourists go crazy for it. Within five years, Hollywood stars are crossing the border specifically for the dish. Tonight: the original 1924 Tijuana recipe — gram by gram, second by second. I am joined by Eduardo Ramírez, third-generation chef at the actual Caesar's Restaurant in Tijuana, and Italian-American food historian Dr. Sofia Russo.

Speaker: ¡Órale, Anna! ¡Welcome, compa! Yes — Caesar Salad born in Tijuana, Mexico, July four nineteen twenty-four, NOT Italy! ¡Híjole! Caesar Cardini was Italian-born from Lago Maggiore region in eighteen ninety-six, but he run restaurant in San Diego when American Prohibition start in nineteen twenty. ¿Where to go? Tijuana! Sixty kilometer south of San Diego, Mexican border, no Prohibition, alcohol is legal. Caesar open Caesar's Restaurante on Avenida Revolución in Tijuana — open today still, you can come visit, ze same building, ze same recipe. I am third-generation chef there, my grandfather work for Caesar Cardini in nineteen-forty after Caesar pass restaurant to other family member. Every day, twenty time per day, I prepare ze original ensalada César tableside in front of guest, exactly Caesar Cardini original method — large wooden bowl, twenty minute per salad, beautiful spectacle. ¡Aguas, ze tradition is alive!

Speaker: And Eduardo's right — but here's where it gets interesting. The single most contested ingredient in Caesar Salad is anchovies. Caesar Cardini's daughter Rosa Cardini, who lived to age 75 and worked at the family restaurants for decades, insisted publicly her entire life that her father did NOT use anchovy fillets in the original 1924 recipe. The salty umami flavor came from Worcestershire sauce — which itself contains fermented anchovies as a hidden ingredient. The whole-anchovy version was actually created later by Caesar's brother Alex Cardini who created what he called the "Aviator's Salad" with visible anchovy fillets at his own Tijuana restaurant. Today, virtually every American restaurant Caesar Salad uses anchovies — but the original Tijuana 1924 version did not. So when Eduardo says he prepares the original recipe, you may notice: he uses Worcestershire sauce but no anchovies in his tableside preparation. Authentic — but it might surprise modern American diners who expect the anchovy-forward version.

Speaker: ¡Es verdad, Sofia! Now ingredient — ze original Cardini recipe for four serving. Listen carefully, compa! For ze dressing, you need dos huevos — two large fresh egg yolk, room temperature, only ze yolk; ocho gramo ajo finely minced — eight gram fresh garlic, about two clove; treinta milliliter jugo de limón fresco — thirty milliliter fresh lemon juice, about one whole lemon; cinco milliliter salsa Worcestershire — five milliliter Worcestershire sauce, one teaspoon (this is where authentic anchoa flavor come from compa!); cinco milliliter Dijon mustard — five milliliter, one teaspoon for emulsification; cien milliliter aceite de oliva extra virgen — one hundred milliliter extra-virgin olive oil; cincuenta gramo Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese — fifty gram, MUST be ze authentic twenty-four month aged Parmigiano-Reggiano, fresh-grated, not pre-shredded supermarket version; sal y pimiento negro recién molido. Optional but modern — cuatro filete anchoa en aceite de oliva — four anchovy fillet, five gram, IF you want ze modern anchovy version, sí?

Speaker: And the croutons and lettuce specifications are equally critical. For the croutons — 200 grams of day-old country bread or sourdough, the staler the better because day-old bread absorbs the olive oil without becoming greasy. Cut into precise 1.5-centimeter cubes — small enough to bite easily but large enough to hold structure. Toss the cubes with 30 milliliters of extra-virgin olive oil, 2 smashed garlic cloves, and a generous pinch of fine sea salt. Spread on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake at exactly 180 degrees Celsius — 356 Fahrenheit — for 12 to 15 minutes until uniformly golden-brown and crispy throughout. Cool completely before using. For the lettuce — 2 large heads of romaine hearts, approximately 600 grams total, the inner pale-green and yellow leaves only. The lettuce must be COLD straight from refrigerator and ABSOLUTELY DRY — wet lettuce dilutes the dressing and makes the salad watery. Use a salad spinner aggressively, then pat dry with paper towels. Tear leaves into large pieces or leave them whole Cardini-style for hand-eating.

Speaker: Now ze tableside method — this is ze ART, compa! Take large wooden salad bowl — wood is best, retains no flavor. Add ze two clove of fresh minced ajo plus ze four anchoa fillet (if you use modern version) into ze bottom of bowl. With wooden pestle or back of large wooden spoon, mash garlic and anchoa into smooth golden-mahogany paste, takes about one minute, ¡es importante para liberar los aromas! Now crack ze two egg yolk directly into bowl, add Dijon mustard, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce. With wooden whisk, beat one minute until uniform. SLOWLY drizzle ze hundred milliliter olive oil into bowl in thin steady stream while whisking continuously — like making mayonnaise, ze dressing emulsify into thick creamy pale-yellow texture, takes about two minute. Add half ze grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (twenty-five gram), continue whisking thirty seconds. Now ze dressing is ready! ¡Dressing perfecto, sí!

Speaker: And the assembly is where speed matters. Add the cold dry whole romaine leaves to the wooden bowl all at once — both heads, all 600 grams. Using two large wooden salad servers, gently lift and toss the leaves from the bottom up, coating every leaf evenly in the creamy dressing. Do NOT crush the leaves — gentle lifting motion only, takes about one minute total. Once every leaf is glossed with dressing, sprinkle the remaining 25 grams of fresh-grated Parmigiano-Reggiano evenly over the top. Add the fully cooled croutons — about 100 grams worth, distribute evenly. Crack fresh black pepper generously over the top — at least 20 cracks of a pepper mill. Optional final flourish — a few additional anchovy fillets laid decoratively across the top in a sunburst pattern if you're doing the modern version, or a single squeeze of fresh lemon for brightness. Serve IMMEDIATELY in chilled wide shallow bowls — within 10 minutes of dressing or the romaine wilts and the croutons get soggy. The whole tableside performance from start to plate should take 12 to 15 minutes.

Speaker: Final tradition, ¡compa! In Caesar Cardini original nineteen twenty-four method, salad serve with leaf WHOLE, not torn — guest pick up romaine leaf with finger like spoon, scoop dressing and Parm and crouton, eat with hand! ¡Es muy elegante, very theatrical! Modern American restaurant tear ze leaf because guest no like to eat with finger, but ze original is hand-food. Pair with — ¡cerveza fría! Cold Mexican beer like Tecate or Pacifico. OR proper Mexican white wine from Valle de Guadalupe wine region just one hour from Tijuana — Casa Madero Chenin Blanc or LA Cetto Sauvignon Blanc, perfect pairing. ¡Aguas! Modern variation popular today — add grilled chicken breast for chicken Caesar, grilled salmon for salmon Caesar, but ze pure original from nineteen twenty-four is just lettuce-dressing-Parm-croutons, no protein. Serve as starter or light lunch. ¡Buen provecho!

Speaker: Three takeaways. First — Caesar Salad is Mexican, NOT Italian. Invented July 4, 1924 in Tijuana by Italian-born restaurateur Caesar Cardini at his Caesar's Restaurante on Avenida Revolución (still operating today) during American Prohibition. The original had NO anchovy fillets — that umami came from Worcestershire sauce. Second — the recipe for 4 servings. Dressing: 2 egg yolks plus 8g minced garlic plus 30ml fresh lemon juice plus 5ml Worcestershire plus 5ml Dijon mustard plus 100ml extra-virgin olive oil plus 50g 24-month-aged fresh-grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (anchovies optional). Croutons: 200g day-old sourdough cubed at 1.5cm baked at 180°C/356°F for 12-15 min. Lettuce: 600g cold dry romaine hearts. Third — the tableside method. Mash garlic-anchovy paste, whisk yolks-mustard-lemon-Worcestershire, slowly drizzle olive oil to emulsify mayonnaise-style, fold in half the Parm, toss COLD DRY romaine to coat every leaf, top with remaining Parm + croutons + cracked pepper, serve IMMEDIATELY within 10 minutes. Thank you Eduardo Ramírez. Thank you Dr. Sofia Russo. Until next time.