Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Pressure Cooker
© Paul Raeside
Gordon Ramsay’s culinary empire heats up.
W
hen he’s red-faced and screaming Resident: How would you character- son people give for not cooking at home, so
and calling someone a donkey, it’s ize your food philosophy? there is this dependence on take-away foods
easy to forget that Gordon Ram- Gordon Ramsay: I love fresh food cooked and ready meals from the freezer. The idea
say, TV’s most feared chef, is also among simply, using top quality, seasonal ingredi- behind Fast Food was to redefine the concept
the world’s greatest. His empire includes 25 ents and not over-complicating flavors. of “fast food” to show people that fresh,
restaurants around the world. He’s written R: Between all of your restaurants, healthy meals can be prepared simply in
nearly 20 books and has one of the most rec- TV shows, books and projects around minutes. It doesn’t take hours of prepara-
ognizable scowls on TV. (In case you’ve lost the world you must be so busy. How tion and hard to find ingredients to create
count, he hosts three programs in the U.K., do you manage it all? an amazing meal — it’s really about being
two in the U.S. and another, Man Camp, on GR: The real secret is that I absolutely love creative and using just a few of the right in-
the way.) His telegenic temper has made him what I do, so being busy is what keeps me on gredients. Instead of plopping down in front
the world’s third highest-earning chef, but un- my toes — I work best when I’m under pres- of the TV you can get the kids involved and
like other celebrity cooks, Ramsay is a force sure. I have the most talented and loyal staff in enjoy something great together. I want to
in the kitchen. He currently holds a stagger- all of my kitchens keeping everything straight. get people excited about getting back in the
ing 10 Michelin Stars, three of them at New People like Angela Hartnett, Josh Emett, Mark kitchen and back around the kitchen table.
York’s own Gordon Ramsay at The London Sargeant, and Jason Atherton have been work- R: Of all your projects do you have a
NYC hotel. With a new restaurant open in ing with me for years and there’s a real level of favorite? Above all, what would you
London and new seasons of Kitchen Nightmares trust that we all have with one another. like to be known for?
and Hell’s Kitchen just begun, Ramsay contin- R: So tell me about your latest book, GR: I don’t really have a favorite project,
ues to take over the world — one four-letter Fast Food… I’ve put my all into building the company
word at a time. —Heather Corcoran GR: “Lack of time” is the number one rea- and into creating each project from start to
finish. I do have a soft spot for the Chelsea R: This year Gordon Ramsay in [Lon- R: Early in your career you worked
restaurant, of course. It was my first. But don’s] Chelsea turns 10. How has under some of the world’s most im-
we’re not out to replicate the same experi- your career changed since then? What portant and influential chefs. Who
ence and concept everywhere we go, that do you know now that you didn’t know was the most influential for you and
would get dull fast. How do you compare then? what is the most important thing you
Royal Hospital Road to West Hollywood GR: Everything has changed. Gordon Ram- learned?
to writing cookbooks to creating menus in say Holdings has grown exponentially since GR: Early on in my career, I trained in Paris
Tokyo? It’s always a challenge and therefore then, and now we’re fortunate enough to for three years — those were some of the
it’s always exciting for me. But more than have the most talented brigades around the toughest and most rigorous years of my life,
anything else, I would like to be known first world in each of our restaurants, constantly but at the same time, they were also some
and foremost as a chef. My passion for cook- working to improve ourselves, and there’s no of the most rewarding. My first job in Paris
ing and drive for delivering perfection on stopping there. The company has expanded was at Guy Savoy, which had two Michelin
the plate is what has gotten me to where I in ways I hadn’t even dreamed of when I first stars and when I first walked into that kitch-
am today. opened Royal Hospital Road. I’ve learned en, I’d never felt so remote, so far removed
R: Describe how it felt when you got what works and what doesn’t, I’ve learned from anywhere in my entire life. Everyone
your first Michelin Stars at Aubergine? from my mistakes, and I think I’m a better was ignoring me. On my first day, somebody
GR: Amazing. Everyone in that restaurant chef, businessman and person because of it. nicked my socks. But I immersed myself in
was working so hard to get those stars. We R: On Kitchen Nightmares and Hell’s my work — I became fluent in French and I
got the first star a year after opening and Kitchen we get to see some pretty did nothing but cook — I did the overnight
two stars two years later, then we were back outrageous behind-the-scenes ac- shift in bread and pastry, then moved on
in the kitchen the very next day trying go- tion. What’s the most shocking thing to the fish section when the sun came up. I
ing for three. There is no great secret to you’ve seen happen while working in learned total respect for food, and how clev-
getting stars. Of course, you need to have a kitchen? erly you can make something out of noth-
skilled and talented staff in the kitchen to GR: Some of these restaurants had the ing. Take a leek. You’d use the best white
create great dishes, and service that’s always most god-awful walk-ins [refrigerators] with bit for the soup, but then you’d use the rest
spot-on, but more than that it’s about con- ingredients that would make anyone’s stom- for the sauce, the top of it for a mousse, and
sistency. It has to be perfect every night, all ach turn. I’ve seen so many moldy vegetables then the very top of it, you’d use in a staff
the time. You always have to be on top of it, and rancid meats, and it’s truly shocking meal. Nothing went in the bin. It was an
constantly looking for ways to improve and what I find in some of those kitchens. And amazing experience.
perfect what you’re serving. they’re always so surprised business is bad! Continued on page 33
© David Joseph
Pressure Cooker
Continued from page 31
R: And now you give back to future
chefs through “The Gordon Ramsay
Scholar Award…”
GR: The Gordon Ramsay Scholar Award
is about fostering the next generation of tal-
ent and providing the best and brightest as-
piring chefs with opportunities to learn and
grow. It’s something I truly believe in. This
year, the winner will be cooking live onstage
with me at the BBC Good Food Show in
Birmingham, and get some of the most
amazing prizes and kitchen equipment, and
also the opportunity to do a three-city stage
at my restaurants in London, Paris and
New York.
R: Are there any young or up-and-com-
ing chefs that you’re excited about?
© David Joseph