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Everyone thinks they know the real Gordon Ramsay: rude, loud, pathologically driven, stubborn as hell For the first time, Ramsay tells the full inside story of his life and how he became the world's most famous and infamous chef: his difficult childhood, his brother's heroin addiction, his failed first career as a soccer player, his fanatical pursuit of gastronomic perfection and his TV persona--all of the things that made him the celebrated culinary talent and media powerhouse that he is today. In Roasting in Hell's Kitchen Ramsay talks frankly about his tough and emotional childhood, including his father's alcoholism and violence and their effect on his relationships with his mother and siblings. His rootless upbringing saw him moving from house to house and town to town followed by the authorities and debtors as his father lurched from one failed job to another. He recounts his short-circuited career as a soccer player, when he was signed by Scotland's premier club at the age of fifteen but then, just two years later, dropped out when injury dashed his hopes. Ramsay searched for another vocation and, much to his father's disgust, went into catering, which his father felt was meant for "poofs." He trained under some of the most famous and talented chefs in Europe, working to exacting standards and under extreme conditions that would sometimes erupt in physical violence. But he thrived, with his exquisite palate, incredible vision and relentless work ethic. Dish by dish, restaurant by restaurant, he gradually built a Michelin-starred empire. A candid, eye-opening look into the extraordinary life and mind of an elite and unique restaurateur and chef, Roasting in Hell's Kitchen will change your perception not only of Gordon Ramsay but of the world of cuisine.… (more)
User reviews
Just wish he would stop fucking swearing all the time in the book. I can just about allow it in the pressure of a busy kitchen in a reality TV show but in a book!! Not cool. Not clever.
Well Ramsay's childhood was
Now I have a softer spot for him. I understand his need for perfection comes from, I understand what drives him, I understand why he expects so much from others.
At the risk of contradicting the comments I have just made, I have say that it is an honest book. After all, it's Gordon Ramsey's book, so who expects anyone to be really hard on himself in his own book? Especially someone like Ramsey, whose ego is as big, or even bigger, than one of those huge kitchens he describes and in which we spend a lot of time as he takes us through the politics of 'high-end' cooking. And what politicking there is! Creepy Italians, dodgy London geezers, supercilious French master chefs. And Gordon himself. No angel. But he's a man, for a' that. And what a man! ploughing through conspiracies, the slings and shots of outrageous fortune, and his own inability to suffer fools gladly.
The book tears along at a furious pace. Unlike many 'celebrity' autobiographies, there's very little padding and no boring stories about other cooks and what a great joy it was to work with them. There are stories about other cooks, but they're NOT boring!).
I think you may feel his father gets a fairly rough innings in this book, maybe a little too rough. But you will certainly be touched by his efforts, extending over years, to help his brother out of trouble, and you will admire his absolute determination never to settle for second best as a chef. Also I am sure you will end up seeing through the make-up and getting a glimpse of the warts underneath. At all events, you will be struck by how much the book resembles the man himself. I think Montaigne might have liked it.
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641.5092 |