Et Tu, Smoked Herring?

Here is a truth a chef might tell you three hours after service and a few drinks into a tear: In matters of cooking, authenticity is a joke. There are recipes, yes. There are traditions, sure. But neither is as important as flavor, as the pure taste of a finished dish. You want confirmation? Hail Caesar. There are as many versions of the salad bearing his name as there are neighborhood steakhouses and suburban Olive Gardens. Caesars come with croutons and without and can come weighted down with grilled chicken, grilled steak, fried chicken, fried shrimp, roasted salmon, grilled portobellos, Grecian lamb and chickpeas, either fried or stewed. They come sometimes with bacon, with goat cheese, with yogurt. Your mother makes better, with anchovies. Or she does not, without. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]