Gordon Ramsay’s pan seared cod is a skin-on loin fillet cooked crisp in a hot pan, finished with brown butter, lemon and tarragon. The full cod recipe comes from Bread Street Kitchen with braised artichokes and crushed potatoes, and takes about 1 hour 10 minutes.
I tested this one on a Saturday because the headnote warned me. “Despite the simple name, this is a stunning, luxurious fish dish”, he writes, and the artichokes alone tell you why. Five of his books cook cod five different ways, and this is the flagship.
The skin decides everything, and his timing is exact. Four minutes skin side down in a hot pan, no moving it, then just two on the flesh. The skin shields the fillet while it crisps, so the middle stays juicy.
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Gordon Ramsay Pan Seared Cod
Course: DinnersCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Medium4
servings25
minutes45
minutes650
kcal1 hr 10 min
Thick skin-on cod fillets from Bread Street Kitchen, the same dish his restaurant plates with salted capers and a red wine and lemon sauce. A special occasion plate with both sides built in.
Ingredients
- For the Cod:
1 tbsp olive oil
4 cod loin fillets, about 200g (7 oz) each, skin on
40g (3 tbsp) butter
½ lemon, segmented and chopped
Small handful of flat leaf parsley leaves, chopped
Small handful of tarragon leaves, chopped
2 tsp aged balsamic vinegar
- For the Artichokes:
50ml (3½ tbsp) olive oil
Juice of ½ lemon
50ml (3½ tbsp) white wine
4 baby or 2 large artichokes, sliced
1 garlic clove, peeled and left whole
1 bay leaf
2 thyme sprigs
Pinch of sea salt
- For the Crushed Potatoes:
650g (1.4 lb) Charlotte potatoes
50g (3½ tbsp) butter
1 large onion, sliced
50g (2 oz) capers, drained weight
50ml (3½ tbsp) olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions
- Braise the artichokes: Put the olive oil, lemon juice, wine and sliced artichokes into a saucepan with 50ml water, the garlic, bay leaf, thyme and a pinch of salt. Cover with a cartouche (a circle of baking parchment), put the lid on and braise gently for 15-20 minutes until tender. Cool in the liquid, then drain and slice, discarding the liquor, garlic and herbs.
- Caramelise the onions: Melt the butter in a frying pan, add the onion, cover and cook on low for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the lid, raise the heat slightly and cook until golden. You want about 2 tablespoons of caramelised onions.
- Crush the potatoes: Boil the potatoes in salted water for 15-20 minutes until tender. Drain, return to the pan and crush gently with a masher. Stir through the capers, olive oil and caramelised onions, season and keep warm.
- Sear the cod: Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over high heat until hot. Season the cod, lay the fillets skin side down and cook for 4 minutes without moving them. Turn and cook for a further 2 minutes or longer, depending on thickness, until cooked through. Keep warm.
- Make the brown butter: Melt the butter in the same pan over medium heat for 2-3 minutes until deep nut-brown, watching carefully so it does not burn. Add the sliced artichokes, lemon segments and herbs, stir lightly, then finish with the balsamic vinegar.
- Serve: Plate the cod and crushed potatoes on warmed plates with the artichoke mixture spooned over. Steamed green beans and peas on the side.
Notes
- His baby artichoke prep from the same page: pull off the outer leaves and the top third, scrape out the fluffy centre with a teaspoon, peel the stems and hold them in lemon water. They are in season late spring to early summer.
FAQs
How does Gordon Ramsay get crispy skin on cod?
Four minutes skin side down, and the fillet does not move once. Ramsay starts with a hot pan and oil, seasons the fish just before it goes in, then leaves the skin alone to crisp.
Turning comes only when the skin releases by itself, and the flesh side needs just two minutes. I learned that rule on his crispy skin salmon, where he wants the skin crisp and the flesh still slightly translucent.
Why does Ramsay use cod loin instead of regular fillets?
Thickness, mostly. The headnote asks for “thick, meaty cod loin steaks”, because the loin is the deep centre cut that cooks evenly in the 4-2 minute window. A thin tail fillet would overcook before the skin crisps.
He adds one buying rule: from a sustainable source. Great British Pub Food spells that out further, ask the fishmonger for farmed cod or line-caught Pacific.
What is a cartouche and why does Ramsay use one here?
A cartouche is a circle of baking parchment pressed onto the artichokes before the lid goes on. It traps steam against the surface, so the artichokes braise gently in the wine and lemon without drying where they poke out of the liquid.
The second trick hides in the next line: cool the artichokes IN the liquid. They keep drinking flavour as they cool, then get drained and sliced.
Why does Ramsay brown the butter for this cod?
Because the milk solids in butter toast as the water cooks off, turning the sauce deep nut-brown and nutty. It takes 2-3 minutes on medium, and his own warning applies: watch it, the line between nutty and burnt is seconds.
The chopped lemon segments then cut through that richness in little bursts. If you want a spoonable sauce instead, the lemon butter sauce from Uncharted is a proper beurre blanc, cold butter whisked into a shallot reduction.
What fish can I use instead of cod?
Haddock, hake or any meaty white fish, straight from his own swap list in Ultimate Cookery Course. He calls hake a member of the cod family in Bread Street Kitchen, so it behaves the same in the pan.
The other direction works too. His halibut recipes treat it as the same kind of firm, meaty fish, though halibut dries out faster, so shave the timing.
Can you make parts of this recipe ahead?
The artichokes actually improve made ahead, because they sit cooling in their braising liquid anyway. The caramelised onions and crushed potatoes hold happily for a day and reheat with a knob of butter.
The fish is the only non-negotiable, seared in the final six minutes before plating. The book serves it with steamed green beans and peas, and the green beans with mustard dressing are the upgrade when the rest is done ahead.
