Gordon Ramsay’s lobster salad is chunks of sweet poached lobster in a Marie Rose sauce lifted with brandy and Tabasco, served on shredded little gem lettuce with sliced tomato and a dusting of smoked paprika. It serves 2 and takes about 15 minutes once the lobster is cooked.
The Marie Rose sauce comes from his Bread Street Kitchen lobster roll, where brandy and Tabasco replace the bland ketchup-and-mayo version most people make. In Ultimate Home Cooking he says “lobster is such a luxury, you really don’t want to overcomplicate it,” and this salad follows that rule.
His poaching method is what keeps the meat tender. Cold water with lemon, thyme and bay leaf, brought to a gentle simmer for 10 minutes. Starting in cold water means the lobster heats gradually so the flesh stays soft instead of seizing up and turning rubbery.
Gordon Ramsay Lobster Salad
Course: SaladCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Medium2
servings15
minutes10
minutes320
kcal25
minutesMedium
Poached lobster in a brandy and Tabasco Marie Rose sauce from Gordon’s Bread Street Kitchen. A special occasion salad that takes 15 minutes to put together. About £18 from Tesco using a whole cooked lobster.
Ingredients
- For the Lobster:
1 whole cooked lobster (about 500g) or 2 cooked lobster tails
½ little gem lettuce, shredded
1 plum tomato, sliced
Smoked paprika, for dusting
- For the Marie Rose Sauce:
3 tbsp good-quality mayonnaise
1 tbsp tomato ketchup
Dash of Worcestershire sauce
Squeeze of lemon juice
2 tsp brandy
Dash of Tabasco sauce
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions
- Prepare the lobster: If using a whole cooked lobster, pull the head and body apart. Crack the claws using the back of a heavy knife and carefully remove the flesh, keeping it as whole as possible. Crack the tail shell and pull the flesh out in one piece. Slice into even-sized chunks.
- Make the Marie Rose: Mix the mayonnaise, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, brandy and Tabasco in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper. The brandy and Tabasco are what separate Ramsay’s version from a standard prawn cocktail sauce.
- Dress the lobster: Add the lobster chunks to the sauce and stir gently until well coated. Be careful not to break up the meat.
- Serve: Arrange the shredded lettuce and sliced tomato on plates. Pile the dressed lobster on top, dust with smoked paprika and serve straight away.
FAQs
Should I buy a cooked lobster or cook one myself?
Ramsay is blunt about this in Make It Easy: “Ready-cooked lobsters are never as good as those you cook yourself. With a ready-cooked lobster you might end up with a dry, rubbery texture.” If you’re willing to cook a live one, his BSK method starts it in cold water with lemon, thyme and a bay leaf, then simmers for 10 minutes. The cold start is key because it heats the lobster gradually so the meat stays tender.
That said, Tesco Finest sells whole cooked lobsters for about £15, and for a salad where the sauce does a lot of the work, a good pre-cooked one is fine. Just make sure it smells fresh and feels heavy for its size.
What makes Ramsay’s Marie Rose different?
Most Marie Rose sauce is just mayo and ketchup, which tastes flat. Ramsay adds brandy for warmth, Tabasco for heat, Worcestershire for depth and lemon juice for sharpness. Those four extras turn a dull pink sauce into something with actual layers of flavour, and nobody online includes the brandy, which is the ingredient that makes the biggest difference.
Is there a lighter dressing option?
In Great British Pub Food, Ramsay dresses his seafood salad with lemon zest, lime zest, lemon juice, olive oil and fresh dill. No mayo at all. If you want the lobster to speak for itself without a heavy sauce, that’s the way to go. Just whisk 4 tablespoons of olive oil with the zest and juice of a lemon and a lime, season well and toss through the lobster with chopped dill.
What should I serve this lobster salad with?
It’s a starter, not a main. Ramsay serves his BSK lobster roll with Champagne, so think special occasion. Follow it with pan-seared sea bass or a sirloin steak for a proper dinner party menu. Crusty bread on the side to soak up the Marie Rose is all you need.
How much does this cost to make?
About £18 from Tesco. Nearly all of that is the lobster itself, so the Marie Rose sauce barely adds anything. Not a weeknight dinner, but compared to £30 at a restaurant, it’s a proper treat for the price. Prices checked on Trolley.co.uk, May 2026. See his salads at every price point for the full range.
