Hail, Caesar!
Hail, Caesar!
Featuring: My Top Secret Caesar Salad Recipe, the Premiere of The Amateur Gourmet Show, and Three Stellar Dinners in Boston.
Hey everyone,
It’s finally happening: I’m showing you how to make my Caesar salad.
For years, people have been coming to my house, eating my Caesar, and asking, “What do you put in the dressing? Why is this so good?” And for years I’ve been saying, “One day I’ll launch a YouTube cooking show and provide all of the answers in the first episode.” And now that day is here!
Here’s the premiere episode of The Amateur Gourmet Show, featuring my ultimate Caesar salad:
[If you liked that, please please please share it on Twitter and Facebook. Trying to spread the word!]
And here’s the recipe, for those who want more specific amounts. It’s printable too!
Let me know if you make it: I promise it’s good.
Last week I got to visit Craig on set of The Parenting.
It was so cool to see him in charge of such a big operation. I sat in a little tent with headphones on and watched everything on a monitor; this is going to be such a hilarious movie (Parker Posey was doing a scene the night that I was there, and I couldn’t stop laughing).
The next day, I whisked Craig away for some much needed R&R in Boston.
The first night, we returned to what’s become one of my favorite restaurants in the country, Pammy’s. Here I am with Pammy's herself!
She’s so fun and sophisticated, just like the food at her restaurant. I loved everything that I ate, but I especially enjoyed the Tajarin (sort of a thin egg pasta) with dried apricots, fava beans, and buffalo butter.
The next night, we had an amazing dinner at a restaurant that Kenji Lopez-Alt used to work at (he mentioned it recently on his Instagram): Uni.
The uni that we ate at Uni was uni-believable (sorry). And that was just for starters. There were wagyu beef dumplings with Pecorino cheese (like the dreamiest ravioli) and a fried rice with crab that was so generous with crab meat, I felt like someone must’ve made a mistake.
We ate a delicious salmon sashimi and some fatty tuna and various other things, but the biggest stunner came at the end: a blood orange cremeaux, which was like an elevated creamsicle with a chocolate crust. It was out of this world.
It really felt like those first two dinners couldn’t be topped, but for our last night (tonight) we had dinner at Myers & Chang and, damn it, everything was shockingly good too!
Above you’ll see our wok-seared udon noodles with tofu and bok choy, our fried Vietnamese-style shrimp (you eat the head, the shell, the feet, everything), tea-brined deviled eggs, a sugar snap pea salad so good, we ate it before the picture, and the best best best scallion pancakes I’ve ever encountered. They’re up there with Nancy Silverton’s pizza dough and the shroud of Turin.
At that point, we were waving the white flag, but then we just had to order Joanne Chang’s carrot cake.
I’m going to see which of her cookbooks has this recipe because is the most singular, moist (sorry), cream cheeseful carrot cake you will ever encounter.
As you can see, we ate very well in Boston!
Now for some links that caught my eye recently:
The Noom Paradox (Vox);
Superfrico seems like a weird restaurant: I can’t tell if I’d love it or hate it (Eater Vegas);
Who wants to have a Malaysian breakfast in Alhambra? I’m in (LA Times);
The 12 Most Unforgettable Descriptions of Food in Literature (The Atlantic);
Melissa Clark makes a Torta Rustica… and you don’t just have to make it for Easter (NYT);
Hazelnut Meringue with Caramelized Pears… seems quite autumnal, but we’ll let it slide (The Guardian).
That’s all for this Monday, folks!
In case you missed my Thursday dispatch, I wrote all about wine — specifically: What I Know About Wine — and paired it, quite brilliantly, if I do say so myself, with Ten Feisty Wine Questions with certified sommelier Elle Clifford.
If you’d like to read that / hear that, become a paid subscriber and gain access to my full archive.
Until next time….
Your friend,
Adam
we say wuh-stuh-sheer BUT every time i [do my best to] say it all i can think of is that bit about the movie "the rural juror" from 30 rock lol. also bless the supercut of giada's sudden and fleeting italian accent when it comes to certain ingredients.
the silver lining of garlic breath when making dinner for others is that everyone's breath will be equally stank!
Hi Adam….Loved your first video…congratulations! I’ve been making Caesar salads for years in a style very much like yours except a bit more traditional (all Romain) but I did learn some new tricks that I will definitely incorporate into mine.
Using the bread crumbs rather than croutons was brilliant and the mixing of lettuces incorporating bitter lettuces is just the update my Caesar needs…..thank you! Only one correction….it was his first name….😉.
I look forward to many more glimpses into your cooking style and kitchen management. And, especially more of your sous chef, Winston!
Tim