Comments on: Book Review: Roasting in Hell’s Kitchen

By: carmen

carmen — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 19:28:18 +0000

Guys and gals cmon now. This man is like a drill sargeant,teaching the entire time.You need to have extensive training to be able to reproduce the basics of cooking over and over to perfection everytime.Preparing sauces, meats, and fish doneness etc.What he is giving his students is an absolute gift and trade off of his passion and skills so these apprentices and so called wrongly trained exec chefs have the knowhow to run a respectable kitchen. When a soldier is done basic traing they are ready for the world and it mad a man or woman out of them.The kitchen is a brutal jungle and some of the people you are forced to work with will try you constantly.When he is finished with you the world of culinary doors will open for you if you continue to do what he taught you.Please try and see the outcome.THE MAN PRODUCES WINNERS!

By: Alvin

Alvin — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 10:00:30 +0000

I agree, dtj – but then again you know I don’t speak for Ramsay

By: dtj

dtj — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 18:55:47 +0000

I have no doubt that he’s talented and hardworking, but I can’t help but think that he would be dramatically more successful and respected if he dialed it back a little. Of course he wouldn’t have a TV show and got visibly famous. I guess if you want to be visibly famous, you’ll do just about anything to do it. That’s why Paris Hilton is on the talk show circuit and has had her own show, while Nobel laureates rarely do. Then again Nobel laureates don’t require night vision video equipment to get famous.

I coach kids (4 teams during spring season, middle school through high school) and I could be an asshole at all times, as there is plenty of opportunities to “go off” on kids. I choose, however, to be more constructive and civil. When needed, I use a civil version of intensity that quickly and surely impresses upon them where I stand. As I spend lots of time loudly barking orders and encouragement onto the field, I choose to be quiet in my dealings with players. My players tend to listen more carefully when they can’t hear me.

Ultimately my message is that one shouldn’t excuse someone’s rude behavior because they had a poor upbringing. Someone with his life experience should know better and treat his subordinates with more respect. Yes there is time to yell at people, but the value of that is diminished by yelling all the time. People are rarely receptive when they are continually on the defensive.

By: Alvin Soon

Alvin Soon — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 10:51:52 +0000

Hi dtj,

I’m not defending Ramsay at all, the point I’d like to make is that it’s easy to see the Gordon Ramsay on TV and think that is all he is, but I think people don’t see the immense hard work that he’s put to get to where he is now.

Also, while he can be a complete asshole, there are also times on Kitchen Nightmares when he’s mighty encouraging, and you can’t say he doesn’t know his business.

By: dtj

dtj — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 02:34:04 +0000

There is a time and place to be an asshole, but to be one as a matter of course is, well, asinine. Why in the world would you respect a man that didn’t learn a thing from where he came? Should we respect him if he beat his wife because his father did it and that was the environment where he was “forged”? He should, if he had learned anything, be a tad less of an asshole because he likely didn’t appreciate it when he was the low man on the totem pole. Having a submarvelous upbringing only explains poor behavior, it doesn’t in any way excuse the behavior. Its good to have high expectations and I guess I expect a little better out of someone of his stature.