The Plonker Club

In his new Channel 4 series TV chef Gordon Ramsay embarks on a culinary journey around India, discovering the breadth and depth of cooking of the country. His new cookbook is packed with the best recipes from his travels, showing you how to cook authentic dishes that are bursting with flavour. Three-star chef Gordon Ramsay’s favourite food is one that he shares with a lot of Britain – curry. But, until now, he’s never been to India see how the real thing is cooked.

Accompanied by a Channel 4 film crew, Gordon takes the culinary trip of a lifetime to discover real Indian cuisine and share this collection of over 100 of his favourite Indian dishes. As you’d expect from a Michelin-starred chef, Gordon brings his eye for perfection and ability to judge flavours perfectly to his exploration of Indian food and shows us how to cook authentic, mouth-watering dishes from all over this huge and varied country. He visits Kerala deep in the South of India to bring us spicy, coconut-based curries and travels to colourful Rajasthan to learn about the creamy, flavourful dishes of the North. Along the way Gordon experiences the hugely different flavours and spices from the different regions and absorbs local cooking styles and traditions.

Throughout his culinary journey, Gordon selects the best of the vast array of Indian spices, now readily available in British supermarkets. He shows us how to use these authentically to produce a beautifully flavoured Indian dish. Gordon Ramsay’s Great Escape includes over 100 recipes in the following sections: Everyday, Entertaining, Quick Lunches and Healthy Dishes. Once Gordon shows you how easy it is to put together authentic Indian dishes, you’ll never look back.

Gordon Ramsay’s Great Escape is supposed to be released at the end of August – although neither Amazon UK or USA have a picture of the cover (which is strange since Gordond next three books are up with covers – even those released at the end of 2010!). We’ve contacted the publishers, Harper Collins, and will pass on any information as soon as we hear anything!

Chief Plonker
The Plonker Club
The Unofficial Gordon Ramsay Fansite
www.theplonkerclub.com

As much as I wanted to, I really didn’t enjoy season 6 of Hell’s Kitchen. It’s all of the worst bits of Gordon Ramsay’s US shows (including the vastly inferior US Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares) – such as heavy editing and overly hyped (and constructed) drama. Being a Gordon Ramsay fan means that I’ll still watch it, just not look forward to it every week as I do almost all of his UK shows.

This group of chefs must be the most arrogant and confrontational ever. I know reality TV is hyped, but seriously – this is basically a job interview, what moron acts like these knobs? What kind of tosser tries to punch on with existing staff like Jon-Phillipe as Chef Van does or yell at the boss and tell him to get off your back, that he is crap and that he can dish it put can’t take it as Chef Tenille does to Gordon Ramsay? By now, everyone has seen the clip of Chef Joseph wanting to take Gordon Ramsay out into the carpark (after a rather mild bollocking, and he claims to be a former Marine) and this is how the second of the two part premiere ended. Earlier in the show, Chef Joseph had also said that he wanted to stomp Gordon Ramsay’s head!

As I’ve said, the editing was the worst, especially as the teams served up their signature dishes at the start of the first episode. A bunch of the head shots and reactions seemed out of place and repetitive. Some of the sound bites had obviously been spliced together which just made it all the more infuriating. As is also standard now, both of the challenges came down to very last entry as the winning team only just won. Do we really need the drama??

We also see some pretty serious injuries, slicing of hands, the now standard ambulance exit, a twisted ankle that belongs on one of those horrific sports injuries emails and a potential fire that brings multiple fire engines (that was VERY well covered by cameras).

The bit that gets me (just like Kitchen Nightmares) is how much the chefs love their own cooking, but will argue with Gordon Ramsay when he disagrees. When Louie argues that his sausage and gravy over biscuits is good because his diner customers enjoy it – you wonder if he understands what a Michelin star is (let alone three) and know he was never meant to win the grand prize. Similarly when one chef argues over whether or not the rice was undercooked – you question what type of people didn’t make the cut this time around.

There are two people who provide great comic relief – Chef Tennille, who was reading my mind when she mentioned being similar to Whoopi Goldberg, and Tony who loves food and own a cullinary supply store – but has no formal cooking training. Chef Heather, who won Season Two has also returned as Sous Chef for the Red Team and now frowns and yells a lot!

Chef Robert Back in the Game

Before the end of the first episode Louie was punted, setting the STAGE! for the return of former competitor Chef Robert who left the last series from the final five with pericarditis. I know an update we published here via the Fox homepage said that he was healthier and had lost weight – I thought he was bigger and more arrogant than ever. The intro to the second show then featured Chef Robert.

Chef Louie - Gone!

As usual, there about about half a dozen that you could eliminate straight away – although we know that special editing shows people only at their worst, so they may, in fact, be good cooks who dropped the ball a few times. No doubt as they get rid of the clowns, a few of the contetants will grow on me and the show may get a little better.

Gone Chef Melinda

So we are down Chef Louie and Chef Melinda, up Chef Robert and one would predict that Chef Joseph is going home at the start of the next episode – although they always like to keep a villan or two! My early pick is Chef Kevin.

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

Either way, your chance of picking the winner of Hell’s Kitchen and earning an autographed copy of Gordon Ramsay’s Great British Pub Food just got easier – get over to the forum by clicking here and enter!

Chief Plonker
The Plonker Club
The Unofficial Gordon Ramsay Fansite
www.theplonkerclub.com

With two contestants elimintaed from Hell’s Kitchen yesterday, you now have an even better chance of winning the autographed copy of Gordon Ramsay’s Great British Pub Food that the Plonker Club is offering to celebrate the new series!

With Chef Louie not even making through the first service and Chef Melinda punted at the end of it, even people not watching the show can have a guess and win! Although another contestant has now enetred the show (Robert from Season 5), we can almost bet that Joseph is on his way out – after losing it and offering to take Chef Ramsay out into the carpark (I’m guessing he failed marine training if he can’t handle that verbally assault??!!). Your odds of winning just got much better!

So get on over to the Plonker Club Forums by clicking here and guess the winner of Hell’s Kitchen Season Six – entries close in five days.

Chief Plonker
The Plonker Club
The Unofficial Gordon Ramsay Fansite
www.theplonkerclub.com

With locations in London and New York City, Gordon Ramsay’s Maze restaurant focuses on quality ingredients, imaginative flavor combinations, and simple preservations. The dishes are served in small portions, enabling patrons to savor a wide variety of tastes in one visit. This cookbook gives readers the opportunity to cook the Maze way. But it is more than a collection of the restaurant’s best recipes. The book explains how each dish would be served in the restaurant, following which additional recipes are offered using the same ingredients. Each signature dish — for example, Braised Shin of Veal with Pea Risotto and Butter-Roasted Cod with Silky Mash and Spiced Lentils — is followed by two additional recipes using the same ingredients and geared to the home cook. Covering starters, entrees, and desserts, Gordon Ramsay’s Maze shows how to make meals both artful and delicious, all highlighted by Ditte Isager’s gorgeous photographs.

The book will be released in October of this year, published by Key Porter Books – Pre order your cop now by clicking on the above links.

We’ll have more information on the specifics of the cookbook as they are released!

Chief Plonker
The Plonker Club
The Unofficial Gordon Ramsay Fansite
www.theplonkerclub.com

By now you all know that you can win an autographed Gordon Ramsay book – Great British Pub Food by simply guessing the winner of the latest Hell’s Kitchen series and entering that name into the Plonker Club Forums (click here to be taken to the entry page).

So after completing that simple task – you can now enter a competition along with Bon Appetit Magazine to win a trip to the site where the eventual Hell’s Kitchen winner will be working – Whistler in Canada. Simply head to the following page and then fill out the entry form. You will win a dining experience, wine tour, cooking lesson as well as six nights accomodation, airfares, spa treatments and much more.

Other prizes include Wine Country get away for two including airfares in San Francisco plu sweekly prizes of knife sets and cooking pots. So enter the ‘When Hell Freezes Over Sweepstakes’ and become a winner!

Chief Plonker
The Plonker Club
The Unofficial Gordon Ramsay Fansite
www.theplonkerclub.com