Over the July Fourth weekend, I gave it a go and discovered she wasn’t kidding: boiled red potatoes dressed with a satiny, caper-studded, basil-packed dressing have never tasted so good (see below). I followed the Zuni proportions to a T but instead of using a whisk, I opted for the food processor — so lazy! — and pulsed the very-soft boiled egg with the mustard, then drizzled the oil down the teeny hole of the food-pusher insert, which we know as the key to making foolproof, delectable mayonnaise.
This method — using a mostly cooked egg as an emulsifier — made me think about all of the other similar dressings that could be made in the same manner, namely caesar. I gave it a go, replacing the raw yolk in my favorite caesar dressing with a four-minute egg, and again, the method worked like a charm, producing a dressing with no discernible difference in flavor but with the most undulant, luscious texture. I have never thought twice about using raw eggs in dressings, but I do understand the concern, and over the years I’ve been asked if anything can be done about that raw yolk in the caesar dressing — who knew the solution was so simple? PS: Another gem from the Zuni cookbook: eggs fried in breadcrumbs. PPS: Yesterday Kristen Miglore wrote about a similar method/dressing in her Genius Recipes column. The dressing featured there calls for using a soft-boiled egg (7-minutes of cooking), so if the 4-minute egg still makes you squeamish, looks as though a 7-minute egg will do the job, too. Says the voice from above the hand: “Eeewwww. That’s a busgusting.” Here’s the four-minute sauce gribiche: And potato salad with four-minute sauce gribiche: 4 from 3 reviews Yield = 1.25 cups Note: If you don’t care about raw eggs in caesar dressing, feel free to use 1 egg yolk in place of the egg, and omit the cooking step. To turn this into a salad, grate some Parmigiano Reggiano, toast some breadcrumbs, cut some kale or romaine or chard, and toss it all together.
