This family favourite is inspired by one of my student days lunches: White Spot’s ‘Dippin’ Strips and Caeser’ bought at the Triple O’s concession in SFU’s quadrangle. I see this is no longer on the menu so I guess it’s now a heritage recipe.
Just like the dish itself is ‘inspired’ by White Spot, my preparation is also inspired by the classic recipes for Caesar salad and chicken strips. I take a few liberties to make this a reasonable amount of work for a school night dinner, but the result is pretty close to the originals, and it’s a lot less processed than the fast food version.
Classic Caesar salad uses raw egg yolk, anchovies, lemon juice, olive oil etc., to make a ‘dressing’ tableside. I don’t know how many places are left out there that still make it that way! Most places have a bucket of pre-made dressing based on mayonnaise (if I recall, the Triple O’s one came with the dressing in a foil pouch, and you ‘tossed’ the salad by pouring it into the lettuce and croutons in a plastic takeaway box and shaking vigorously). I use garlic, fish sauce, Dijon mustard, sriracha, Reggiano, cracked pepper, lemon juice, as a base, make a paste and then add mayonnaise. I dare say that that is a cut above your standard quick service restaurant or bottled dressing…
The traditional method of breading happens in three steps: dredge in flour, dip in egg wash, coat with breading. That’s a bit too much faff for my small kitchen when I’ve got hungry kids waiting. I take it down to two steps. I marinate chicken tenders in sour cream, Old Bay seasoning, and lemon juice. I make a breading mix that combines breadcrumbs – usually panko, flour, and a mix of herbs and spices that I vary each time but will always have white pepper and ginger powder since I know that these are two of a certain southern gentleman’s eleven ‘secrets’. Then, once the salad is done, I add an egg to the chicken and then dredge it in the dry mix. I find that I need to apply a bit of force to get it to ‘stick’, but this has the added benefit of flattening out the tenders, so they cook faster and have a good surface area of crunch.
And for the ‘dippin’ part…well we really love our sauces around here! The kids usually make some ungodly mixtures of whatever we have on hand that day. One of them is a spicy food freak who’s dip always involves an extreme chili like habanero or Carolina reaper. I often enjoy Bull Dog sauce and Goma Shio (roasted sesame seeds and salt) for a tonkatsu style chicken. Aldi’s centre aisle is also a frequent source of weird and wonderful dips for our dippin’ nights.
RETURNED TO TABLE
Dippin’ counter: 002
9 June 2026
Strips: used cracked black pepper instead of ground white pepper, celery salt, fresh ground mustard seeds.
Caesar: used whole anchovie instead of fish sauce, dressing and salad made by 10 year old.
Keep: black pepper and mustard.
Change next time: nothing didn’t work, who knows what ingredients will be around though…