[3 - 3] hey Vereen this is Kenji I'm at home
[3 - 4] again today we're gonna make a Caesar
[4 - 7] salad pretty classic well not too
[7 - 9] classic actually this is the this is the
[9 - 11] sort of modern version of Caesar salad
[11 - 12] we're sort of based on a kind of aioli
[12 - 15] style you know mayonnaise style dressing
[15 - 18] as opposed to the real classic one which
[18 - 19] is the Julia Child one the one that she
[19 - 23] talks about where you cook an egg for a
[23 - 24] minute you coddle an egg and then you
[24 - 26] break the egg into a bowl with all the
[26 - 28] other ingredients the lemon juice the
[28 - 30] Worcestershire sauce the romaine lettuce
[30 - 32] and the parmesan and then you kind of
[32 - 35] toss it all together in this version
[35 - 36] we're making the you know this is the
[36 - 37] one that I think people are probably
[37 - 38] more familiar with these days which is
[38 - 40] you make a kind of dressing in two
[40 - 42] separately a creamy dressing separately
[42 - 43] and then you toss it all with the
[43 - 45] parmesan with the croutons at the end
[45 - 47] either one is good I like them both
[47 - 50] actually I don't know why I'm doing this
[50 - 52] one the today it just feels like it felt
[52 - 53] like one of those kinds of days it's a
[53 - 55] little bit less work because the moment
[55 - 58] the egg you have to guess it's about the
[58 - 59] same amount of work the is the the one
[59 - 60] with the egg you have to heat up a pot
[60 - 62] of water and boil the egg whereas this
[62 - 65] one you don't but this one you do off to
[65 - 66] actually you know do a lot more whisking
[66 - 70] but it's alright I like felt like taking
[71 - 72] alright so we got a bunch of garlic
[72 - 74] cloves you know I don't know any this is
[74 - 78] how much this is a couple tablespoons I
[78 - 81] don't mind using a garlic press some
[81 - 83] people some people seem very opposed to
[83 - 85] garlic presses and I don't really mind
[85 - 87] them it depends on what I'm doing with
[87 - 89] them of course but in general like
[89 - 91] especially in a in a dressing like this
[91 - 92] or anywhere it's gonna be kind of pureed
[92 - 95] in I think a garlic press is totally
[95 - 97] fine and the general rule with garlic
[97 - 99] and onions and other alliums
[99 - 101] things with kind of pungency is that the
[101 - 103] more finely you chop them and the more
[103 - 105] you crush them the more pungent they're
[105 - 106] going to get also the longer you let
[106 - 111] them sit after chopping them or crushing
[111 - 112] them the more pungent they're going to
[112 - 113] get in this case we're not gonna let
[113 - 115] them sit that long we're gonna coat them
[115 - 117] with oil which is going to pretty
[117 - 121] effectively slow down the creation of
[121 - 124] those so what I was so let me go let me
[124 - 128] back up inside the cells of
[128 - 129] Olek and onions there are these
[129 - 131] precursor chemicals that once the cells
[131 - 134] are ruptured they form they gone they go
[134 - 135] through chemical reactions that then
[136 - 138] form these new chemical compounds called
[138 - 139] Lac remainders and those are the ones
[139 - 141] that lachrymose you know like crying
[141 - 144] they're the ones that cause tears and
[144 - 149] those are what you want to well
[149 - 150] generally want to avoid that's what's
[150 - 151] going to make that's what's going to
[151 - 153] give you that that's super pungency so
[153 - 156] the more finely you crush the cells the
[156 - 158] more of those chemicals you release the
[158 - 159] more the premiere the pre chemical
[159 - 161] curses you release and the more of the
[161 - 162] lac remote lacquer mater's you form
[162 - 164] those chemical reactions also take time
[164 - 166] so the longer you let it sit the longer
[166 - 168] the faster they form and there's a
[168 - 170] couple ways to minimize them so quickly
[170 - 172] adding something like oil is going to
[172 - 175] slow down those chemical reactions acids
[175 - 176] will also do it so if you look at em
[176 - 179] they say Michael Solomonov book Zahav he
[179 - 182] has a recipe for hummus where he takes
[182 - 184] whole garlic cloves and pureed them in a
[184 - 187] blender with lemon juice and so you get
[187 - 188] a lot of garlic flavor but you get
[188 - 190] almost none of that pungency because the
[190 - 192] lemon juice yes acidity counteracts that
[192 - 194] chemical reaction oh so what I just did
[194 - 197] was I straight i whisked my garlic
[197 - 198] together with my olive oil and I
[198 - 199] strained it out what I'm doing is I'm
[199 - 200] making croutons
[200 - 202] if your to leave that garlic right on
[202 - 203] the croutons it's not the end of the
[203 - 205] world but your croutons will tend to
[205 - 208] burn faster so I like to strain the oil
[208 - 210] out after infusing it with garlic flavor
[210 - 212] and then we're not gonna waste that
[212 - 213] garlic we're gonna use it in our
[213 - 215] dressing this is just regular sandwich
[215 - 217] bread because that's all I had but you
[217 - 219] can use you know fancy bread if you want
[219 - 222] doesn't doesn't matter too much well I
[222 - 225] guess it only matters if you if you care
[225 - 228] deeply about the type of bread you use
[228 - 230] for your croutons I bit but not too
[230 - 233] deeply alright we're going to cut these
[233 - 235] up in the rough chunks giving that
[235 - 239] garlic oil we're gonna go in with some
[239 - 243] Parmesan cheese it's about half an ounce
[243 - 251] or so some black pepper and I've got my
[251 - 254] toaster oven preheated at 350 degrees
[254 - 256] that's probably a bit too hot actually
[256 - 262] I'll go down to 325 I get this let's get
[262 - 275] this pan out screw the spoon
[275 - 278] cooks like to work with their hands I
[278 - 280] know it grosses some people out to see
[280 - 284] hands going into food but you know learn
[284 - 285] how to wash your hands and it's totally
[285 - 287] fine and if you don't like hands going
[287 - 289] at your food definitely don't go out to
[289 - 290] eat at a restaurant because I guarantee
[290 - 292] you there have been multiple sets of
[292 - 296] hands in your food it's interesting some
[296 - 298] there are I have seen studies that show
[298 - 302] that using gloves actually ends up
[302 - 304] introducing more pathogens to your food
[304 - 306] and then then using bare hands does
[306 - 308] because people wearing gloves don't
[308 - 309] change them as frequently as they should
[309 - 312] and they don't wash their hands whereas
[312 - 313] people who are wearing gloves they wash
[313 - 315] their hands all the time like I do I
[315 - 317] wash my hands you know multiple times
[317 - 320] for cooking session it's sort of a habit
[320 - 321] you pick up when you work at a
[321 - 325] restaurant because well it's required
[325 - 326] you only how to wash your hands right
[326 - 328] get the backs get between your fingers
[328 - 335] on both hands get your nails your thumbs
[335 - 339] don't forget your thumbs so gloves
[339 - 349] that's what we do
[353 - 353] alright I'm gonna keep this spoon
[353 - 354] because looks like it has some nice
[354 - 359] garlic and she's going on on it alright
[359 - 363] now let's get our lettuce going let us
[363 - 365] let us get our lettuce this is a romaine
[365 - 370] I had to remain pre-washed I don't
[370 - 371] really need to worry about washing it
[371 - 373] but I'll wash it anyway just to show you
[373 - 374] what I like to do is take the bigger
[374 - 377] leaves the biggest leaves and split them
[377 - 384] in half roughly I saw one guy that had a
[384 - 386] little yeah let's give her those so get
[386 - 389] rid of some of that brownness okay
[389 - 391] there's something going here
[391 - 394] now you some people you know you could
[394 - 396] hand her hand chop your romaine you
[396 - 398] could tear it you could cut it up into
[398 - 400] chunks um I'm for these silent types of
[400 - 401] salads for Caesar salad I like to leave
[401 - 403] them whole because there's something
[403 - 405] just like you know nice about I don't
[405 - 407] know that this is a kind of salad ie I
[407 - 409] actually eat with my fingers you know it
[409 - 413] feels nice to pick up and just romaine
[413 - 433] and chomp it down spin it's really
[433 - 437] important that your salad greens are
[442 - 442] dried well because otherwise the
[442 - 444] dressing runs right off of them so make
[444 - 445] sure you dry your lettuce very well
[445 - 448] every time you make a salad salad
[448 - 450] spinner is a very important piece of
[450 - 452] kitchen equipment if you'd sell us all
[452 - 455] right now we're gonna go in make a
[455 - 456] dressing so we got that garlic here
[456 - 462] right and we're gonna take these
[462 - 466] anchovies it's debatable whether the you
[466 - 468] know classic caesar salad is supposed to
[468 - 470] have anchovies I believe the real
[470 - 473] original one which is from invented in
[473 - 478] Tijuana I believe is do you want if it's
[478 - 479] not I'm sure someone's gonna correct me
[479 - 483] I don't know I don't know how if
[483 - 486] Americans are if North Americans are as
[486 - 489] passionate about their Caesar salads as
[489 - 491] Italians are about the parmesan probably
[493 - 496] do you wanna they're the original Caesar
[496 - 497] salad I think did not have anchovies in
[497 - 499] it but almost every version of it
[499 - 500] nowadays does and I really like
[500 - 503] anchovies so these are all packed and
[503 - 505] Jovi's you can use the salt pack to
[505 - 507] salt-cured kind which are usually a
[507 - 508] little bit higher quality but you know
[508 - 510] for something like this I don't really
[510 - 511] care too much as long as it's not the
[511 - 513] pace like pastes are generally not very
[513 - 516] tasty give it a rough chop then kind of
[516 - 518] smoosh it with the side of your knife
[518 - 527] like this to puree it all right got that
[527 - 533] ensure you puree going in here whenever
[533 - 534] I know I'm gonna be doing something
[534 - 536] messy what I like to do is I get I have
[536 - 537] a smaller cutting board that I place on
[537 - 539] top of my big ones too
[539 - 540] I'm gonna do like if I'm cutting
[540 - 543] vegetables and then cutting meats for
[543 - 545] instance I will use the small board for
[545 - 547] meat and then get back in there then I
[547 - 548] just have to throw the small board into
[548 - 550] my sink and it's ready to go with the
[550 - 555] meat sorry before the vegetables now
[559 - 559] parmesan just I don't know about an
[559 - 563] ounce and a half or so we're putting an
[563 - 565] amount in we're doing this until it
[565 - 572] feels right that feels about right - Oh
[573 - 592] we're sister Shire okay got a lemon here
[596 - 596] whatever she knows she's not supposed to
[596 - 601] be in here she does it anyway juice of a
[601 - 619] lemon we're gonna grab our egg
[621 - 621] we want just the yolk of the egg so
[621 - 628] we're gonna break it that's the easiest
[628 - 630] way I know to separate eggs just
[630 - 632] straight through fingers drop the yolk
[632 - 635] right in here if you want you can use
[635 - 637] you can use pasteurized eggs or you can
[637 - 641] cook your eggs sous-vide at 130 degrees
[641 - 644] or so for 45 minutes ish and that will
[644 - 648] sterilize them but salmonella is
[648 - 650] actually extraordinarily rare in eggs
[651 - 654] eggs are pretty clean and safe even to
[654 - 656] eat raw you know if you're serving
[656 - 658] elderly people or immunocompromised or
[658 - 660] you know children then maybe you want to
[660 - 664] avoid it but I have no problem with raw
[664 - 669] eggs in my dressing all right here we go
[669 - 671] now what's that altogether now here
[671 - 672] comes the fun part we're gonna make an
[672 - 676] emulsion now to do that I'm gonna get a
[676 - 683] bowl lay this towel on it put it right
[683 - 684] here that's gonna keep it stable so I
[684 - 688] get one hand here see
[688 - 690] so in emulsion is basically when you
[690 - 692] take two things that generally don't mix
[692 - 694] um usually in in cooking that's oil and
[694 - 696] water you take two things that don't
[696 - 698] don't make some olive oil and the water
[698 - 700] in the lemon juice or the water and the
[700 - 701] water and the egg yolk egg yolks are
[701 - 704] mostly water and you get them to mix you
[704 - 705] do that with the aid of emulsifying
[705 - 707] agents so egg yolks have a have a
[707 - 709] protein in them called
[709 - 711] lecithin which has one hydrophobic end
[711 - 714] and one hydrophilic end that is it it's
[714 - 715] a it's a chemical emulsifier so it
[715 - 717] essentially acts sort of like a liaison
[717 - 722] between the oil and the water the
[722 - 723] analogy I usually use is that if you
[723 - 727] think of so I you know I went to I went
[727 - 730] to a I went to MIT and we had every once
[730 - 732] in a while we would have these mixers at
[732 - 734] Wellesley they all girls school you know
[734 - 737] down the road and the way those parties
[737 - 740] worked you don't get on a truck it was
[740 - 742] called the the you get on a bus that we
[743 - 745] I would say the something truck
[745 - 746] something that rounds a truck truck
[746 - 749] truck mmm that's what we called it I
[749 - 752] need a little bit more olive oil and
[752 - 754] we'd all go down the road and then what
[754 - 755] would happen is at the beginning of the
[755 - 759] party you start off sort of mixed but
[759 - 760] then eventually it's like you find your
[760 - 761] little group of friends it's like Oh
[761 - 762] like they're with me I'm gonna I'm gonna
[763 - 764] I'm gonna have with them because you're
[764 - 766] college kids and you're particularly
[766 - 768] awkward college kids and you know so you
[768 - 772] don't know how to really mix with with
[772 - 774] other people and so you end up on
[774 - 775] separate sides of the room and that's
[775 - 777] kind of what happens with an emulsion
[777 - 779] it's like a fat droplet it's gonna find
[779 - 780] another fat droplet eventually and it's
[780 - 782] going to coalesce and then other factor
[782 - 783] up let's see that there's a big glob of
[783 - 785] fat over there so they're gonna join and
[786 - 787] they join in joining join and eventually
[787 - 789] end up with all the fat on one side and
[789 - 791] all the water on the other side so the
[791 - 793] way you prevent that there's a couple
[793 - 795] different ways so one of them is through
[795 - 798] physically thickening let's check out
[798 - 802] those croutons by the way so in this
[802 - 805] case for example we added Parmesan and
[805 - 810] Parmesan adds viscosity to the to the
[810 - 812] dressing other things that might ask to
[812 - 813] add viscosity are things like mustard
[813 - 816] the Musil egde and mustard will thicken
[816 - 817] up a dressing and make it easier to
[817 - 820] multiply crushed nuts or chopped nuts
[820 - 822] will add will will help emulsify honey
[822 - 824] will help emulsify by adding viscosity
[824 - 827] it's sort of like as if you were to take
[827 - 831] a VAT a giant vat of molasses and pour
[831 - 833] it into that party so that it makes it
[833 - 835] difficult for the the people to walk
[835 - 837] around and find their own group so it's
[837 - 840] - you know when you do that eventually
[840 - 842] it might still separate the party might
[842 - 844] separate but it takes longer for to do
[844 - 846] so another way you can do it is through
[846 - 847] chemical emulsifiers and that's the
[847 - 849] lecithin in the egg yolk so it's
[849 - 850] something it's similar to like adding
[850 - 852] booze to the party it's something that
[852 - 853] helps everyone get along a little bit
[853 - 857] better and so mmm oh and finally the
[857 - 859] last one is mechanical stirring so like
[859 - 860] if there's like an earthquake and
[860 - 861] everything gets shaken up that's what
[861 - 862] that's what you're doing with the
[862 - 865] whisking so you want to add you want to
[865 - 866] add the oil in a thin steady stream
[866 - 867] because that helps break it up into
[867 - 870] teeny tiny droplets that then gets sort
[870 - 873] of surrounded by the water
[873 - 875] in the lemon juice in the egg yolk and
[875 - 877] that makes it harder for other droplets
[877 - 879] to find itself you know it's similar to
[879 - 881] like if you were to let those MIT kids
[881 - 883] go into the Wellesley party one at a
[883 - 884] time so that they kind of get him belt
[884 - 886] by the crowd as if rather than just
[886 - 888] dumping them all in all at once where
[888 - 890] they can easily find each other I think
[890 - 891] it's a good analogy anyhow there's our
[891 - 893] dressing this is way too much for the
[893 - 894] amount of lettuce we have so I'm gonna
[894 - 899] take them off and save it these little
[899 - 901] deli containers by the way you can get
[901 - 903] them online we you know this is the
[903 - 905] standard standard storage unit for
[905 - 907] restaurants they're quart containers
[907 - 910] pint pint containers and half pints all
[910 - 912] the lids are interchangeable only
[912 - 913] between not between brands but within
[913 - 914] one brand all the lids are
[914 - 916] interchangeable so it's really nice they
[916 - 919] stack they stack compactly you don't
[920 - 921] search around for the lids I like these
[921 - 923] way better than any kind of consumer
[923 - 925] type stores thing they're also washable
[926 - 929] and reusable so you don't have to waste
[929 - 934] plastic let me taste it
[934 - 941] pepper in there for sure
[944 - 944] I spent a lot of time talking while
[944 - 962] whisking that is tasty all right
[964 - 964] it's actually probably enough what's
[964 - 965] left in the bowl is gonna be enough for
[965 - 972] this I think all right let's get our
[972 - 983] salad greens in there our bromine let's
[983 - 995] get some croutons in there save the rest
[995 - 1000] for my wife and some more fresh parmesan
[1000 - 1002] at the end throw that egg egg white by
[1002 - 1004] the way you can save it for whatever you
[1004 - 1008] want egg whites freeze really well to
[1008 - 1009] you so you can kind of store a lot of
[1009 - 1018] them right in with our hands what do you
[1018 - 1020] think is nicely coated probably to use a
[1020 - 1023] slightly bigger bowl for this but it is
[1023 - 1025] this is where we are now this is where
[1025 - 1032] we're gonna stay hmm Caesar salads are
[1032 - 1035] really nice they're um you know they're
[1035 - 1036] super savory cuz I got that Wester sure
[1036 - 1038] sauce they've got the anchovies they've
[1038 - 1040] got the parmesan those are all things
[1040 - 1042] that are you know high in glutamates
[1042 - 1049] very rich umami savory flavor oh the
[1049 - 1050] olive oil use by the way I think that's
[1050 - 1053] Costco brand you can use whatever olive
[1053 - 1054] oil you want and you know extra virgin
[1054 - 1057] that's what you want to go for but you
[1057 - 1060] know some people talk about how you know
[1060 - 1061] there's so much fake olive oil on the
[1061 - 1062] market and how the things that are
[1062 - 1065] represented is Italian olive oils are
[1065 - 1066] just packed in Italy but they're
[1066 - 1069] actually grown in Turkey or Spain or
[1069 - 1072] wherever honestly I don't really care as
[1072 - 1074] long as I know that a brand is good and
[1074 - 1076] that I like what's in the bottle I
[1076 - 1077] honestly don't care too much where it
[1077 - 1079] comes from you know on some level I care
[1079 - 1083] that is being misrepresented but for me
[1083 - 1085] the important part is whether it tastes
[1085 - 1086] good or not and not you know not where
[1086 - 1088] it comes from so find a brain injury I
[1090 - 1092] the Cossack will suffice that is fine
[1092 - 1093] for everyday use is not it's not the
[1093 - 1096] greatest but it's totally fine
[1096 - 1101] all right we got our our salad let me
[1101 - 1104] finish it off a little more parmesan on
[1104 - 1114] top and because I love anchovies a few a
[1114 - 1117] few extra anchovies out let's just go
[1117 - 1121] with the whole can feel like a madman
[1121 - 1125] today what about you sometimes you feel
[1125 - 1129] like an anchovy you all feel like and
[1129 - 1131] anchovies no sardines we all feel like
[1131 - 1134] sardines right now right trapped at home
[1134 - 1137] trapped in our own cans all right there
[1137 - 1149] now you do with your fingers mmm there
[1149 - 1150] is a reason why Caesar salads are
[1150 - 1155] popular look at that does that look good
[1155 - 1159] to you I'm gonna get the extra extra
[1159 - 1166] fishy bite hmm delicious all right see
[1166 - 1166] you guys later
[1166 - 1172] Oh shabu here someone's gonna yell at me
[1172 - 1173] forgive me that dog something with
[1173 - 1174] garlic on it I don't care
[1174 - 1179] here you go
[1181 - 1181] small amounts won't hurt it oh right