S18 Ep4: Gordon Ramsay: One of the World's Greatest Chefs on the dishes that have shaped him

Desert Island Dishes

Food, Food Interview, Desert Island, Desert Island Dishes, Arts, Food Podcast, Dish, Interview, Society & Culture, Cooking, Chef, Personal Journals

4.8 • 780 Ratings

🗓️ 25 February 2025

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

As Gordon prepares to open his most ambitious project to date, 22 BISHOPSGATE, Margie got the chance to sit down with him and talk about the dishes that have shaped his life.

He’s a chef, restaurateur and television presenter, known for Kitchen Nightmares, Masterchef and Hell’s Kitchen. He’s one of the most famous and recognisable chefs in the world with the kind of success most only dream of, and yet you may not know that he did not have the easiest start in life. Him and his siblings were on lunch vouchers at school, they moved house 15 times and a difficult relationship with his father marred his childhood.

With a strong sense of purpose from a young age, and a determination to make a better life for himself, Gordon was a talented footballer with a bright future ahead until an injury on the pitch changed things overnight and he was back to square one.

He set his sights on culinary school and it was the Banbury round table charity that bought him his first set of chefs whites and knives in order for him to start work.

He went on to open his own restaurant , Aubergine, at the age of 27 and within 3 years it was awarded 2 Michelin stars. He then opened his flagship restaurant Restaurant Gordon Ramsey in 1998 which very quickly earned him the most prestigious accolade in the culinary world – three Michelin stars and Today, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay is London’s longest-running restaurant to hold this award, and he is one of only four chefs in the UK to maintain three stars.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi. Before we get into today's episode, I just wanted to talk a little bit about my newsletter
0:05.4	in case it sounds like something you might enjoy. Dinner Tonight is the name and really it's more
0:12.0	than a newsletter. It's more like an ever-evolving cookbook. But let me explain what I mean by that.
0:18.0	So every week I send one easy and delicious weeknight recipe to
0:22.5	your inbox. And the whole idea is that these are dishes you can cook in under 30 minutes
0:28.2	when time is short and energy is flagging. Thinking about what to cook is just another thing to think
0:35.7	about. And so I really wanted to create a resource which
0:38.5	you can trust to give you easy and delicious recipes. Free subscribers get a recipe every month
0:45.0	and then paid subscribers get a weekly recipe plus they get access to the whole back catalogue
0:51.9	of recipes that have ever been sent, of which there are now
0:55.4	over 100. And that's what I mean about the ever-evolving cookbook. It's constantly being added to
1:01.6	and updated. And you can ask questions and leave feedback and there are live cook-alongs and just
1:07.9	so much more. I started it about a year ago, not really knowing if there
1:12.8	would be a need, kind of hoping that there would be and it's grown so much in such a short
1:17.7	space of time that I think that shows it really is something that people need help with and
1:22.6	that feels really exciting. The paid element is something that I'm still getting used to, asking readers
1:29.7	to pay for my work, but really it costs the reader less than 75 p a week. So I think that's
1:37.2	pretty good value. And I really think you might enjoy it. So if that does sound like something
1:42.4	you would like to be part of, you can sign up
1:44.9	at dinner tonight.substack.com. Now, without further ado, here is today's episode.
1:55.2	Hi, I'm Margie Nomura and welcome to the Desert Island Dishes podcast. This is the podcast where every week I ask my guest to choose their seven Desert Island dishes.
2:06.2	These range from finding out about the dish that most reminds them of their childhood,
	...

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