Smoked Salmon Brioche Bites Recipe

Chefs at high-end restaurants have a lockdown on fancy appetizers. Be they hors d'oeuvres or canapes, these small bites are often adorned with elegant garnishes designed to tantalize both the eyes and the taste buds. But these small bites of deliciousness hide an interesting secret: The vast majority are pretty cheap and easy to make, consisting of simple base ingredients with a few small flourishes to elevate the presentation. Whether you're preparing to host for a coming gathering or just want to bring the restaurant experience to your home, these sophisticated smoked salmon brioche bites are much easier to pull off than you'd think just by looking at them.

"There are so many ways to make this simple appetizer your own," says recipe developer Taylor Murray. "You could add a few pearls of caviar or grate some cured egg yolk on top — a small touch can add a ton of elegance without costing too much more." Now, make like a professional caterer and get to crafting these buttery, creamy bites at home.

This dish requires only a few simple ingredients to pull off. First, you'll need a good loaf of brioche, which can usually be found pre-sliced in the bakery section of your supermarket. Next, grab unsalted butter to toast the bread for a nice golden brown texture, as well as crème fraîche, cold heavy whipping cream, salt, and black pepper to make the creamy dollops on each bite. Finally, this canape is finished with slices of smoked salmon and fresh chive sprigs.

Using a 1 ½-inch ring cutter, cut 2 circles from each slice of brioche.

Melt butter in a medium pan over low heat.

Add brioche rounds and toast until golden brown, about 2 minutes per side. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk crème fraîche with a small splash of the cream until smooth.

Whisk in the remaining cream, a little bit at a time, until fully incorporated, then whip to stiff peaks.

Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Transfer whipped cream to a piping bag fitted with a pastry tip.

Pipe a small dollop of whipped cream onto each round of toasted brioche.

Top each with a small piece of smoked salmon.

Garnish each with a chive baton.

Serve immediately.

The trick to making a canape that dazzles and delights comes down to the presentation — and therefore, the final garnishes. Herbs are an accessible and simple place to start for adding that interesting touch, as the chive batons do in this smoked salmon bite recipe. At high-end restaurants, an intern might spend an entire shift picking small, perfect cuts of tender herbs just for the chefs to use for garnishing. Generally, the tiniest, most tender, new leaves or shoots of an herb are ideal to use for this practice (save the larger, hardier leaves for cooking). Some great options for garnishing herbs include chervil, mint, basil, or dill, depending on the dish.

Beyond herbs, think of high-cost ingredients that look impressive but can easily be stretched to become more affordable. A few pearls of caviar is a good example of this, as well as some shavings of truffle, edible flowers, microgreens, or even edible gold leaf, if the dish suits. 

Beyond the garnish, it all comes down to presentation, so take the extra time to make your plating look clean and professional. Put creams and sauces in a piping bag or squeeze bottle, and hone your knife skills so each cut is precise.

There are a ton of different ways to make whipped cream. Whichever way you choose, it may be tempting to make it ahead of time to save some effort before a big event. Sadly, whipped cream does not take well to this kind of treatment and can be prone to weeping, which refers to the cream losing some of its aeration and turning back into a liquid. Whipped cream is, after all, just a temporary foam using the fat in the cream to provide enough structure to keep the tiny air bubbles from popping. Luckily, in this recipe, the crème fraîche adds some stabilization to the foam. Keeping the cream cold will also go a long way in maintaining the consistency of the whip. If you'd like to make the cream a couple of hours before assembling these canapes, then, it should last in the fridge.

"In a restaurant I worked at, we would stabilize whipped cream with liquid gelatin to get it to stay airy and fluffy for a long night of service," says Murray. The gelatin provides extra support in the cream so the aeration stays suspended. If you don't want to take this extra step, there are other ways to temporarily stabilize whipped cream — but your best bet is always to whip it up just before serving.