Humble Pie Paperback by Gordon Ramsay (Harper)

I have admired Gordon Ramsay for a long time…despite his liberal use of the F word. He has a rather volatile reputation, yet he expects excellence from others around him pushing them beyond their limits. I think I started to really follow him when I saw him on a live cookalong. I immediately made that steak diane dish and then I started cooking more of his recipes. It made my life more delicious. I enjoy his shows too like “Kitchen Nightmares” and recently “Masterchef Junior”. He has such a passion for food, it’s inspiring. His ambition to get to the top of the restaurant world is remarkable. He’s like the energizer bunny with an amazing work ethic. He can’t sit still. When he started out he was willing to sacrifice now for he wanted in the future, and it paid off. He worked his way up from the bottom not only once but many times to learn different tricks of the trade and to learn to cook ethnic food from around the world. What I find interesting is he is never complacent; he is constantly striving to learn new things and improve his culinary skills. He has mad skills!

Ramsay had an abusive drunken father and he definitely came from humble beginnings. Stability was severely lacking while growing up. It’s sad how his brother was raised the same as him yet his brother took a different approach to life and became a heroine addict. Ramsay made a choice to overcome his poor upbringing and made a life worth living. You could hear his honest unapologetic voice. You could tell how much respect he has for his mother. She tried to make things better than they were. I liked that he learned to cook the basics from watching her make what she could with meager ingredients.

This was eye-opening as far as going behind the scenes of the restaurant business is concerned. Apparently there is an unwritten rule of zero tolerance for lying in the kitchen. It’s better to admit you screwed-up the food than to lie about it. I had no idea how cutthroat it is. Seriously, it sounds like some kitchens are run by the mafia trying to take you out of the business. Some of the chefs he portrayed were ruthless narcissistic jerks. Some of them were downright abusive…physically and verbally. Mental cases. I would never work for someone like that. At least with Ramsay when you do something right he encourages you sincerely.

Excerpt:
Worked with Marco at Harvey’s for nearly 3 years “He picked up what was left of the terrine and threw it at me. I looked like a scarecrow only where there should have been straw, I had leeks. The maitre d’ was told to tell the customer that there was a problem with the terrine, and Marco wasn’t happy with it.” Nut job. “The trouble was that Marco made you feel as though there was nothing outside of Harvey’s, that nowhere else mattered. That was just not true. Even if I hadn’t been sick to the bottom of my stomach of the rages and the bullying and violence, I needed to spread my wings if I was ever going to become the kind of cook I now so desperately wanted to be.”