Mrs. Butler & I have been watching “The F-word” show on BBC America, and have noticed that Chef Ramsay seems to have a great loathing of other ‘celebrity chefs’.
Can someone (probably a Brit doper) with more knowledge of this guy explain this? We’re relatively new to the show, but find it very enjoyable. Like he says in the opener, “It’s things you can cook at home.”
His explanation of Beef Wellington was adapted to use venison backstraps with GREAT success at the '06 Butler Venison Fest. 
A lot of it is just plain playing up for the TV. He’s a very demanding chef and has no patience for fools.
Anthony Bourdain, the author of “Kitchen Confidential” etc has a similar attitude. It may be played up for dramatic purposes, but both he and Ramsay suggest that many top class restaurant kitchens have a very crude, macho atmosphere, and certainly that is the way they both are (or pretend to be). I suspect that many TV chefs are chosen for being charming and presentable, which Ramsay and Bourdain resent (or pretend to resent) because they see such TV chefs as effiminate showponies rather than “Real Chefs like them”.
Well, Jamie Oliver was on Top Gear last week, for the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car segment, and his greatest desire was to beat Gordon Ramsey - who was at the top.
A wet track put paid to his ambitions (and he broke one of the cars :smack: ), but he had a very good time, and when told that he could probably take 4 seconds off his time for the wet track and would have beaten Ramsey, he was VERY happy.
So the rivalry is probably there.
And if you have seen Oliver in Fifteen, in a big busy kitchen he is a lot more like Ramsey - but he does turn it off and turn up the cheekie chappy for his solo shows.
Ramsey can’t be f****d.
Si
Can you explain the reference a little bit? Never heard of Top Gear.
A BBC show about cars - fast cars, usually. The presenters (Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May) are really funny guys.
They have a slot where they put a celebrity in an average car, get their “tame” racing car driver (called The Stig) to teach them the course, and then time their lap. If they don’t wreck the car first.
There is a fair bit of competitive behaviour around this. Everyone wants to beat someone they know/work with/compete with.
Two seasons ago, one TV presenter was so slow round the track, a blind man wrote in and said that he could do it faster.
So they got him in…
and he was.
In the old car, the record was eventually held by yachtswoman Ellen MacArthur, who pushed her time damn close to that of Damon Hill, ex F1 driver (ex F1 drivers have their own board, and Hill was the slowest).
Si
Isn’t it possible that Ramsay has simply realized that, with his out-of-control lisp, while explaining for the cameras Jamie Oliver sprays his spittle into every dish he makes.
I’d loathe a chef like that, myself, and I’m not even a foodie snob.
I am wondering if most TV chefs are like this.
Alton Brown (“Good Eats”) takes digs at Martha Stewart and Emeril Lagasse on his show, in interviews and in print.
Does anyone know if Gordon Ramsay had much of a temper when he was a footballer?
Ramsay pretty much loathes everybody, doesn’t he?
Doesn’t Ramsay have more Michelin stars than the rest of the celebrity chefs put together? Actually, does any other celebrity chef have any? As I understand it, that’s pretty hot-shit in chef-world, so I can understand some loathing for “celebrity chefs” that really aren’t that special as chefs go.
For me, the archetypal (British) chef is the character played by Lennie Henry, in Chef.
I’d love to see Gordon Ramsey & Anthony Bourdain tour the restaurants of the UK together.
In more recent writings, Bourdain has softened his attitude. He admits to not liking Emeril’s or Rachel Ray’s television shows, but says he has nothing against them either as people or as chefs, noting that Lagasse (whose show I am not a big fan of either), in particular, is not only a successful businessman but is also known as being a very decent and generous guy and someone who generates extreme loyalty among his staff, for both his professional and personality traits.
I’ve been watching The F-Word, too. This season he’s raising pigs, last season he raised turkeys for Christmas dinner. I haven’t noticed yet what he’s named the pigs, if anything, but the turkeys were all named after other celebrity chefs.
The pigs are named after the stars of the BBC’s “What not to wear.” One for it’s huge bottom, and one for it’s saggy teats. :eek: (his words, not mine) My wife had to explain it to me.
I love that he’s feeding one beer… for flavor… as a comparison! Though I’d be giving a bit more than 200ml 3x weekly.
It seems from the other comments that it just seems to be part of the “I’m the best, all the other suck” mentality of all the brilliant in the world. When they get the camera on them constantly, they have to find someone to bash in order to elevate themselves.
He’s damn amusing though.
On his American show, he expressed a strong dislike for “executive chefs” in particular. Which, as fate would have it, one of the contestants that season was. Ramsey was merciless in dealing with the poor guy, and when the time came to dismiss him, you could see the delight in Ramsey’s twinkling eye.
I can’t speak for Ramsay, but Brown’s digs seem to be in good fun, at least as regards Emeril Lagasse. As far as I know, he thinks Emeril is just fine.
Don’t forget, he has also parodied Iron Chef and Stephen King’s Misery, among other things, and one of his gigs these days is hosting Iron Chef America.
RR