Gordon Ramsay Salmon Fish Cakes

Gordon Ramsay’s salmon fish cakes are riced potato and fresh salmon, shaped, coated in breadcrumbs, and fried until golden. The recipe makes 8 cakes and comes together with two short chills in the fridge.

It comes from his book Make It Easy, where the clever bit is the salmon itself. He purees a quarter of it to bind the mix, then dices the rest so you still get proper chunks of fish in every bite.

These are the classic British potato fish cake, not a burger and not his Asian tuna version. The potato base and breadcrumb shell are what set them apart, giving a crisp outside and a soft, savoury middle.

Gordon Ramsay Salmon Fish Cakes

Recipe by Sophie LaneCourse: Lunch, Main, AppetizerCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Easy

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

25

minutes

Chill time

1

minute

Cooking time

6

minutes

Calories

315

kcal

The salmon fish cakes from Gordon’s Make It Easy, built on riced floury potato with fresh salmon worked through two ways for texture. Coated in breadcrumbs and pan-fried, the batch makes 8 cakes at roughly 315 kcal each, served with cherry tomatoes and cucumber.

Ingredients

• 600g (1 lb 5 oz) floury potatoes, such as Desiree, peeled and cut into even pieces

• Sea salt and pepper

• Large knob of butter

• 1 onion, finely chopped

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• 400g (14 oz) salmon fillet, skinned

• 1 free-range egg yolk

• 1 free-range egg, beaten

• 100g (3 and a half oz) natural breadcrumbs

• Groundnut oil, to fry

Directions

• Mash the potato: Boil the potatoes in salted water until soft. Drain, then press through a potato ricer into a large bowl, or mash well. Beat in the butter and a little seasoning.
• Soften the onion: Fry the onion in the olive oil until soft but not coloured. Stir it through the potato.
• Work in the salmon two ways: Check the salmon for small bones and pull any out with tweezers. Puree a quarter of it in a food processor, then beat that into the potato with the egg yolk. Finely dice the rest and fold it in.
• First chill: Cover the bowl and chill for 30 minutes so the mixture firms up.
• Shape and coat: Form the mix into 8 cakes. Dip each into the beaten egg, then into the breadcrumbs. Sit them on a tray and chill again for 30 to 40 minutes.
• Fry: Heat a thin film of groundnut oil in a large frying pan. Fry the cakes for 2 to 3 minutes each side, until golden brown. Drain on kitchen paper and serve with halved cherry tomatoes and cucumber.

Notes

The double chill is what holds the cakes together in the pan, so do not skip the second one. Riced potato keeps the inside light. Mashing works, but rice it if you can.

FAQs

Why does Gordon puree only some of the salmon?

He purees a quarter of the fillet to a paste and beats it into the potato, where it works as a natural binder and holds the cake together. No need for extra flour or heavy egg.

The rest he dices small and folds through whole. That gives you real pieces of salmon in the bite instead of a smooth, uniform paste. It is the trick that makes these taste of fish, not just potato.

Do you use raw or cooked salmon?

Raw. Plenty of recipes start with poached or tinned salmon, but Gordon works fresh raw fillet straight into the potato, and it cooks through in the few minutes the cakes spend in the pan.

Check the fillet for pin bones first and pull them out with tweezers. If you would rather start from cooked fish, the poached salmon flakes beautifully and works here too, though you lose those distinct raw-diced chunks.

Why chill the fish cakes twice?

You will have seen the two chills in the method, and they are not optional. The first 30 minute rest firms the mix so it shapes cleanly, and the second sets the breadcrumb coat after you crumb the cakes.

Skip that second chill and the shell can slide off in the hot oil. The cold also helps the crust crisp rather than soak up grease, so the cakes fry golden instead of greasy.

How do you make these fun for kids?

Because the potato base is so soft and mild, these go down well with children anyway. Gordon takes it further and suggests shaping the mix into fish shapes rather than rounds, then adding a little red pepper eye to each one once cooked.

He reckons it is “guaranteed to raise a smile.” The same mixture works either way, so make a few rounds for the adults and fish shapes for the little ones from the one batch.

How are these different from his tuna fishcakes?

These salmon cakes are the classic British style, built on riced potato with a breadcrumb shell and fried in a pan. Ramsay’s tuna cakes go a completely different way.

The tuna version uses no potato and no breadcrumbs at all. Instead he binds tinned tuna with egg and leans Asian, adding water chestnuts, ginger, chilli, and lime, then serves them with a dipping sauce. Same idea, two very different cakes.

For the salmon version, the classic pairing is Ramsay’s tartar sauce with its crème fraîche and cornichons.

Can you turn these into burgers or freeze them?

You can. The same salmon mixture is the base of Ramsay’s salmon burger, where the patties go into toasted buns with sriracha mayo instead of being breadcrumbed.

To freeze, open-freeze the coated raw cakes on a tray, then bag them once solid. Fry from frozen over slightly lower heat so the middle warms through. Cooked cakes also keep a day or two in the fridge.

When the batch runs out, the salmon recipe collection has 12 more to try.