Roasting in Hell's Kitchen: Temper Tantrums, F Words, and the Pursuit of Perfection [Paperback]

Gordon Ramsay (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 13, 2007

Everyone thinks they know the real Gordon Ramsay: rude, loud, pathologically driven, stubborn as hell.

Now, for the first time, the world's most famous—and infamous—chef tells the inside story of his life: his difficult childhood, his father's alcoholism and violence, his brother's heroin addiction, his short-circuited soccer career, and his fanatical pursuit of gastronomic perfection—everything that helped mold him into the culinary talent and media powerhouse that he is today. He also dishes the dirt on the rich and famous, and takes you behind the scenes of some of the great restaurants.

Honest, outrageous, and intensely personal, Roasting in Hell's Kitchen will not only change your perception of Gordon Ramsay but that of the cutthroat world of haute cuisine as well.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Gordon Ramsay's Humble Pie -- so exuberantly angry boastful, cliche-ridden, expletive-laden and touchingly sincere that I can't believe that a single sentence has been written by anyone but the failed footballer, great cook, telly star and businessman himself. He's the genuine bollocks, as he's so fond of saying, and this is the tale of his personal class struggle.' -- The Observer 'Inspirational stuff.' Heat 'I cannot recommend strongly enough that every BII member reads it. It's so refreshing and energising -- and oddly the fact that every fifth word begins with 'F' adds to its charm, its passion and its delight!The book is an inspiration. Anybody running any kind of business will benefit from reading this.' BII Business magazine --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Gordon Ramsay's radical career change at seventeen, from soccer player to chef, led to the awakening of exceptional talent. He is now the holder of an extraordinary ten Michelin stars, for his restaurants in London and New York, and is at the head of a food empire, with restaurants in places as far afield as Tokyo and Prague. He has produced a number of bestselling cookbooks, published a hugely successful autobiography, Roasting in Hell's Kitchen, and starred in a stream of successful television series, including the award-winning Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares and Hell's Kitchen on Fox. Ramsay and his wife have four children and live in England.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (March 13, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061191981
• ISBN-13: 978-0061191985
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (74 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #56,593 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

101 of 105 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Honest voice, December 13, 2006

By 

Antonio P. Manahan "Tonico Manahan" (Makati, Philippines) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Roasting in Hell's Kitchen: Temper Tantrums, F Words, and the Pursuit of Perfection (Hardcover)

This is quite a pageturner. My wife and I rarely finish the same book within the same day. We live an era of ghost written celebrity biographies written with boring pedantic voices. I have no illusions that Ramsay wrote this book without assistance (whether an editor or overzealous assistant)but the book certainly captures his voice. The result is an honest unapologetic narrative of the life of a remarkable man. There are lessons to be learned, hard work as the solution for overcoming adversity. Readers of food porn may be dissapointed in that the book is less about the food than the man behind the food. Fans of Ramsay will be delighted because of the insight into the method behind his madness.

50 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars New intensity..............., February 5, 2007

By 

Patricia Carter "king" (Portland, Maine) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Roasting in Hell's Kitchen: Temper Tantrums, F Words, and the Pursuit of Perfection (Hardcover)

Imagine if every person on earth put the same level of passion, intensity and energy into their jobs as Gordon does to his. Imagine a world where half-a%# workmanship and pathetic laziness was unaccepptable, as it is in Ramsay's kitchens. Just imagine.......
An amazing book was this. I wished it could have gone on and on. The real story behind a driven man whose ethics of perfection can be easily applied to every work situation in the world, regardless of occupation. Challenge yourself to accept Ramsay's standards of excellence. If being the best was easy, everyone would be great. This book shows why Gordon Ramsay is the very best chef in the world.....

68 of 76 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gordon needs a hug.., December 29, 2006

By 

R. McCarthy - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Roasting in Hell's Kitchen: Temper Tantrums, F Words, and the Pursuit of Perfection (Hardcover)

I've been a massive Gordon Ramsay fan since the first time I glimpsed him on BBC America, then came Hell's Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares to feed my obsession. I purchased two of his cookbooks for my friend for Christmas and as we were exchanging gifts it turned out that she had done the same. Secretly I purchased Roasting in Hell's Kitchen all for myself and read it cover to cover the day after Christmas.

Having just finished watching the first run of the F-Word on BBC America (because everything comes over here a year late at least from the BBC) I was expecting lots of dish on his television ventures and his rise to culinary stardom. This book completely surprised and enthralled me. If there was a ghost writer for this book I'd be gobsmacked, as the writing style is completely in keeping with the way Gordon talks about things in his cook books and on his television shows, no holds are barred and no f-word gets left behind. It is a rare auto-biography that is penned so true to it's author's voice and raw with authenticity.

I had no idea that this brash, confident, gorgeous man in the kitchen who is so engaging and fun has had so much to overcome and in such a short amount of time. One might think that reading 300 pages of heartbreak, abuse and grueling work (nothing short of a Dickensian tale) would change the way I look at a person, and truthfully it has. I'm even more impressed and amazed by Gordon Ramsay now than ever.

His story is one that took immense amounts of bravery and bullocks to tell, and he has done so in a way that is astoundingly heartfelt and never hopeless. Gordon's incredibly recent bout with success is well deserved and I hope it lasts long enough to provide material for additional updates on his fascinating life.