I coddled my first egg today. Since I don’t have any children, I can’t tell you if it’s the same as coddling a kid or not- although since the egg coddling involved putting the egg in boiling water 45 seconds, I sincerely hope not. The egg was coddled for my first attempt at a Caesar Salad. I’m sure that you will be relieved to note that the salad (and the coddled egg) turned out fine.

Some of the ingredients for the Caesar Salad seemed a little strange: the coddled egg which wasn’t as easy to break as I thought it would be, the 4 sardines taken from a can, mustard and Worcestershire sauce.....but somehow they all blended together to make a good salad. Grilled chicken would have been a nice addition to the salad, but I’m trying to cut down on my meat intake, so only allowed myself to include the four poor, little sardines that I smushed into oblivion.

I was surprised to discover how many different Caesar Salad recipes are out there floating around; Most recipes that I’ve seen don’t call for coddled eggs, mustard or Worcestershire sauce, but I’ve always considered myself to be more than a little adventurous, so was willing to take on a new culinary challenge; plus, as a novice cook, I really didn’t know any better until I did a little research of my own.

By now, I am sure you are drooling with curiosity about how my culinary masterpiece turned out. I won’t be immodest about the salad- it was pretty darned tasty; although there was no one but me to taste the salad- I liked it and ate the entire bowl in three sittings over the course of an evening instead of snacking on something more substantial.

I was equally surprised to read a little about the history of salad itself. According to one site , the Caesar salad was reportedly invented by Caesar Cardini in Tiajuana where it became a fast hit with the Hollywood crowd who quickly popularized it. Relatives of Caesar’s contend that Caesar’s story might not be entirely accurate.

In the book Bull Cook and Authentic Historical Recipes and Practices VOL ll, George Leonard Herter writes that the Caesar Salad was falsely attributed to Caesar Cardini and was instead created by Giacomo Junia who was an Italian-American chef based in Chicago.Most recipes that I’ve seen don’t call for coddled eggs, mustard or Worcestershire sauce, but I’ve always considered myself to be more than a little adventurous, so was willing to take on a new culinary challenge; plus, as a novice cook, I really didn’t know any better until I did a little research of my own.

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