All chefs have different ways of testing a cook’s abilities in the kitchen. You hear a lot about egg cookery. I think you can tell a lot about a cook or restaurant by how well they make croutons. No, seriously. How much care do you take in making something that many consider to be an auxiliary item? Did you use bread ends, extra hot dog buns and day old rolls, or did you use good ciabatta bread? How well are they seasoned? What is the fat content? Are they overly dry or overly greasy? I’m not the kind of person who junks up a Caesar salad with a bunch of stuff, like tomatoes or olives, just to add color. I’m a traditionalist that way, so every bite has to count. To me, if you can’t take the time and effort to make a really great crouton, that says a lot about how you approach food and cooking. Feel free to institute the crouton test.
