RSSGordon Ramsay: Cookalong Live – How Many People Burnt their Eyebrows Off Last Night?
December 16th, 2009 by Joe, Co-founder of Rouxbe
How many people burnt their eyebrows off last night? I’m referring to the Flambé lesson taught last night on Fox from Gordon Ramsay in his new television cooking show called Cookalong Live.
Gordon Ramsay’s: Cookalong Live – is a cooking show where Chef Ramsay “teaches” home cooks across the country how to follow along and prepare a three-course meal in 60 minutes. Kind of like Rachel Ray meets the Amazing Race with a dash of fireman? You had to see it.
In Gordon’s own words in an intro video;
“it doesn’t matter if you’ve never cooked before, because I’m going to be with you every step of the way.”
I have a LOT to say about this statement and this show but I’m going to hold back to hear from our cooking school students to see what they thought first. Tomorrow we will post links to skill & technique videos related to this menu because we certainly didn’t see much teaching happening on this show. Is cooking really that easy?
Cooking is very much about temperature and technique. Like driving, you need to have driving skills. Similarly, the cooks and chefs from your favorite restaurants have cooking skills and have mastered basic cooking techniques to ensure that you get that perfect meal delivered to your table. Try throwing a ten year old behind the wheel with no driving skills and let’s see if Gordon can talk him through to ANY destination. No offense Gordon. You are unquestionably an amazing chef. But let’s teach America – and you know what I mean.
In the first course from this show, there were a number of very critical steps that if not executed well, would lead most home cooks completely off the success path. As an example, what if your pan was too hot and you over-browned the garlic? I can tell you right now, you’d have a very bitter end result. Don’t believe me? Try the first exercise from this lesson on sweating. Learning simple cooking skills and techniques, like how to properly sweat ingredients, can and will completely turn your cooking around, yet few even know how important this is.
In the second course – great dish – but how do you know if the pan is the right temperature? How much oil do you add to the pan? How do you know when to turn the steak? What’s searing? What’s a crust? How do you get a nice crust? How do you test the steak for doneness? How… how… how… and most important why are all these things important and how does each step (technique) impact the next step?
I really hope that everyone in our ‘Rouxbe’ world understands that all these little things are important to driving success in the kitchen. It’s these simple things that separate good cooks and chefs from home cooks that think that following a recipe without skill & technique is the path to better cooking. Amazes me.
You might be interested to know that professional cooking schools do not – for the most part – teach recipes. They teach cooking skills & techniques.
For more reading see:
Recipes – The GPS of Cooking
The Biggest Misconception in Cooking: Millions in the Dark!
UPDATE: Here is the link to the follow up post, along with supporting recipes, for the Gordon Ramsays’ Cookalong Live Show.
Hmm…sounds like sour grapes to me. I don’t think the show was designed to make people better chefs – it was designed to teach people how to make 3 specific recipes, in an hour, and be entertaining enough to watch. I think it accomplished those things.
So true! A few years ago I burned off my eyebrows (and eye lashes) the first time I made Beef Bourguignon.
Need to learn to walk before you can run…
Having seen the original, very first Cookalong Live in England, I was so excited about being able to cook along with Gordon, but I was very disappointed with this US version (although it did seem a lot like the current weekly show now shown on Channel 4 in UK, too many celebs).
The original show had a simple menu of salad, steak, oven baked chips, and a dessert. All doable, and Gordon did teach about pan temperature, proper amounts of oil etc. Also in the UK version, mini lessons on cooking the menu were available prior to the show on Channel 4′s website.
I had already planned not to cook along, because by 9 PM, we have eaten, and the dishes are done! Also, the menu was not that appealing to my husband, and flambe in my kitchen scares me. Much like in Whoopi’s kitchen, the flames would have hit my vent hood.
I did think I might try to do the tiramisu, but glad I didn’t, it, along with the other courses, did not look the least bit appetizing.
It’s a shame because it’s a great, fun concept, but it faltered IMHO, from the late hour and overly ambitious, and expensive, menu. I also don’t enjoy being whipped into a frenzy when I cook.
I love Gordon Ramsay, and watch all his programs, but just watching Cook-Along last night wore me out!
I loved the show. What a great way to get people passionate about cooking, by showing them what the potential is! True, everything was executed quickly with no consideration to explaining technique ot theroy, but not everyone who wants to learn to make a meal, wants or needs to know all that. In the end, if what they have created is better than what they are use to creating in the kitchen, then success!
It was fun and light hearted and I believe is was successful in helping to get people back into the kitchen!!!!
No I didn’t see it and am sorry – I am so intrigued now! It would have been a fun experiment to try.
I haven’t seen it. I’ve found in Rouxbe an excellent way to learn how to cook as I have never found before.
I like the idea of it…but you might be better off watching it on TiVo, though. 9 p.m. is too late to be cooking a 3 course meal.
I love Gordon but that show last night was a circus. He was so hysterical (probably nervous for been live) there was no teaching and clearly too much going on.
I wish I had seen it, I’m always up for a good train wreck! The British versions of things like this are always better, though, in the sense that you can hear all of the bizarre foul language he uses.
I was mainly concerned for the people that had microwaves mounted over their ranges. I’d love yo know if Ramsey’s production company received any reports of kitchen fires resulting from that segment. At the very least they should have offered some safety tips.
It would be nice to have a more structured lesson on the show!
I want to go back and watch the British versions. I rather enjoyed the show – but then again, I’m a more advanced cook and the dishes seemed doable to me. If I was a newbie, that would have been overwhelming and not enough detail. I think that truly it wasn’t detailed enough for anyone to cook along with – you didn’t have measurements or times or anything. They did post the recipes on the website though. But as you said, there was no guidance on how to tell if something was cooked through, how stuff should look, etc. But Americans in general seem to enjoy watching other people cook on TV, unfortunately. There are of course those of us that love to actually do the cooking – but so many more are happy just to imagine the food and never step foot into the kitchen.
All said, I’ll watch it again if it comes on.
didn’t see the show but what the hell were they cooking that would involve their eyebrows??! now i’m curious.
I didn’t see the show, but am certainly going to watch for it. At the very least, it sounds entertaining. However, your points hit home about quite a few of the cooking shows on TV right now. I’d like to see them get back to the basics and really teach people to cook so that home cooks can learn to combine ingredients and use basic skills to turn out a decent meal.
Interesting – I don’t watch TV so I guess I am missing a lot of the stuff foodies talk about…
Thanks for the feedback. BTW… Clare (1st comment) sorry, you might be right. Was a bit sour.
I’ve been a follower of Gordon for many years. Especially like his restaurant makeover shows – he does an amazing job. He is an awesome chef. I guess I’m just a bit ‘sour grapes’ over celebrities saying that they want to teach people to cook and then they just go through the motions and actually don’t teach.
It was at least entertaining. BTW.. we re-created the first two courses today and will provide recipes inspired by the show with some skill and technique video tomorrow.
Cheers,
Joe
Hi everyone…fun thread :-)
Just to let you know, we cooked the first and second course from Gordon Ramsay’s Cookalong Live show.
Here is our post, along with the recipe for the Angel Hair Pasta with Chili and Tomatoes and the Steak Diane with Sauteed Potatoes and Peas. We really enjoyed both meals and will definitely make either of them again. Just added a bit of the skills and techniques behind the dishes to ensure a bit more success.
We also had some funny and interesting photos of our experience!
Cheers dawn
[...] past week, Gordon Ramsay’s new Cookalong Live show aired (see our previous post on this here). The premise: at-home cooks prepped a bit in advance and then cooked, real time, a 3-course meal [...]
The show teaches you on how to be a basic cooking chef, as everyone who are not dependent on others should have something this, to learn.. :)
he was incredibly nervous! could he have said ‘amazing’ one more time? i just wished he would be himself even if it means swearing. and why did half of the audience have to stand? it looked odd.
Funny…I said the same thing “omg, maybe he could say the word ‘amazing’ one more frickin’ time”.
I also found the forced ‘sexy’ banter between him and Leanne Rimes to be pathetic.