The F Word!

[Pweaver1984]

On tonight channel 4 @ 8pm.

I'm quite looking forward to it, supposedly like top gear but on food, just heard GR on Steve Wrights radio2 show. Hopefully this is the show us Egulleters have been waiting for.

Is the show live? Anyone planning on going (or been?).

Website

Paul

[alexw]

2- The potatoes are refered to by GR as Dauphinoise and when served to GC as Boulangeres???!???

Now no stock was mentioned so it rules out Boulangeres and no cream mentioned so it rules out Dauphinoises.

Maybe I am missing something?

3- The lamb was spread with mustard and then covered with a selection of herbs and Parmesan grated cheese. Why no mention of the breadcrumbs?

4- The Turkey scene is too long and offputting.

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Hi Nicolai.

he did mention the stock but all his recipes were a bit vague, boulangere being the most accurate he gave. why he didn't mention the crumbs I've no idea seeing as he used half a bucket of them.

as for the turkey scene, was a bit long but would be more concerned about the language his kids will be using out and about, I often bring my kitchen dialect home with me and have to be very careful about using the odd kitchen phrase in their presence otherwise I am called in to scholl to comment on my 3 year old calling one of his nursery classmates "b******s"

the show is more geared up for the nigella market compared to his previous efforts and am leaving it at the mo as to whether I actually enjoyed it or not, I would probably have liked it more if TV wasn't sturated with him recently (3rd show I've seen him in this week) jesus I've seen him more than his staff.

will try and settle to a verdict next week.

nice to see Giles as a total billy no mates jammed up against the wall though.

Alex.

[KaffirLime]

Just to add to alexw's reply on point 2 - the potatoes.

As I recall it GR only ever referred to his spud dish as boulangeres - The only time I heard him mention dauphinoise was when he proffered the opinion that boulangeres was 'like dauphinoises but healthier'. Oh, and he definitely did mention stock.

Overall though, I'm not convinced about the program. My gut instinct is to write it off as a complete load of tosh (what was all that fawning over Martine McCutcheon about?). Given that GR has always strenuously denied he is a "f**king celebrity chef" he seems to have sold out big time. And what the f*ck was Giles Coren thinking when he signed up for the part of GR's glove puppet (even given the guy is a complete twerp)?.

[Emma M]

Well, I gave it half an hour, then went and did some ironing

I don't know what Optomen were really trying to achieve and which pigeonhole they thought the programme would fit into to, but I sat there dumbfounded that such nonsense would get screentime from Channel 4. As for that public school mincing hack Giles Coren? Good God.

Ramsay's sold out. Something he accuses the likes of AWT of, but is quite happy to do it himself now. You'd think with all that money he's raking in now he could afford to get that chiselled chin of his corrected.

Thursdays at 8pm? Do your ironing, it's a lot more satisfying.

Edited October 28, 2005 by Emma M (log)

[Marco_Polo]

Thursdays at 8pm?

Bleak House. Brilliant.

[Emma M]

Thursdays at 8pm?

Bleak House. Brilliant.

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Yes, kicking myself I missed out on it and watched Ramsay's nonsense instead. I won't be making the same mistake next week

[Matthew Grant]

Hello newbie here. Hello everybody.

Just few points of clarification?

1- The Foie Gras cooking method as advised by GR is among other things to tip the pan for browning the Foie Gras and to baste with the cooking jus.

I would expect GR to have mentioned that the Foie Gras should be cooked from cold and that the pan should be wiped with some Foie Gras fat because it is going to stick otherwise.

Is GR being selective in his advise or is it the editing?

2- The potatoes are refered to by GR as Dauphinoise and when served to GC as Boulangeres???!???

Now no stock was mentioned so it rules out Boulangeres and no cream mentioned so it rules out Dauphinoises.

Maybe I am missing something?

3- The lamb was spread with mustard and then covered with a selection of herbs and Parmesan grated cheese. Why no mention of the breadcrumbs?

4- The Turkey scene is too long and offputting.

5- GR did advocate in other series to keep food recipes simple and he even mentions it in his books. So what with the Pudding? Baileys? Cranberries? Eggs and three egg yolks? No wonder he lost the bet.

6- I still am not convinced that you get a better result and motivate people by swearing at them and being rude. But then again I am not a TV Chef.

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Nicolai, I think you might want to watch the program again.

1) Gordon Ramsay did mention the fat in the Foie Gras, he addressed this very point saying that you didn't need any fat (in fact he made the commis remove the fat already in the pan) as it contained so much of its own.

2) the potatoes were clearly Boulangere (he called them this) and he did mention the stock, he called them "similar" to Dauphinoise but healthier

3) He did mention the breadcrumbs, he showed how you made the herb crust and showed it being mixed up with breadcrumbs. Chefs can't be expected to list every ingredient in a dish, menu would be hundreds of pages long.

4) Agree

5) I htought it looked good

6) Numerous employees and management associsations would disagree. Ramsay is regularly held up as a highly motivational boss. You may not like the way he does things but it does get results.

Overall I quite enjoyed this, get rid of the celebrity interview, show a little more cooking, review a restaurant (why not, we reveiw music, books, art etc on TV) and we might have a decent show.

Edited October 28, 2005 by Matthew Grant (log)

[PS]

On the whole, I enjoyed it. It made a better stab at the format than Full On Food anyway (I know a lot of people will say that wasn't difficult, but there you go). And it may just improve as it gets into its stride.

I thought the cooking sections were fine - It's not a traditional dish-by-dish recipe show. I suppose there's an argument that if he's trying to encourage people (sorry, women) to cook then he should be doing simple stuff and doing it step by step, but, really, who tries to cook straight from the TV show? I'd feel pretty comfortable trying to recreate any of those dishes and if I really needed a recipe I could buy the book that has no doubt been released in time for Christmas.

The turkey section was overlong, but I'm not sure why it was "off-putting" for Nicolai.

I couldn't care less about what goes into kebabs, but it's of interest to some. Hopefully they'll manage something a bit more interesting/substantial next time.

No problem with Giles Coren as GR's stooge. He may even grow into the TV role.

And, yes, get rid of the "celebs" (what purpose does the revelation that Martine McC "doesn't know how to switch on her oven" serve, beyond being a role model for people who don't cook? And who were the two columnists?).

Finally, does GR have a clause in his contract that every show he does for C4 must include a shot of his chest?

Edited October 28, 2005 by PS (log)

[the greek]

Did mention stock, Chicken stock.

Think it should be lamb though. :

[camp_dick]

Well, I gave it half an hour, then went and did some ironing 

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My experience was similar. After that bit with Martine Escutcheon, I thought I'd rather watch the talented man who was grouting the new tiles in my kitchen. Later, I watched him fill the wall with Pollyfilla.

Can I point out to observers of Kitchen Nightmare that Gordo excelled himself this time out by getting his kit off in the opening sequence!

As to point 4, above: I thought the idea of naming the turkeys after rival TV chef personalities was less than hilarious, but I'd like to see a response, perhaps from Ainsely Harriot. Perhaps 'gordon' could become the generic name for a roughly stuffed pork sausage?

Thursdays at 8pm? Do your ironing, it's a lot more satisfying.

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I was under the impression that women under a certain age don't iron any more? Don't you have some kind of ideological objection to ironing? Whereas we men - at least those who enjoy a crisp shirt - can get into the science of it (yoke first!)

[tony h]

You couldn't f**kin' make it up...

[camp_dick]

..."Whoever wins will succeed the broadcaster and journalist Sir Clement Freud, who has been rector since 2002," but has now stood down to take up an important post as Restaurant Critic @ the Press Gazette.

[Bapi]

I rather enjoyed it actually. Apart from the celebrity fawning, but then it's that sort of show- isn't it? I don't think there is a food programme on earth that would satisfy and tick every box for the viewing public- let alone "know it all" foodies like us

I thought Giles Coren's Donner Kebab Nirvana was the best thing on the programme.

[alexw]

Hmm onions in daupheniose, never done it myself.

Will somebody please stop ramsay from stripping on tv, personally I think his kids must cringe somewhat.

anyway I was toying with the idea of applying for him to come to my home to help my wife back into cooking (she has just started her own business and is struggling for time but she can cook fine), but I could bring 20-30 kg of spinach from work and stick him in the corner to pick it while we get on with our dinner. as most weekends I spend cooking different things with my kids anyway (bread pasta etc, however the best turn out of enthusiasm is always for ice cream making, I wonder why)

as for the foie gras debate, when you are one of the biggest purchasers of non-stick top of the range pans that Gordon is then you can easily put your foie in with no fat and achieve perfect results, and seeing that he was on a new tv show, the kit was high end all the way. even his courgette provencale was coloured in them before being transferred into bourgeas sautee pans for tossing the balsamic in, (he didn't want to add the acetic acid to the teflon pans).

have to admit that the funniest thing I found was the look on his wifes face as he was digging up her landscaped garden for his turkey run. as for naming them after chefs with the exception of Ainsley "hands that do dishes" Harriot, the others have all had their contributions to the industry whether we like them or not.

rant over, too late now and back to work in 5 hours.

Alex.

PS, Rector (does Gordon live in matrix time or what?) I can barely make time for my responsibilities as it is and my life is pretty full with 5*hotel, wife (with business ah well someone has to do the books, and 3 kids)

[BertieWooster]

PS, Rector (does Gordon live in matrix time or what?) I can barely make time for my responsibilities as it is and my life is pretty full with 5*hotel, wife (with business ah well someone has to do the books, and 3 kids)

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DOn't think you have to do much but give the occiasional speech. It's like the eighties habit of naming student unions after random gay activists. I seem to remember Freud was originally rector in the late seventies when he defeated classy-version-of-Jordan-of-her-time Fiona Richmond.

And if waste-of-airtime Nicky Campbell can do it, so can Gordo. ONly he will probably insist on doing his duties topless.

[Corinna Dunne]

I think Ramsay’s striptease bit is hysterical. He is obviously very much in on the joke. My husband just can’t understand why Nigella didn’t adopt a similar routine!

I found the programme entertaining. It’s clearly targeted at a broader audience than eG or the people who would frequent his restaurants so I view it in the context of its audience. The celeb bit meshes in much better than it did on Full on Food, and Martine is a good choice as a populist figure. Giles is, I presume, the boy band type eye candy. All you have to do is look at the ads (O2 etc) to see exactly who this programme is aimed at. So the likes of us being entertained is a bonus in programming terms.

There is obviously a clear remit to demystify food associated with more upmarket restaurants, hence the foie gras bit and also an agenda not to demonise “cheaper” food, as was seen in the kebab clip. I don’t think the idea of this programme is to get every 16 – 30 year old straight into the kitchen, it is just to get the dialogue going and to reduce the perceived us and them distance. Good.

And what is selling out anyway? Ramsay is not turning his back on good food, he’s “spreading the message”, so that we can all eat cake if we choose. And if he’s being well paid for it, great. There are too many poor chefs out there, so it’s nice to see some of them hitting the big time.

As for his management style. Well I think the loyalty he inspires in his staff is a pretty good indicator that he’s doing a lot of things right. And I doubt if Marcus Waring or Angela Hartnett consider themselves to be in anonymous captivity.

[Matthew Grant]

I do believe I just saw GR poach a chicken in a stock made with a stock cube!

[Gary Marshall]

i finally saw this on saturday and thought it was much better than i expected. For some reason i thought it was a GR presented chat show rather than a general food show. Certainly done a better job than 'full on food' to reinvent 'food & drink' for the noughties.

[Nicolai]

I feel much better now that this program is over.

Now that we were introduced to all the famiglia including his mother, his sister, his wife, his four children the vicar and vicaress and the pectorals. Olle'h

Plus Sharon Osbourne the self proclaimed Queen of Chocolate and the Giles clown and...etc

There used to be a song like that: The Padre, la madre, les douzes chiquitinas, grandpadre, grandmadre et les bunch de cousinas, l'oncle et la tante et la tantina deux beaus gosses. Olle'h.

So the restaurant consist of gR who can't do puddings and Jean Sebastien who can carry two plates on one arm and a souffre douleur de commis.

I mean is there anybody else to take the wrath on? And the commis who are "uhmm" commis and not proper chefs are supposed to cook and plate and clean the blooming kitchen.

So one general and all footsoldiers with no other ranks. Wierd!

At least gR is making a special appearance on Boxing day on a quizz show of some kind. I wonder if he is gonna strip again?

Ah, I forgot the food!

The Food?

What food?

Apparently, a new fragrance "Eau de Vaisselle" signed by gR is in the making and there is also some men's unders fotoshoot and a range of lead pencils for left and right ears...hey we are rockin.

Edited December 22, 2005 by Nicolai (log)

[Corinna Dunne]

I have to say, I really enjoyed it. Way better than "Full on Food" in terms of format and watchability. It may not have been completely focused on food, but it was good entertainment and I think achieved what it set out to do. And my 5 year old loved it.

[britcook]

Like lots of food shows (and comedy shows come to think of it) there is real content, sometimes, and there is padding. It's the ratio that is important but, in extreme cases, 1 minute of excellent content is worth enduring the surrounding half hour of dross. F Word had a reasonable amount of real content, sometimes as much as 10 minutes worth in a programme, and he cooked some decent stuff, the sea bass with sweet and sour pepper sauce, citrus pilaf and braised endive alone was worth an hour of watching the other garbage, go to the website, download the recipe and cook it. Terrific, and this from a person who is not keen on fish.

[Scott]

you mean someone was still watching???

[Matthew Grant]

What surprised me about the F Word was how old the dishes that they were cooking were .These were dishes that Ramsay served at Aubergine!!!! Other than that the celebrity (I use the word lightly) element was annoying but some of tyhe cooking sequences were OK. Gordon, stop being so "touchy, feely" with the women guests, it's not pretty!

[johnsmith45678]

I finally got ahold of the F Word, and enjoy it for the most part.

One observation - in the sixth episode, Ramsay tells the dual-pony-tailed chick to taste the sauce she's cooking. So...she grabs a spoon, takes a spoonful of sauce, slurps it, lowers the spoon to her side, then...uses it to continue stirring the sauce! Ramsay fired her on that episode, thankfully (but not for this, rather trying to serve uncooked bacon).

Edited May 4, 2006 by johnsmith45678 (log)

[Mandarin]

If you've ever worked in a kitchen, you will find that using a spoon to taste and then stir is no big deal.