Gordon Ramsay doesn’t do anything halfway. Whether it’s his eight Michelin stars, the more than 80 restaurants he owns, or his numerous television shows, the Scottish-born celebrity chef is always at full-throttle. So why would his tuna salad be any less supercharged than anything else having to do with him? We thought Julia Child’s version of tuna salad was pretty fancy until we heard about Ramsay’s elegant version of this lunch time staple.

While Julia Child elevated her tuna salad with crunchy cornichons, capers, and lemon juice, Ramsay takes the dish to a whole other dimension with such bougie ingredients as ahi tuna, quail egg, French green bean salad, and tapenade. He also forgoes bread for a Triscuit cracker and even has an upscale name for it: “Triscuit niçoise,” a riff on the classic French salad niçoise that features tuna and hard-boiled eggs. He told Tasting Table in February 2023 that he likes “the idea [of] the elevated tuna niçoise.”

Seared tuna and a poached quail egg makes it special

Gordon Ramsay’s tuna salad begins with lightly seared ahi tuna. Ahi tuna is the Hawaiian name for yellowfin tuna, which is lean and has a mild flavor and is often used for sushi. (Ramsay serves the versatile fish both as a gingery tartare appetizer and as a main course crusted in Sichuan peppercorns at his Atlantic City steakhouse.) He then lightly poaches a quail egg.

Why a quail egg, which is much smaller than a chicken egg, and harder to find? Ramsay’s answer is both funny and insightful. “First of all, they’re a pain in the ass to peel,” he told Tasting Table. “Anything that’s difficult to get a hold of is worth enjoying and eating 10 times more.”

Since his tuna salad sits on a square cracker, the quail egg is the perfect size for this elevated version of tuna salad. “It fits beautifully,” he said. “The dimensions of the biscuit are these amazing little snacks — canapés — and they’re sort of two-bite wonders. And quail egg cut in half sits beautifully. Providing that yolk is runny, aesthetically, it’s good enough to sit on the front cover of a foodie magazine.”

Gordon Ramsay finishes his tuna salad with tapenade and green bean salad

Besides ahi tuna and poached quail egg, Gordon Ramsay includes both tapenade and green bean salad for this dish. “I’d have this amazing, beautiful, fresh tapenade spread over that wholesomely delicious Triscuit biscuit, topped with a slice of seared tuna, and then a tiny little slice of French green bean salad with a quail egg that is runny in the middle,” he said. “That would be the ultimate for me.”

While Ramsay doesn’t get into the specifics of the tapenade, his typical version includes black olives, anchovies in olive oil, capers, and garlic that’s blended together using a mortar and pestle. Similarly, Ramsay doesn’t delve into the details of the French green bean salad, but he is known for a recipe that includes blanched green beans in a simple honey mustard vinaigrette. Like his upscale take on tuna salad, Gordon Ramsay’s version of tomato soup, typically a staid comfort food, includes such deluxe ingredients as seared, roasted tomatoes, and sun dried tomato pesto. While Ramsay’s Triscuit niçoise includes some bougie ingredients, its blend of colors, tastes, and textures take tuna salad from pedestrian to sumptuous.