The world's most famous chef shows his sweet side on this new show
In the new TV show on FOX, Chef Gordon Ramsey changes things around a little. Viewers are used to seeing him in the hit show Hell's Kitchen, where he trains prospective chefs. Kitchen Nightmares has Chef Ramsey off to a different restaurant each week to help the fledgling restaurants and turn them around. All with his usual flair. Kitchen Nightmares airs Wednesdays on FOX at 9 PM ET/PT. There are a total of ten episodes planned for this season.
What kitchen nightmare would you say is your biggest pet peeve of them all? What shortcoming or sin in the kitchen that would be most likely to get your blood boiling?
Gordon Ramsey: I think what frustrates me more than anything to be totally honest, is when chefs start to cut corners and believe that they are incognito in the way that they send appetizers on trays and they know that it is not 100%. But they think that the customers can't spot it. ... And there are very few chefs in this country, both in Britain and the States that really identify the secret of being consistent.
Combining the consistency with flavor, when chefs start formulating foods to a picture, I train my chefs with a blindfold. I'll get my sous chef and myself to cook a dish and that young chef will have to sit down, he or she and eat it with a blindfold. Because if you cannot identify the flavor, then you shouldn't be cooking the dish. And that is really important.
Do you think you are mean with people that you work with on the show or do you think that you're just being merely honest?
Gordon Ramsey: Well, I spend a lot of time in top restaurants across America and no disrespect, but when you're cooking in the premier league of restaurants and whether you're standing there watching Jean Georges Vongerichten or Daniel Boulud or Thomas Keller, trust me when things go wrong, it has to be sorted immediately. So I never like to misconstrue that level of meanness. My mom doesn't enjoy, sometimes, listening to me tell staff off. And I say, "Mom, it's a kitchen; it's not a hair dressing salon." But being assertive and somewhat really firm has to be backed up with being fair. And one thing I've been all along is incredibly fair.
What turned you on to food and cooking and the restaurant business in the first place? Was there like a pivotal moment early on where you decided that this was the life for you?
Gordon Ramsey: Yes, I suppose the first time I stepped in France when I lived in Paris for two years and Monaco for a year. My time in France made me appreciate what it was like. I went down to San Rafel to eat with my friend's grandparents. And we had this little amazing salad of chevre. And then we went to a really simple taglaitelli with white truffles. And then we had this braised rabbit dish, and then they brought out this local produced camembert. And then finally, we had this amazing tartatan.
I had this amazing dinner with a couple of bottles of rose and it went on for about three and a half, four hours. I was 21 years of age and I was learning to become sort of fluent in French. And the most fascinating thing about this dinner was the fact that we didn't even change plates, or knife and fork throughout it. We ate off the same plate through out the whole dinner. And there was no level of pretension, but I can still remember that level of taste and flavor. But there was no pretentiousness about changing plates. We were in a country side, underneath a mountain and it was just the most amazing dinner. I sat with his 90 year old grandfather and grandmother and we were cooking this dinner. And that's when it clicked, that's the beauty of food.
Are you more nurturing in this show than Hell's Kitchen?
Gordon Ramsey: Yes, of course. I mean yes, Hell's Kitchen is one sort of, it's a reality show that you find your talent and you push that talent to breakpoint. And you push them to the extreme and you keep a live scenario across a three month period of running a restaurant. And that's real. Kitchen Nightmares is a completely different journey, in terms of it's not just about food. It's about the jeopardy, the understanding of where the business has gone wrong, identifying the weaknesses, improving them immediately and then being blatantly honest with them.
They fall into a slip stream where they start to, I suppose, take customers for granted. And I have a rounded side. Like, I have a wife and four children. In a kitchen I wear a different hat. In the dining room I wear a different hat. And when I'm dealing with families, jeopardy, financial ruin and very delicate situations, I'd like to think that I think about it in an immaculate way. And it's natural, it's not staged. And it's something that means a lot for me to make sure that these restaurants get turned around and they benefit from the advice.
Kitchen Nightmares airs Wednesdays on FOX at 9 PM ET/PT.
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Comments (7)
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Mutant
One last thing, some people think that Gorden doesn't know what he talking about. I encountered a guy that said to me once, Ramsey is a hack and a buffoon. then he added, it's all staged for your entertainment.
I stood up to him and stated that Gordan has worked for years and knows what he's doing.
The guy gave me the finger and stated 'Your a F*** f**'
2 years agoby @zenderFlag
Mutant
In my small city, there is a fish and chip restaurant that used to be popular. The walls of the place have nothing but children pictures of fish which makes it looks tacky to begin with. But ha, I'm not done, the french fry's used to be good but not any more. The fish is terrible and the people that run the place are rude, no smiles, no talk. If you want a lemon it's 25 cents more, sugar 25, ketchup 25 cents. I think you get the drift.
My entire family refuse to go there now.
2 years agoby @zenderFlag
DianeB
I Started watching Hell's Kitchen 3 years ago when a friend at work, who would come in , would talk all about it. I went home one night and watched it, and like so many others I was hooked. I love the way he is so rude, yet necessary, he is really a nice guy, and you see that by the end of the shows. His shows are on my watch list each week to watch. He used to be on Wednesday nights here in Ma, now he is on Fridays. I chose to stay home and watch him. I look forward to watching kitchen nightmares on the off season of Hell's kitchen.. Chef you have thumbs up with my family..We love the way he talks with his hands and gets so excited when he is taking to the cameras. Keep up the good work.
2 years agoby @dianebFlag
hairjack
I hope chef Ramsey reads this, I went to Jacks in St. Clair shores sat. and had the worst mussles in the world, with the worst sauce, it was like ketchup, gross, and when I compained about it ,they said it was chef Ramsey's sauce. WHat a lie Chef Ramsey Help, they suck and they are back to there old menu, they suck. all your work down the toilet.......................
4 years agoby @hairjackFlag
cme43
I don't normally do this but Chef Ramsey rocks! When my girlfriend wanted to watch Kitchen Nightmares (a cooking show) back in October, I really wanted to change the channel. After the show was over I thought to myself "WHAT A FU__IN AWESOME IDEA". Since then we have never missed an episode not even if my team is playing hockey at the same time. I have asked a lot of people at work if they have watched Chef Ramsey and most of them have. But they then say if Chef Ramsey talked to them the way he talks to the restaurant owners and chefs "I WOULD KNOCK HIM THE FU__ OUT!" I explain to them that, "Some people need to be put in their place and taken down from the pedestal they have put themselves on, so they can get a real dose of reality and see things from a different perspective." He does what is necessary to accomplish a successful re-launch of a restaurant and to open the owners and chefs to new possibilities using the tools that he teaches them. Chef Ramsey is truly a mentor that loves what he does. The compassion that Chef Ramsey has for the families and how he truly wants the restaurants to succeed makes the show a MUST WATCH.
4 years agoby @cme43Flag
dhack56
I love Chef Ramsey in doing Kitchen Nightmares on Long Island - it`s giving the consumer how restaurants kitchens really look..He is giving these owners a wake-up call for their business.I would like to see if Chef Ramsey/and Fox TV to do behind the scenes called Hospital Kitchen Nightmares- just look at the food when your in the hospital for a few days..They need to get a wake up call also.I was a cook in hospital that had different diets and no salt,but they don`t want to change how it look..Hospital Kitchen need a wait up call.
4 years agoby @dhack56Flag
cherrudy
Don't care if it is Hell's Kitchen, Kitchen Nightmares, or Dinner Impossible, I'm a real fan of Chef Ramsey. He's so realistic and honest. Like some chefs on Food Network, but they seem so "created", much different than Chef Ramsey. A true fan, Cher from IN
4 years agoby @cherrudyFlag