How to Make Caesar Salad That Tastes Like It Came from a Restaurant
Every so often I get hyper-fixated on a meal and this summer, it's a Caesar salad with fries and a crispy non-alcoholic beverage (I'm partial to a well-marinated Diet Coke).
And I'm not alone in my love for this terrific triage—this past June, The Washington Post stated "a Caesar salad, fries and martini really is the perfect meal." When it comes to the fries, I gravitate towards a classic diner-style tater double-fried to perfection. My criteria for a good Caesar salad is that it should be super well-chopped, dotted with crunchy croutons and showered with Parmesan cheese. But the thing that really makes or breaks a Caesar is the dressing. And for me, the dressing has to be packed with salty rich umami goodness.
You may be thinking, wow you've set some arguably impossibly high standards. You might be right, but when a Caesar salad is done right it's truly a thing of beauty. And while there's nothing wrong with bottled dressing from the grocery store, I'm here to tell you that taking the time to make your own dressing is 100% worth it. With the addition of one ingredient, you can make a vibrant Caesar salad that will instantly become a new classic in your kitchen. It turns out, the ingredient for the best restaurant-style Caesar salad is miso paste.
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What is Miso Paste and Why Should You Add It to Caesar Salad?
When I set out to upgrade my Caesar salad, I turned to Reddit, and it delivered. Over in the r/Chefit channel, which is for pro chefs, there was a thread dedicated to Caesar salad secret ingredients. As I read through the 163 comments I came across a genius idea: add miso paste to the dressing.
A centuries-old staple of Japanese cooking, miso is a paste made of fermented soybeans and a food-safe and rice-based mold called koji. Miso is commonly used in soups, salmon and roasted vegetables, but it's umami-packed flavor is welcome in a lot of dishes. At the grocery store, you'll probably find two types of miso: white miso (a lighter, milder paste) and red miso (a saltier, more aged, robustly flavored paste).
When savory star miso mingles with the typical umami-packed cast of characters featured in classic Caesar dressing (mayonnaise or olive oil, eggs, lemon juice, Parmesan cheese, garlic and anchovies), it really boosts the bright and funky flavors of the dressing.
Related: 10 Caesar Salad Riffs That Take the Classic to Whole New Levels
How to Use Miso Paste in Caesar Salads
Adding miso paste to Caesar salad is quite easy—just add one to two tablespoons to your batch of dressing. How much you use depends on your palate, so add one tablespoon, taste the dressing, and then add more if it still needs a boost.
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