Chefs Gordon Ramsay & Jamie Oliver

I would have thought by now that everyone understood that Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver play an imposed act, dictated by the program makers by whom's grace and money they work for... I've seen all those programs, well, most of them! Living in a small country like I am, means certain TV stations simply buy many foreign programs, subtitle them and it's ready to go, the more excitement, the better.

I've seen Top chef USA, Masterchef USA, Kitchen Nightmares UK, Kitchen Nightmares USA, Jamie Oliver playing Don Quichote, trying to re-invent schoollunches in the US. The very, very worse are american shows in which they need Gordon Ramsay to play the bully. Kitchen Nightmares USA and Masterchef USA were the worse of the worst imo. I had such good laughs with that orange Italian who nearly fought with people who came to claim their money. Same for the chronical overacting in Masterchef USA; the much too many "yeahs!!" and "woohoos!!" from the competitors, Ramsay acting as if on speed, the Disney figurine judge and the snobby judge assisting Ramsay, what a joke!

But, there was also Ramsay in search for the best foreign restaurant in the UK, a competition between Englands most liked Italians, most liked Indians, most liked french and most liked Spanish restaurants, all ending in a stunning grand finale where a fabulous Italian restaurant won run by 2 young brothers. Never seen so much competence, never seen Ramsay playing the real Ramsay this time and obviously enjoying himself as an undisputed absolute top chef, an utter perfectionist, gathering michelinstars with a team of extremely high skilled chefs, all working in different upscale Ramsay restaurants.

Sadly enough his recent cookbooks are -in my eyes- too pedestrian and I'm being much too polite. I very much like one his first cookbooks and I would warmly recommend this book to anyone taking french cooking serious, yes, french cooking! It's called "A chef for all seasons" first published in ... 2000. A real must-have!!! Jamie Oliver's Naked chef books are simply outstanding. But my biggest favorite english foodwriter is -no dought- Rick Stein; always no nonsense, just as I like it. There's a lot of cooking programs on TV, starring Rick Stein. Like his voyage on a barge sailing on the canals through France, or his sublime Mediterranean Journey; do buy his book "Rick Stein's Mediterranean Escapes", it's fantastic!

I already mentioned a few times Jason Atherton on this forum, another fantastic chef from the Ramsay stable with connections to Ferran Adriá. I love his book "Maze", very modern tapa-style, the future!

One more addition; best cooking show; Masterchef Australia, and waaaaw, suchs professional judges, they really know how to cook, judging by the masterclasses they performed, stunning! Also like Masterchef France, lots of drama and tears, the french really take cooking extremely serious. First edition; they had to choose from 18.000 candidates. The program started with 100 competitors. Very, very best cooking show on TV, no shouting, no yeahs, no woohoos; Masterchef The Professionals on the BBC with Michel Roux Jr. as a judge... the last edition was simply mindblowing!