Gordon Ramsay Scrambled Eggs With Smoked Salmon (On Croissants)

Gordon Ramsay’s scrambled eggs with smoked salmon is 12 eggs cooked low with cold butter, finished with cream and chives, spooned over toasted croissants with smoked salmon draped on top. No oil, no whisking, no salt until the last 30 seconds. Serves 4 to 6 in about 15 minutes.

This is his actual Christmas morning breakfast, straight from his Christmas book: “everyone’s first priority on Christmas morning is to open presents and then we sit down to a relaxed breakfast of scrambled eggs with smoked salmon served, indulgently, on toasted pure-butter croissants.” I make it maybe ten times a year, and Christmas is just the excuse that started it.

The technique is the famous one: eggs into a cold pan with butter, never whisked first because that breaks them down too much, stirred on and off the heat until they form soft curds. The seasoning waits until 30 seconds from the end, and the cream goes in last because, as he says in the video, “the cream actually stops the scrambled egg from overcooking.”

Gordon Ramsay Scrambled Eggs With Smoked Salmon (Croissant Breakfast)

Recipe by Sophie LaneCourse: BreakfastCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Easy

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

5

minutes

Cooking time

10

minutes

Calories

540

kcal

Total time

15

minutes

His Christmas morning breakfast from the family kitchen: a dozen eggs scrambled the famous way, cold pan and all, with double cream and chives, served on day-old croissants toasted dry and topped with 300g of smoked salmon. The book says it’s indulgent. The book is right.

Ingredients

• 4 large day-old all-butter croissants

• 12 large eggs

• 50g cold unsalted butter, diced

• 4 tbsp double cream (heavy cream)

• 1 to 2 tbsp snipped chives

• 300g smoked salmon slices

• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

• Slice the croissants: Trim off the ends, then slice each croissant into 4 to 6 thick rounds and season lightly with salt and pepper.
• Start the eggs cold: Break the eggs into a cold heavy-based non-stick saucepan, whole, with no seasoning. Set over low heat, add a few knobs of the butter, and stir frequently but not constantly with a wooden spoon, just enough to combine yolks and whites.
• On and off the heat: As the eggs start to scramble, take the pan off the heat and scrape the egg from the sides and base. Return to the heat and keep stirring and scraping until the texture is like soft curds, about 5 to 6 minutes. Moist and soft, never dry.
• Toast the croissants: Meanwhile, heat a dry frying pan over medium heat and toast the croissant rounds for 1 to 2 minutes a side until golden. No oil needed, the croissants carry their own butter. Set on plates.
• Season at the end: When the eggs are nearly done, take the pan off the heat, add another knob of butter and season well, now and not before. Return to the heat, stir in the cream, then take it off and fold through the chives.
• Build and serve: Spoon the eggs onto the toasted croissants, drape the smoked salmon over the top and serve immediately. Eggs wait for nobody.

Notes

Take the pan off the heat while the eggs still look underdone. They carry on cooking on the plate.

FAQs

Why does he add salt only at the end?

Salt added early draws water out of the eggs as they cook, and watery eggs turn grey and weep on the plate. His rule across the book and the video is the same: nothing at the start, then a proper seasoning about 30 seconds from the end, once the curds have formed and the moisture is locked in.

I tested it both ways once out of stubbornness. The early-salted pan looked fine until it sat on the croissant, then a puddle formed. Now I follow the rule.

Does the salmon go under or over the eggs?

Both, depending on which Ramsay you follow, and I’m not joking. The Christmas book spoons the eggs on first and drapes the salmon over the top. His video of the same breakfast lays the salmon on the croissant and spoons the eggs over it. Same kitchen, same morning, two answers.

I do the book’s way for looks, the salmon ribbons sit prettier on top, but the video’s way warms the salmon through, which some people prefer. There is no wrong door here.

Why day-old croissants?

Fresh croissants squash when you slice them into rounds, while day-old ones hold their shape and crisp better in the pan. In the video he calls it a way of giving day-old croissants a delicious new life, toasted dry with no oil because the pastry already carries plenty of butter.

It’s also the most Christmas-practical detail in the recipe: buy the croissants on the 23rd, and breakfast on the 25th is one less thing to fetch.

What does the cream actually do?

It’s a brake, not a flavour. His line in the video: “the cream actually stops the scrambled egg from overcooking.”

The cold cream drops the temperature of the pan at the exact moment the eggs hit perfect, freezing them at soft curds instead of letting the residual heat push them to rubber.

The second knob of butter at the end does the same job and adds the gloss. Between them, the eggs land on the plate the way they looked in the pan.

Does he make other versions of this?

Two, both from his travels. In Iceland he hot-smokes salmon over birch and folds lemon zest and dill into the eggs with crème fraîche, saying the lemon lightens the whole thing. In Alaska he flakes fresh-caught king salmon over the top instead of using cured slices.

The lemon zest trick is worth stealing even for the classic version: a small grating over the finished plate cuts the richness of 50g of butter and a pile of smoked salmon.

What do you serve alongside for a bigger breakfast?

On Christmas morning, nothing: presents, this, coffee, done. For a fuller weekend spread, Ramsay’s buttermilk pancakes cover the sweet side of the table, and the eggs benedict is the other egg showpiece when you’re feeding people who deserve options.

If you’ve got proper smoked salmon left over, the beetroot cured salmon shows what the cure-it-yourself version tastes like, and the rest of the fish lineup is in the salmon recipe collection.