Gordon Ramsay's Ultimate Cookery Course

I heard about Gordon Ramsay's cookery course from my mum who has so far seen every episode and has ordered a copy of his book. I watched several programmes and was impressed by his down to earth approach and basic tasty recipes, and bought the book myself. Having now tried three of the recipes I have discovered that just because a dish is spicy doesn't mean that it is hot (unlike supermarket ready meals). Used correctly and in the right balance spices can add lots of flavour without heat and each recipe so far has been really tasty and the kids liked them too. The recipes are not hard if you follow them carefully and the book is also packed full of good advice on techniques, kitchen equipment, buying guides, basic recipes such as stock, home made mayonnaise, vinaigrette dressing etc. along with lots of tips. There are lots of colour pictures but sadly not of every recipe.Having previously bought Jamie Oliver's 30 minute meals and found the recipes I tried took a lot longer than 30 minutes AND were absolutely revolting, Gordon Ramsay's is much better and far more practical.The Jamie Oliver book is now en route to the charity shop where it will join lots of other copies whose previous owners have obviously done the same!

Really getting a lot of use out of this book. It's a slightly different layout compared to many other cook books. There are the standard type of chapters on meat, fish etc but also chapters on good food for less and cooking for one/two. The instructions are all step-by-step so following the recipes is easy, I like the 'how to' tips and I'm learning to not fear the really hot frying pan! I've followed about 12 of the recipes so far and there are still so many more I want to try. I have bought a few new things for the store cupboard (vinegars and smoked paprika) but Gordon tends to use things in lots of recipes so they aren't going to be sat in the cupboard going out-of-date. I can highly recommend the Chilli Beef Lettuce Wraps and the Smoky Pork Sliders. I think they'll both be new staples from now on.Overall it's a fantastic cook book full of recipes I will use. This one is definitely worth the investment if you want to vary your repertoire, learn better cooking skills and enjoy delicious food.

I really like Gordon Ramsay and when I watched his TV series I just had to buy the book. I am a really good cook. The reason I'm a really good cook is because chefs like Gordon Ramsay give me the opportunity to experience their creative food flair. So I read, buy the ingredients, prepare the recipes to the letter and then serve - delightful, however some points to make on this book. lets mention the negitives first. Some of the recipes do not have pictures?! Why is that? We first eat with our eyes and if Im going to go to the trouble of all the prep I want to see hows its going to look. I did wonder if Amazon had got a job lot on some books that were missing certain content! I did buy it at a good price from them but Id like more pics please. Secondly I have prepared the slow cooked fiery lamb (page 34) but my eyebrow was raised when Gordon suggests that you leave the lid off! Really for slow cooked...! Ok its your recipe.....terrible result. You cant leave the lid off a slow cooked recipe that is in the oven for that length of time. I will cook this recipe again but next time with the lid on! It did make me wonder if Gordon had actually cooked it and left it in the oven for the stated time - with the lid off!So onto the good stuff. I like the look and feel of the book. The instruction is good, to the point and easy to follow. I like how the book has alot of variety with different meats and especially with fish - I love fish. Just to mention the Miso salmon dish (page 33) is wonderfull and really easy to prepare and cook. The flavours are amazing especially if you like anything Thai ish. For the amount of recipes and variety I found it good value - even with the lamb disaster!

This book is wonderful!!! I have made so many of the recipes so far....I cooked the stuff chicken last night (way too much stuffing for the size of the chicken, but I just put it in an oven dish and cooked it alongside the chicken for 30 minutes - delicious), the sweetcorn with chipotle butter, the chilli dogs, the fiery lamb, chilli beef lettuce wraps (blew my head off; but soooo tasty) and the slow roasted pork belly with fennel......just to mention a few!!! They have all turned out wonderfully tasty, they are all easy to make and so far no weird ingredients that you can't find or cost a fortune.I have tried many other chef cookbooks from Jamie Oliver to Gary Rhodes, via Silvena Rowe. I don't really like my Jamie Oliver book (his American one) and whilst Gary Rhodes has some great recipes a LOT of them are way too difficult for the average cook, require kitchen tools you simply don't have, techniques you don't know and ingredients you can't find!!There are only 2 other chefs that I LOVE as much as Gordon and they both have great books too!!!! Ken Hom's Complete Chinese Cookbook makes cooking chinese food so simple; until I bought it I had tried various other Chinese cookbooks and every dish I made was a failure...not now!!! And Madhur Jaffrey's Ultimate Curry Bible - a truly wonderful collection of recipes!!!Tonight we are having Bollito Misto and tomorrow night we are having Chicken and Autumn Veg pies!!!!We are eating like Kings since I bought this book........yummy!!!!

Use this all through the year as a go to ideas. Easy cooking restaurant style. Simple recipes