Gordon Ramsay – In the Heat of the Kitchen: A Review

I’m not entirely sure how this particular cookbook ended up in my VAST collection. It must have been some time during the turmoil of my catering days, but it has sat for some time, neglected, on my shelf and I decided to take it down, dust it off and give it a good once over.

There he is on the cover, arms crossed and imposing look on his face. I would have liked to have seen a more welcoming mug shot on the cover of this cookbook especially considering that these recipes are not for the novice chef. Oh he tells you pleasantly enough in the introduction, to not be a slave to the directions but I tell ya, even this seasoned and practiced chef would be pouring over the directions to his recipe for Braised Pork in a Rich Glaze (page 68) which involves cutting the meat from the back of pork ribs then tying them into a roast before caramelizing, braising then reducing followed by sauteing and pureeing the suggested side dishes. I tell  ya, there are more advanced techniques in this one recipe than I’ve seen in a long time!

Not only is this not a book for novice cooks, it is also going to be a stretch for the home cook. Butcher’s twine, guinea hens, quail, pasta roller, caviar, duck eggs…well you get the picture. These are certainly not items found in the average home cook’s kitchen, nor are these specialty ingredients found in Small Town USA or in your local supermarket. And this brings me to the my next point about the recipes themselves.

I find the choice of included recipes to be somewhat arrogant. Ramsay is trying to market this book in tandem with his Kitchen Nightmares and Hell’s Kitchen programming as evidenced by the large notice on the cover of the book stating: As seen on the hit FOX TV show HELL’S KITCHEN, so why would he select recipes that are for the most part, oh so very British? Fondue of Lettuce (page 126), Calf’s Liver with Fried Polenta (page 81) and Confit of Duck in Savoy Cabbage (page65) are a few that come to mind. These are not recipes that are going to appeal to the average American Joe, and this book is full of recipes like this.

What I DO like about the book is the little sidebar tips and techniques. Most pages are adorned with some bit of kitchen wisdom that either extrapolates on a technique used in the recipe, ideas about how to present or what to serve alongside or tips such as scoring the fish skin to allow the marinade to set in better.

I also like the pictures. My mother swore to never buy a cookbook without pictures and I guess this kind of stuck with me as well. There’s not a picture on every page but there are enough full color pictures to show you the true beauty of his dishes. Plus, it is useful to have pictures of the process of making a ballotine and the finished product for those who’ve never done technique before.

Finally, each recipe is prefaced by a brief blurb in authentic Ramsay voice. He briefly touches on the history of an ingredient in the dish, the story behind the recipe, the explanation of a word in the recipe title, or myriad other little curiosities that lend the book a distinct personality.

In general this is a great book and I would recommend it be added to any cookbook library. Like I said though, this is a book that novices would fear and while there are some recipes in there such as Veal and Foie Gras Meat Loaf with Tomato Relish (page 79) that would remain untested, there are others like Saffron Shellfish Risotto that would be eagerly tried by many. For that reason alone I’m not sure I’d pay the full $29.99 value as stated on the back cover, but find it in a garage sale on in the used bookstore and I’d pick it up for sure.