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: Needs Organization
Summary: 3 Stars
The cookbook has good recipes and the processes involved in making the recipes are short and simple; however, the book lacks organizations. There is a very simple table of contents and the index is organized by the name of the recipe and not the ingredients.
This book is more for the coffee table and not something to cook out of regularly. Since the book is not organized by main ingredients it is hard to say... I want to make a pork dish... and then look up pork dishes.
This book requires you to be more flexible. Many of the recipes call for ingredient that are somewhat difficult to get of hold of ie. venison, pheasant, star anise.
Also the book does not have very many recipes. It is full of pictures and each recipe takes up at least a full page. The lack of recipes makes the book inflexible.
As someone learning to cook, I would like a myriad of recipes so that I can cook with what I have available or ingredients which are easy to find.
**Update**
Try the better homes and gardens new cook book.
It is well organized and full of recipes.
Very easy to find recipes for ingredient on hand.
Book Review: Teaching my husband to cook!
Summary: 4 Stars
My husband was inspired while watching Hell's Kitchen to learn how to cook, and so I bought him this recipe book as a birthday present. I thought it seemed a little risky, as he is BRAND NEW to cooking and he could have been intimidated by the seeming complexity of some of the recipes. But, nope! 20 days after getting the book he has cooked the macaroni and cheese, perfected the scrambled eggs, dabbled with several other recipes, and has plans for many more of them. He shows his book of to everyone and recommends recipes from it.
What Ramsay has done is taken 5 star recipes and made them accessible to even the most inexperienced of cooks. He teaches in a way that is easy to understand and get right. The one drawback, which has been brought up before, is that some of the ingredients are not the sort you find in a normal household. In fact, in our small town, some of them can't even be found in the nicest of grocery stores. But, with a little bit of thought, many of them can be successfully omitted or exchanged for more familiar ingredients.
A good buy for those who are willing to experiment a little and who really want to learn the art of upscale cooking.
Book Review: Great Food . . . Easily
Summary: 4 Stars
Eating great food excites and entices me. Preparing great food however, is a challenge.
"Makes It Easy" shows how to make 100 great recipes at home without spending a fortune or hours in the kitchen. The ingredients are easy to find and more importantly, easier to combine. There are recipes for breakfasts, formal or informal dinners. The flavors are balanced and enhance the tastes and textures of the ingredients. There is little masking or overpowering found within the 256 pages of this book.
Part of the joy I receive from reading a cookbook is derived from its photography. Too often, Photographer Jill Mead's shots are uninspired and therefore, uninspiring. I recognize author Gordon Ramsay, a London chef who holds three Michelin stars and budding television star, sees himself as central to the book.
I disagree. To me, it's the ingredients and the dishes. Seeing multiple shots of the author in his two outfits leaves the impression this book is the product of a one-day photo shoot; an impression the quality of the book's recipes does not support.
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: Definitely best for the Novice cook,
Summary: 4 Stars
As an owner of several of Gordon Ramsay's other cookbooks this one is probably my least favorite of the lot I own. Though, I do like this cookbook. This cookbook is definitely the easiest of any of the Gordon Ramsay cookbooks and the recipes are all very fast. If you're not a cooking novice, you would very likely have your own versions of the included recipes. The recipes are very good even though they are simple.
The book is separated into sections of breakfast, dinner, appetizers, & drinks, etc. As in Gordon's other cookbooks there are several seafood and fish recipes, which might be a problem for some people. Though, there are several other meat recipes too. A bonus is an included DVD with Gordon cooking a few of the meals.
One thing I would've liked to have is a photo of each recipe, like in his other cookbooks. Most of the recipes here have several photo's but, a few did not.
Overall, a very simple cookbook yet, the meals taste exquisite. Definitely, for the novice cook.