Gordon Ramsay Makes It Easy
by Gordon Ramsay, Helen Tilott, Mark Sargeant
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Book Reviews of Gordon Ramsay Makes It Easy
Book Review: I guess "easy" is a relative term
Summary: 4 Stars
I guess I should preface this review by saying that I know how to cook some stuff. I don't necessarily cook a lot of meals (because I'm a bachelor so it's just me at home) but I do cook tons of steaks, burgers, chicken breasts, tilapia, pasta, and things of that nature. So I bought this book because I thought "I should step up my game and cook real meals" and it's really unimpressive when I cook for a girl and just make her a nice, medium-rare steak. All the time.
Also, it's probably important to note that this is my first cookbook, so I have no frame of reference for what a cookbook should be like, or how easy it should be to prepare meals. So having said all that...
This book has a lot of recipes that look delicious. I say "look" as opposed to "are" because I haven't cooked any of them. First off, he mentions ingredients that I don't have lying about. And he uses cooking equipment I don't own. I just don't own a pasta maker or three different kinds of pots and pans! (I buy the fancy noodles at the store and use my same anodized metal cookware.) I might just be making excuses, or it might be the fact he's a world-class chef who is used to stuff not bought at Target. In any case, I suppose you can use your normal cookware, but you need to have really high-quality ingredients. I don't think this is an area you can skimp. I have used the recipes in the book to a certain extent: I use the recipes as a launching pad for things I can build on with ingredients I have. It has helped me tremendously in that regard. For example, now I really know how to present and garnish the steak I make.
As for the build and quality of the actual book, it's pretty nice. It's good material. It's not like some of the cheaper paperback ones I've seen at the bookstores in town.
Would I recommend it? Yes. I'm sure if you're someone who has more cooking experience than I do and isn't afraid to get more involved with meals, then you'd be fine. I think I might actually just give my mom this book, then go to her house when she's made the stuff.
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: Good. Not Great. But Good nonetheless.
Summary: 3 Stars
There's a great variety in this book (GR makes it easy). We've tried several different recipes and some are keepers. There's also a lot of fluff and filler pages. Too many pictures not of the food but of gordon posing, etc (yawn). BUT! Some great (useable) recipes in here and they aren't too complicated at all - they do take a little skill, but very do-able.
There's not a lot of attention to detail in this book (some of it is a bit vague, and some of the instructions are actually a little 'off'). Also the dvd has gordon making five of the recipes which is nice (although one of them isn't even in the book, but something similar is - again, attention to detail lacks. This book was really the work of others AND gordon and felt too much like a 'side-project' than a work of passion.
Bottom line - Great cook book for the money (at least on amazon it is).Don't expect a masterpiece, but a useable book nonetheless. It seems that if you are fairly new to cooking and want something practical - THIS - is maybe the best one.
Thanks gordon! This one will stay IN the kitchen.
*By three stars, I meant 'better than average', not 'less than good'*