Gordon Ramsay Makes It Easy by Gordon Ramsay, Mark Sargeant, Helen Tilott
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Book Reviews of Gordon Ramsay Makes It Easy
Book Review: A Soul Food Bible!
Summary: 5 Stars
It is a little known fact that Gordon Ramsay is originally from Alabama. He grew up
in Birmingham and learned how to cook from his momma who made pies and stuff at Full
Moon Barbecue out on 321. One day little Gordon was out running his bush-hog in Irondale
and the tractor he was sitting on tipped over and he fell off and hit his head on a rock.
He became an amnesiac. When he woke up he talked funny and said he was from Scotland.
One day in an argument with hospital staff he said to his doctor "____ off you wanker", so
they put him on a plane and sent him home. But when he got there he couldn't find any pulled
pork and so he had to learn how to be a chef and he got hurt playing "football" when he was
tackled by his own teammates because he kept picking up the ball and trying to run with it.
Then he met a guy named Jeremy Beal, a California restaurant mogul that had revolutionized the
BLT. In his restaurants you would order a PLT, which was pineapple, liverwurst, and turnips on
Afghan bread. In the Bay Area it frequently outsold His `okra burger'. I think he was the same
guy that invented diet birdseed. These two became good friends and thats where Gordon got the
money to open Scotland's first soul food restaurant.
His first menu featured Chicken Fried Chateaubriand with cream gravy, turnip greens, black eyed
peas, mashed potatoes, hash browns, tomato and lettuce salad, pinto beans, french fries, cream
peas, fried corn off the cobb, fried squash, fried okra, oyster casserole, onion casserole, biscuits,
cornbread, bread pudding and pecan pie for desert, and watermelon. The food was great but a food
critic from the London Times wrote "If you don't feel like eating all this, you can just get a tub
of lard and pour it all over yourself?" The Soul Shack soon went out of business and Gordon had to
learn how to make souffles, asparagus, and shrimp, which Europe people call prawns for some reason
or another.
Book Review: Great cookbook for the fancy home chef
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a wonderful intimate little book designed for the home chef. The DVD is rather short, but does have some humor to it. The recipes range from simple to fancy...but all have the common denominator of being quick and simple to prepare using fresh ingredients. All the dishes are very clean tasting and not overly fussy, and there are also fancier recipes for special occasions that do not take hours to prepare.
This chef is similar to Jamie Oliver is some aspects, but his influence is more French rather than Jamie's Italian. Fans of Jamie should also like Gordon's approach to cooking.
The book is arranged in themes such as great fast food, kid's, BBQs, posh, and dinner for two....it is a good reference point for new cooking ideas and ranges from classics to modern,
My absolute favorite recipe in this book is the crispy skin salmon on crushed potatoes, baby leeks with tomato butter - it comes out restaurant class. Also the chocolate fondant is deceptively easy to make, but is very impressive when served up. Another one that comes out beautifully is the bacon wrapped stuffed chicken thigh and also the wild mushroom rissotto.
My only criticism of this book is that the preparation and cooking times are not listed by the recipes, but rather within the recipes themselves. However this is not too much of an annoyance as the prep times and cooking times are generally not excessive.
Gordan is a modern chef, and his food is trendy yet classic, simple yet classy and tastes fantastic. This book has been well worth the purchase price...
Book Review: Delicious and simple recipes
Summary: 5 Stars
I have always admired Gordon Ramsay's approach to cooking, and I enjoy his television shows as well. My husband surprised me with this book not long ago and I have already cooked a number of recipes from it, with great success! I have been cooking for over 20 years now, and Gordon's lobster spaghetti is hands-down the best dish I have ever cooked. Since trying his method of cooking scrambled eggs (see the Sublime Scrambled Eggs recipe), I will never go back to the old way. The wild mushroom risotto won over my husband, who has never even liked risotto! And my 2 year old son loves the Fruity Yogurt Lollies. This book helps me to turn out restaurant-quality food from my own small kitchen. Do not let Gordon Ramsay's reputation intimidate you - this book is easy to use, well written, and beautifully illustrated. I especially love the chapters on fast food and cooking for kids. Gordon has four children, and the photos of him cooking with his kids are precious. He and his wife were actually voted the best celebrity parents in the United Kingdom! I enjoy cooking for my son and getting him to try new foods, and this book helps me and inspires me to do just that. It's a book that food-loving families can really use. Someone once said that the best dishes are very simple dishes - just take the freshest, highest-quality ingredients you can find and put them together in a simple way that lets their flavors shine through. That is what this book is about and it makes this busy working mom feel like a chef in her own kitchen!Book Review: I've actually cooked some of these recipes!
Summary: 5 Stars
So many times you buy a cookbook and never cook the recipes. It sits on the shelf. Yet within a week I've already cooked several from this book because they are so easy. I never ate broccoli before, but wow, his broccoli soup has me whirring up my blender and I can make it in 15 minutes or less. The salt baked pineapple was as good as it gets. Now I wasn't about to buy a whole container of mascarpone cheese just to use 2 tablespoons on top of this dish, so I left it out. Still tasted great. I can truly say that Gordon Ramsay has tought me how to cook the most heavenly scrambled eggs, too. And all you need are eggs and seasoning. It's a true revelation. Leave out the chives if you don't have them. And don't forget to try the sea trout with baby leeks (I used scallion), smashed potatoes and a wonderful tomato butter sauce and I didn't even add the cream to it. Wow! Don't be afraid to buy the book, try the recipes, substitute ingredients or even leave some out. What you'll find are some great, very easy to do at home recipes. The CD is a nice bonus, but you can find snippets from it on youtube.Book Review: American readers, this book will work for you too.
Summary: 5 Stars
Don't let the lack of ingredients hinder you from purchasing this great book. There's almost always a substitute or similar items available if you do a little detective work. A simple search of the internet turned up this from [...].
"You can also make a facsimile of crème fraīche by adding a tablespoon of buttermilk (don't tell us they don't have buttermilk where you live!) or a half cup of sour cream to a cup of whipping cream, heating it gently to 110°F (45°C), then putting it in a loosely covered bottle in a warm place and letting it sit for anywhere from 8 hours to a couple of days, until thick. Store it in the refrigerator, where it will thicken further, and keep for about three weeks.
In general, crème fraīche and sour cream can be used interchangeably in most recipes, but crème fraīche has two advantages over sour cream: it can be whipped like whipping cream, and it will not curdle if boiled."