Caesar Salad

Method

1. prep5 min
   cold, bone dry
   romaine separated into whole leaves, washed and dried until no water beads on them — dressing is an oil emulsion and will not cling to a wet leaf, it slides off and pools at the bottom of the bowl
2. bake12 min
   375°F / 190°C, single layer
   bread cubes tossed with 2 tbsp olive oil, spread so no cube touches another; crowded cubes trap their own steam and go leathery instead of brittle. Pull them when the edges are gold and the centers still have a little chew
3. poach1 min
   boiling water, then straight into cold
   whole egg lowered in for 60 seconds, then cooled and cracked — the white turns milky and the yolk stays fluid. This is a food-safety and viscosity step, not a cooking step: warmed yolk emulsifies faster than fridge-cold yolk
4. mash2 min
   bowl or mortar
   anchovy fillets + garlic + salt worked into a smooth paste; the salt acts as an abrasive and the fillets dissolve completely, which is what keeps the finished dressing savory rather than fishy in bites
5. whisk1 min
   vigorous
   + coddled egg yolk + lemon juice + dijon + worcestershire, until the base is uniform and slightly pale. The mustard and yolk together carry the lecithin load; skipping the mustard is the usual reason a Caesar breaks
6. emulsify3 min
   drop by drop, then a thin stream
   + 5 tbsp olive oil, added slowly enough that the bowl never looks oily — dump it and the droplets coalesce faster than the yolk can coat them, and you get a broken slick. If it does break, whisk it back into a fresh half-yolk
7. fold1 min
   off the whisk
   + grated parmesan + black pepper = dressing; the cheese thickens it and adds salt, so taste before adding more of either
8. mix2 min
   serve immediately
   romaine tossed with dressing by hand until every leaf is coated but none is sitting in a puddle, then + croutons + shaved parmesan. Salt from the cheese and anchovy starts drawing water out of the leaves on contact, so a dressed Caesar has about ten minutes before it wilts