I like to say that I’m a Caesar salad purist, and by that I mean that I subscribe to Julia Child’s account of Caesar Cardini’s famous 1924 innovation of tossing romaine lettuce leaves with little more than olive oil, coddled eggs, garlicky croutons, and grated Parmesan cheese. I strongly encourage all Caesar fans to read From Julia Child’s Kitchen (pages 431-434) to get the true story of the salad’s origins and the authentic recipe.

So, I like to say that I’m a purist. In practice, I hold true to the salad’s ingredients — olive oil, lemon, eggs, imported Parmesan, freshly cracked pepper, and worcestershire sauce — but prepare the dressing separately.

What is unfortunately beyond the pale for even a reformer like me is the Three Cheese Caesar Dressing from Beyond Classics (OK-Dairy certification).

The three cheeses are encouraging — Parmesan, Romano, and Caciotta — but ultimately the dressing is a flop. For a whopping $4.79, you get what amounts to 12-ounces of grainy lemon sauce. The original’s dash of worcestershire is misinterpreted in this dressing as — gasp! — “anchovies” and instead of eggs and olive oil they use sour cream and canola oil.

Thankfully, making the dressing from scratch is a cinch.

MILD CAESAR DRESSING
Pareve

• 1 egg, coddled*
• 1/2 cup pure olive oil
• 2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 1 tsp. worcestershire sauce
• 5 grinds black pepper
• 1/2 tsp. kosher salt

Crack coddled egg into a large bowl, and beat briefly with a whisk. Combine the olive oils. Then, while whisking expeditiously, slowly drizzle the oil into the egg. The mixture will get creamy and thick. (If you like washing small appliances, feel free to drizzle in your oil while the eggs are whizzing away in a food processor.)

Whisk in lemon juice, worcestershire, pepper, and salt. Makes approximately 1 cup dressing.

If serving in a dairy setting, toss torn romaine lettuce leaves with enough dressing to coat, then toss with garlic croutons and ample freshly-grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. Alternatively, combine lettuce, croutons, dressing, and slices of grilled chicken breast for a great fleishig salad.

*To coddle an egg, bring a pan of water to a gentle boil and simmer your egg (in-shell) for exactly one minute. This brings up the temperature of the egg enough to theoretically kill harmful pathogens.