What Gordon Ramsay Does With Grilled Chicken To Ensure A Crisp Caesar Salad

Sometimes, a super-crisp Caesar salad topped with lean protein absolutely hits the spot. Gordon Ramsay is a major fan of the classic dish, and believes that making small changes to the tried-and-true version can help keep it updated and fresh. In a video for Dabl (via YouTube), Ramsay takes viewers through his process of creating a quintessential Caesar salad, including how he prepares and presents grilled chicken to ensure the greens don't end up warm and soggy.

Ramsay starts by spooning some dressing directly onto the chicken while it rests so the flavor can infuse into the chicken as it cools. When it's time to plate the salad, Ramsay doesn't put the chicken directly on top of the greens. "I serve the chicken warm, in a separate bowl, so it doesn't wilt the salad," he says. The chef places some additional dressing on the bottom of the serving dish for the chicken, adds the sliced protein, then tops it with a bit more dressing. He leaves it up to his guests to decide whether they'd like to add the warm chicken directly to their salad, or if they'd like to do the bite-by-bite method to keep their greens crisp.

Gordon Ramsay believes in creating crisp salads that offer one delicious bite after another. His tip to add hot protein to salads at the last possible second is just the tip of the iceberg. Another way Ramsay works to keep the salads he serves super crunchy: removing seeds from cucumbers prior to adding them to the mix. This tip could also work well for tomatoes since there's nothing that throws off the texture of an otherwise great salad than getting a bit loaded with cucumber or tomato seeds.

As he mentioned in the video, Ramsay is also a fan of infusing serious flavor into proteins long before they meet the rest of the plate. Ramsay's tip for the best pan-seared steak, for example, is to add a splash of chicken stock to the hot pan so the steak can soak up both the flavor and the moisture. This lessens the likelihood of being left with dry protein. Another flavor-infusing trick Ramsay uses when preparing protein is coating oven-baked items with an egg wash (here are creative ways to apply it if you don't have a pastry brush) to help his seasoning stick. While this isn't a great fit for proteins prepared on the stovetop or grill, it's a fantastic call for ramping up the flavor of roasted chicken, beef tenderloin, or seafood.