Gordon Ramsay Read Online Free Page A

their food. The blindfolded taste test proved his worst fears. Having told the chefs that they had to decide which of the dishes put in front of them was a rare and which a medium steak, Gordon replaced the beef with a plate of pork and a plate of lamb. Neither Tim nor Lee could taste the difference.
    The locals in Silsden knew what they liked to eat, though – and it wasn’t the fancy cuisine Tim aspired to. After working out what nearby restaurants served and what they charged for it, Gordon said he thought Bonaparte’s should focus on simpler, traditional Yorkshirefare. Tim didn’t agree and another brilliant television moment was born. The pair headed out into the streets with a silver platter of food to see if the locals preferred Tim’s complex cooking or Gordon’s heartier beef and ale pie. ‘One-nil, you Fucker!’ Gordon crowed when the first customer picked the pie. ‘Two fucking nil! Three-nil, you tosser!’
    Then, with a final laugh, Gordon threw Tim’s rejected food into the river.
    Amazingly enough, as the humiliations went on, Gordon admitted that, despite all evidence to the contrary, he was actually holding himself in check. When he pushed Tim’s head in a basin of whisked egg whites as a punishment for yet another perceived misdemeanour, he admitted, ‘I only did it because I couldn’t exactly ram a rolling pin up his arse on television.’ And he says, when he got frustrated at the flamboyant way the youngster tossed a salad, he only just stopped himself from pushing the greens in the same direction.
    More seriously, what really bothered Gordon was a growing fear that Tim didn’t share his passion for food. For, without that, he felt he could never get through to him. ‘Before I arrived at the restaurant on that first day, I had been told that all I had to do was strip away Tim’s pretensions, that he had the makings of a great chef because he truly loved food. Did he fuck! He was in love with the notion of being famous, not with food. That seriously pissed me off. That sort of thing always has.’
    The show, however, had to go on. And with it came the twist that made Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares such compulsive television. The man who had shouted andsworn his kitchen companions into submission suddenly turned into their best friend and most loyal supporter. Nobody was beyond saving, he said. And he was ready to do whatever it took to do just that.
    At Bonaparte’s, that meant cleaning up the health-hazard kitchen and trying to give Tim some pride in his workplace. Next came a unique way to give the lacklustre chef some new drive and energy. ‘You’re fucking 21, for fuck’s sake! You should be getting 12 fucking hard-ons a day,’ Gordon yelled, dragging Tim out for a kickabout on a nearby football pitch. Swinging on the goalposts after scoring a goal, the former Rangers player tried desperately to fire up his young charge. And after a while he seemed to be succeeding.
    A quieter and more intense Gordon gradually persuaded Tim to find fresher, simpler ingredients and to pick less demanding, more suitable recipes. He offered a mini-masterclass on how to taste and season food. It was real teaching and as a result real progress was made and real results achieved. On Valentine’s Night, one of the most important dates in many restaurants’ calendars, a rush of marketing meant the normally empty dining room at Bonaparte’s was full. Diners seemed to like the new bistro look Gordon had picked, and the new, less fussy menu that reflected it. And in the kitchen a newly energised Tim and deputy Lee were firing on all cylinders, ready and able to serve 50 meals for the first time in their careers.
    It was uplifting, exciting stuff, marked by tears, hugs and genuine pleasure on all sides. The simple conclusion was that Gordon had done his job. He had seen the problems,sorted them out and turned Bonaparte’s around in less than two weeks. Show over. Or was it?
    Immediately after Valentine’s