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Roasting in Hell's Kitchen: Temper Tantrums, F Words, and the Pursuit of Perfection

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Average customer rating: 4.5

Author : Gordon Ramsay
Binding : Paperback
EAN : 9780061191985
ISBN : 0061191981
Label : Harper Paperbacks
Manufacturer : Harper Paperbacks
Number of pages : 288
Publication date : 2007-03-01
Publisher : Harper Paperbacks
Release date : 2007-03-13
Title : Roasting in Hell's Kitchen: Temper Tantrums, F Words, and the Pursuit of Perfection
Languages : Array
Number of items : 1
Studio : Harper Paperbacks

Editorial reviews

Product Description

Everyone thinks they know the real Gordon Ramsay: rude, loud, pathologically driven, stubborn as hell.

Now, for the first time, the world's most famous—and infamous—chef tells the inside story of his life: his difficult childhood, his father's alcoholism and violence, his brother's heroin addiction, his short-circuited soccer career, and his fanatical pursuit of gastronomic perfection—everything that helped mold him into the culinary talent and media powerhouse that he is today. He also dishes the dirt on the rich and famous, and takes you behind the scenes of some of the great restaurants.

Honest, outrageous, and intensely personal, Roasting in Hell's Kitchen will not only change your perception of Gordon Ramsay but that of the cutthroat world of haute cuisine as well.

Customer reviews

review by: twoherons date: 2008-11-16 rating:

Scotland Rocks
One proud Glaswegian and Scot.......
For culinery skills you fought........
Hells Kitchen can get real hot........
I'm ecstatic your book I bought.........

review by: date: 2008-11-09 rating:

Interesting insight into Gordon's childhood and growing up
I enjoyed this book quite a bit, it was a quick read, with just a few pages that I skimmed over because they were sort of irrelevant (the listing out of soccer matches got boring quickly).

I definitely felt for Gordon when reading about his incredibly crappy childhood and adolescence. I giggled when I read about him shagging a restaurant owner's wife when he was 19.

He definitely has had an interesting life. I think this book puts a more human face on his persona.

He comes out as a likeable, driven, and ambitious professional. Just two small gripes - he's so gung-ho about not spoiling his children that he goes IMO overboard. As a parent myself, I don't think that kids who get more than 1 Christmas gift each will grow up spoiled. For some reason, Gordon seems to think that giving them 1 pound allowance and just 1 present each will ensure that they grow up selfless and appreciative.

Another thing that bugged me a bit was his insistance that in the restaurant kitchen, the staff is not allowed to laugh or wear their name embroidered on their chef's whites.

Gordon - no matter how serious you think your job is, it's just cooking. You're not curing cancer.

P.S. At first I thought "His wife must be a saint to put up with him" but then I realized that he's never home anyway! She probably lets him feel like the boss when he IS at home, and the remaining time, she just runs things the way she sees fit and he's none the wiser.

review by: date: 2008-09-24 rating:

Great book
I don't have a lot of time to read so I haven't read more than 3 books in the last 5 years. I got this book from the library and read the whole thing in 1 day! Which for me, is unbelievable. I just couldn't put it down. What a story. It is definitely worth a read if you like Ramsay. I love him even more now that I know where he has come from and what has made him the way he is. He has had a very interesting and very hard life. He is an inspiration. I thought I worked hard, I seem lazy compared to his drive and ambition.

I highly recommend this book. I would definitely read it again. In fact, I am on Amazon right now looking for more books about him.

review by: ZCT date: 2008-09-07 rating:

Great Read
I have to admit; I'm not much of a reader. I tend to read books in order to learn something, rather than reading fiction or autobiographies.

I discovered Gordon Ramsey quite by accident. I saw clips of him on The Soup doing Hell's Kitchen, and I thought it looked interesting. So then I watched him on Hell's Kitchen, and later on Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares (both the US and British version), and really enjoyed the shows. Hell's Kitchen was along the lines of the Apprentice. And Nightmares was fascinating as he worked to turn ailing businesses around. Despite his in your face bluntness, he seemed to genuinely care about what he was doing. His passion, and work ethic was extraordinary.

So I became curious about this man, having heard some of his comments on a talk show. I purchased the book, and in a rare move for me, read the entire thing in a weekend.

The story of his rise to the top of his game is incredible. His writing style is as blunt and hard hitting as his on screen persona. He appears to be telling it how it is. The writing style is not the best I've seen, but the book is incredibly compelling.

He started with nothing, failed in a career in professional soccer, and then worked his way up to the absolute top of his profession as a chef.

If you are a fan of Gordon Ramsey, I think you will be fascinated by this interesting read. I would have given it five stars, but had to deduct one for the occasionally muddled writing style. However really, this book is worth 4.5 stars easily.

review by: date: 2008-08-27 rating:

Change the way you view Gordon!
One of the many complaints about Gordon Ramsay is his harshness. Many people I know dislike him because of his treatment and apparent belittlement of his contestants on Hell's Kitchen. (Season 1 now available on DVD - Hell's Kitchen: Season 1)

Read this book and you will have that feeling no more.

The best attribute of this book for me was reading about all of his life experiences and to see how they shaped who he is today. It really becomes evident when you watch him on television. If you think he is harsh to the Hell's Kitchen contestants, listen to what happened to him working for Joel Robuchon and Marco Pierre White. Incredible.

Not only do you feel for him because of his situations with his family, but you really develop a full-blown respect for him. He was, is and always will be a very classy and mature man.

His narrative just sails you through this book. It is quite a wonderful story to read. You will love the stories that you read. It will change the way you look at Gordon forever!

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