Letters to the Editor
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Been to The London lately?
Since when does it matter how good a chef's TV "schtick" is?
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neat
i am totally going to try that scrambling technique!
wondered for a long time what the deal is with this guy. i generally only watch top chef as far as cooking shows go and mostly i just enjoy seeing the creative variety. they seem to generally play down the 'drama' angle as well, something i guess that goes against the typical forumula for a fox primetime show.
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dead sexy
I love this man, ever since he "taught" me how to make the most delicious scrambled eggs in the world!
He can do no wrong, but FOX sure can. I wish they'd do something more like the BBC show.
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Is this the Bizarro World Ramsay you're praising?
Because the Ramsay that I have seen on his Kitchen Nightmares show is a screaming, insane, abusive person. I shall endeavor not to use Ramsay language in this post, because I don't think any invective I could use could approach how much I hate this poultroon.
I have watched several episodes of his BBC America show. As a fair cook myself, I wanted to see what he knows that I don't. Apparently, his only approach to cooking is to scream at people until they guess what they need to do right, because he sure as hell doesn't know how to teach. About the only thing he has said is that he wants restaurants to "use fresh ingredients." Well, yeah, McDonald's uses the other kind. Someone who really wants to cook should use non-fetid meat. Duuhhhh.
There is no there there. The Ramsay that exists in our universe is a boss who pays people solely so he can enjoy screaming at them. Except he doesn't have to pay. People put themselves in his hands to be abused. Since this piece is a memoriam for this guy, can I find several large gentlemen named Guido to make the obituary worthwile?
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kitchen nightmares
I was looking for a fix after getting hooked to the first season of Top Chef and gave Hell's Kitchen a try. I couldn't take more than 15 minutes. It was horrible, the contestants unsympathetic and Ramsay a rude, profane asshole. But you couldn't feel sorry for the contestants because they were ruder and appeared talentless hacks.
Then I was home sick one day and stumbled across BBC America's Kitchen Nightmares. The difference between this Ramsay and the Hell's Kitchen Ramsay was amazing, almost Jekyll and Hyde. He might have yelled sometimes, but it was in service of waking up complacent and lazy types. He was sympathetic too to some really struggling to turn around.
So Fox execs are at fault? What else is new?
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Kitchen Nightmares.....
I'm totally addicted to "Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares". I don't know why. I don't cook much...maybe because it's my husband wants to open a restaurant...but I'm addicted. He walks the line between being an unwatchable prick and a savior so closely....But to take him and make him more evil?? To throw him in among the truly clueless? It's like taking Hitchcock and turning it into "Texas Chainsaw Massacre." America. We can't do nuance. Sad.
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Eat at one of his restaurants
My wife and I had dinner at restaurant Gordon Ramsay in Manhattan. It was sublime. I tried and failed to write about it in my personal food journal - it was thesaurus-busting, I just gave up after about the fourth attempt to find a new superlative to describe the food. And the service. And the decor.
Hell's Kitchen is a rotten show, but that man can cook. And run an excellent restaurant. Not that is was cheap - the kids might be going to state colleges after what we spent on one dinner, but DAMN it was good.
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ugh
ramsey on BBC and ramsey on FOX is like jekyll and hide. on Kitchen Nightmares, his advice makes sense. fresh ingredients and simple good menus the cooks can handle, he seems to really have cares about the business succeeding,.
on Hell's Kitchen, however he's like a series of Project Runway with deaf mutes. they seem impervious to listening and instruction. it's like they want to be punished, perhaps a reason why they signed on in the first place.
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Fox vs BBC
What's that? The Fox network took a good show and ruined it with the addition of "conflict" (read: shouting) and talentless hacks? Oh my goodness, surprise of surprises!
Seriously though, look at the demographic of people who watch Fox vs those who watch the BBC. I think all answers can be found right there.
Ramsay is OK. The British version of Kitchen Nightmares is better than the American one, although there is a certain entertainment value to the American one, namely where do they source such terrible/psychotic "chefs"?
I've always found the Hell's Kitchen thing to be a rip off of Jamie Oliver. Like a ruder more swear-a-rific Jamie.
I think that Ramsay does have an entertaining personality, although it gets diluted into "angry British man, who will blow up at least 10 times this episode" in American TV.
To be honest though, were I throwing a dinner party, I'd be sure to invite Mr Oliver before Mr Ramsay. Much more polite conversation. I'd be sure to have drinks with Ramsay afterwards though.
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Alas...
we'll never get to see Ramsay's good side anywhere but the BBC. Well, maybe not entirely true. I've been impressed, even during the choppily-edited scream-fest that is Hell's Kitchen, at how gentle he can occasionally be and how genuinely encouraging. He may be a brute, but he does have a truly astounding talent for leading people. It's more along the sports team/military model which sends lazy wimps like myself running for cover, but it does seem to bring out the inner Spartan in a lot of the tougher, more talented chefs and restauranteurs on the shows. When he finally praises someone, you can feel the relief and pride and the yearning to earn his approval. I'm not saying it's all right, but it seems to work. And the guy does love food. What's most shocking about Kitchen Nightmares is not his behavior,but the ghastly, disgusting food that is served so blithely in these restaurants.