I did some experimenting: Bought two types of Parmesan cheese (both sharp, one moreso) and grated each into a fine, medium, and broad strand pile before moving on to the rest of the salad — seasoning the wooden serving bowl with freshly peeled garlic; mashing anchovies along the bowl's base; whisking in olive oil, a coddled egg, and some freshly squeezed lemon juice; tossing in the washed, hand-torn romaine and homemade croutons. A duo of friends joined me in dolling out the in-progress salad into six test bowls, tossing each with one style of cheese (sharpness plus grate diameter). A few turns of black pepper, and we served up test plates and dug in. Much to our surprise, we tasted distinct differences per cheese and per grate style. And, we each formed clear preferences.

The sharp cheese complemented the other flavors nicely. But only when grated finely, which made the salad look more fast food than festive.

Medium and broad strands of cheese served up the “lovingly homemade” ambiance. The sharp strands at those sizes unfortunately overwhelmed the other flavors (and my test audiences' palettes). I dished up new bowls, adding less sharp (the more conservative the friend's palette, the more sparingly I went): both taste and presentation soon teetered on bland.

On to the medium aged Parm: It lost its distinct flavor when grated finely (we'd stepped from fast-food look-alike to also blah taste-alike). However, at particularly the broad grate size, distinct yet complementary flavor. Too, pleasing swaths of visual contrast with the dark greens, toasted croutons, and black dots of pepper.

The winner: The medium age Parm grated in broad strands — far broader than my old, flat utensil could do. Thank you, Auntie!