Slow Roasted

Roasting in Hell's Kitchen: Temper Tantrums, F Words and the Pursuit of Perfection; Gordon Ramsay (Harper, 2007, cover by FBC, ISBN978-0-06-119198-5).

When it comes to books about cooking, I prefer cookbooks. This is just as it is when it comes to television: I prefer a show like Alton Brown's Good Eats to Emeril, a show where I'm going to learn some techniques, some science, some background and history as well as be entertained.

Top Chef pretty much left me cold; I could not see how most of those people would survive in any ordinary business, let alone a kitchen where you need some modicum of cooperation. So when I first started seeing bits from a show called Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, I chuckled and moved on.

But...I came back. Gordon Ramsay, known equally well for his sharp tongue as well as a string of award-winning restaurants, swoops in on a failing restaurant and tries to turn it around. Sometimes he succeeds, sometimes he fails, and you are constantly amazed at the people who run and work in those establishments. What were they thinking of when they opened those businesses? Amusing stuff and you can probably do a Kitchen Nightmares Drinking Game where you take a swig for every bleeped out word and two swigs for every word that either isn't bleeped out or bleeped so poorly you can figure it out.

So, having been enchanted by Mr. Ramsay's personality, and following up on this book, I picked up Roasting in Hell's Kitchen. While no other author is listed, the book has more of a feel of a transcript of a long series of conversations at times than a book. There's a lot of brutal honesty here: Ramsay's relationship with his father, a business associate who dies of a drug overdose, and a family member who is also troubled by drugs are examples of that. Some parts feel rushed: descriptions of various television productions or some business ventures. Sometimes I feel like I'm reading a manual on business advice (but without enough gritty detail to make it worthwhile). Other sections have a good mix of commentary, detail and Ramsay's personality (such as descriptions of some early jobs at culinary havens such as Paris).

What next? The ongoing tales of another chef who has risen to literary and television fame...back to the works of Mr. Bourdain!