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Gordon
Ramsay (born November 8, 1966) is one of Britain's
highest
profile chefs. He is one of only three chefs in the country to maintain
three Michelin stars for their restaurant (the others being Heston
Blumenthal and Michel Roux).
Gordon was born in Scotland but was brought up in England after his
family moved to Stratford-upon-Avon. He played football as teenager for
Oxford United F.C.'s youth side and was spotted by a scout for Rangers.
He completed trials for the Scottish club and became a professional
player at the age of 15. After suffering a knee injury that left him
unable to regain full fitness he was released from the club.
At the age of 19 Ramsay now turned his hand to cookery. He worked under
Marco Pierre White and Albert Roux in London and Guy Savoy and Joel
Robuchon in Paris before becoming head chef of the newly-opened
Aubergine restaurant in 1993. By 1996, the restaurant had been awarded
two Michelin stars. In 1998 Ramsay opened his first own restaurant, the
eponymous Gordon Ramsay in Chelsea. The restaurant gained three
Michelin stars in 1999, making Ramsay the first Scot to achieve the
feat. From there his empire has expanded rapidly, first opening Petrus
where six bankers famously spent over £44,000 on wine during a single
meal in 2001, and then Amaryllis and later Gordon Ramsay at Claridges.
Restaurants at the Dubai Creek and Connaught Hotels followed, the later
branded under his protegee, Angela Hartnett's, name. Ramsay's company,
Gordon Ramsay Holdings, continued rapid expansion under Marcus Wareing
as Chief Patron.
Ramsay has published six books on cooking and also appeared in two
fly-on-the-kitchen-wall documentaries - Boiling Point in 1998 and
Beyond Boiling Point in 2000. The series revealed that Ramsay is a
hot-tempered man in the kitchen; he was seen yelling obscenities at his
staff and throwing equipment around. Food critic A. A. Gill, who was
famously ejected from Ramsay's Chelsea restaurant (along with his
dining companion Joan Collins), has said that Ramsay is "a wonderful
chef, just a really second-rate human being".
In 2004, Ramsay appeared in two British television series. Ramsay's
Kitchen Nightmares aired on Channel 4, and saw the chef troubleshooting
failing restaurants over a two-week period. Hell's Kitchen was a
reality show, which aired on ITV, and saw Ramsay attempt to train 10
British celebrities to be chefs, as they ran a restaurant on Brick Lane
which opened to the public for the two-week duration of the show.
Bibliography
Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Heaven (2004)
Gordon Ramsay’s Secrets (2003)
Gordon Ramsay’s Just Deserts (2001)
A Chef For All Seasons (2000)
Gordon Ramsay’s Passion For Seafood (1999)
Gordon Ramsay’s Passion For Flavour (1996) |
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