Food special part one: Gordon Ramsay's ultimate home cooking (2024)

Home-made fish fingers

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'The sort of cooking I made my name with – intricate dishes made with the world’s finest ingredients – is a
million miles from the food I cook at home' Gordon Ramsey

But enough of the theory. Let’s get on to the practice. How do you achieve all this? Hopefully plenty of the recipes in my new book will become family favourites, but before we get on to some of those, let me share some general tips to make cooking a pleasure.

BE ORGANISED
After a lifetime in kitchens, this, I realise, is the golden rule. Nine times out of ten, if something goes wrong, it’s your preparation that was at fault. Get your ingredients out, prep the vegetables, have all your pans ready and in easy reach. Not only will it make your cooking more efficient, it will also make it far less stressful. I might add that it also makes it easier to tidy up as you go along, another great skill that professional kitchens have taught me.

BE ADVENTUROUS
Great home cooking is built around the classics, but cooking the same old dishes can soon become a chore. The secret is to not let them go stale. Make sure you keep your cooking exciting by tweaking and adapting it. Over the past 20 years I’ve really noticed a big change in people’s attitudes to what they will and won’t eat. People are much more adventurous these days. They love trying new flavours, new ingredients and new cooking techniques, so take inspiration from around the world. Even classics such as ploughman’s lunch can be given the occasional makeover. It will make a great change for you and your family and give you all renewed enthusiasm.

BE BOLD
One thing cooking has to do is to stand up and be noticed. It doesn’t matter if a dish is light and delicate or full-on and gutsy, the flavours should be distinct and clear. You don’t want
wishy-washy. And that means getting the maximum from your ingredients. The two things I notice home cooks don’t use confidently enough are heat and seasoning. Get your pans properly hot before adding your ingredients and don’t be afraid to get a good colour on meat and sometimes vegetables, as this will translate into extra flavour. Similarly, season well and early on to bring out the flavour of your ingredients, tasting as you go along.

BE REALISTIC
A little ambition is a good thing, but it’s always good to know your limits. Not so much in the complexity of what you make – there’s nothing in the book that will be beyond a reasonable cook – but in terms of your menu choice. This is mainly down to good planning. Don’t make a meal that requires four dishes to be stir-fried at the last minute, or try making a frozen pudding after you get back from work for dinner that evening. Remember also that practice makes perfect.

BE RELAXED
If you worry that something will go wrong, it probably will, so try not to stress yourself out. Remember, recipes are only there as a guideline and most of the time a little bit too much of this or too little of that is not going to cause a catastrophe. Get the children or your guests involved. Have them chop or stir or lay the table and make the whole process a more social occasion. That way you’ll all have a good time – and if something does go wrong, you’ll have someone else to blame! But above all, have fun.