You are so gracious! You are our new favorite questioner. But you only asked half of the question. And we want someone as nice as you to eat well.

There are lots of options for salad oil – in your supermarket, there are probably bottles labeled "salad oil," containing soybean, safflower, sunflower, peanut oil, of a blend of oils. They are essentially meant to have no flavor. There may be times when that is a good thing, but, in general, what is the point of eating something with no flavor?

Our suggestion would be to find a delicate extra virgin olive oil, as it will impart good flavor but is unlikely to fight with the rest of your dressing mix. A medium or robust extra virgin olive oil might be too strong for the dressing mix, although it is equally possible that you might like the added flavor.

Now, because you are our new BFF, we'll tell you the leading ingredient in the leading powdered Caesar dressing mix on the market: sugar. Ingredient #2 is salt. We have to tell you that when Caesar Cardini created his now-famous dressing in Tijuana, Mexico in the 1920s, he did not reach first for the sugar and then for the salt. Is that really what you want to do? Even the better bottled dressings have half the ingredients of the powdered mixes, and almost all of them look like they belong in a salad dressing (that is, they all appear to be foods).

Julia Child says she spoke at some length with Cardini's daughter years ago, and his original dressing included olive oil, salt, pepper, lemon juice, eggs, Worcestershire sauce, and real Parmesan cheese. It did not include anchovies, although Mrs. Child says you may include them if you insist.

Now, we have given you an option for an oil to use with your dressing mix. We have given you some grounds for using a bottled dressing instead, at least in the future. The final suggestion, since we like you so much, is to consider this genuine recipe for Caesar Salad.