Unless you recently emerged from living in a cave for 20 years, you know Gordon Ramsay. If you’re a regular visitor to Chowhound, you probably know a lot about chef Ramsay — whether that’s from his incredibly successful restaurant empire, one of his many hit television shows, his famous cookbooks, or a combination of all three. When a 17-time Michelin-starred chef like Gordon Ramsay speaks, people listen.
The Gentleman’s Journal interviewed the famous chef about his newest flagship Restaurant Gordon Ramsay High in London, and — as expected — he had plenty of interesting things to say. Perhaps what stood out to us the most was the insight that taste itself is even more important than cooking skill. “I’ll teach you how to taste first before I teach you how to cook,” Ramsay said in the interview. “Because if you don’t understand how it tastes, you shouldn’t be cooking it.”
He also notes that chefs today get so caught up with making beautiful-looking dishes, they can throw off the dish’s balance and lose sight of flavor. It’s no surprise that a chef like Ramsay emphasizes taste first and foremost because you don’t get to his level in the culinary profession without making thousands and thousands of dishes that just flat out taste good.
Taste, taste, taste
Taste is also something the chef repeats the importance of throughout almost all of his cooking shows. “Taste, taste, taste,” we’ve heard him often say to “MasterChef” contestants. The blindfolded taste test challenge is one of the most famously repeated episodes in each season of “Hell’s Kitchen” — often producing some of the show’s funniest moments.
For example, in season 1, a contestant is given a simple ingredient that should be identifiable enough — chicken. Blindfolded with perhaps a blinded palate as well, the contestant calls it “a meat tortellini with a bit of sweated onions in the background” — to which the chef responds, “it’s chicken, you twat!” (via TikTok). Another chef in season 7 mistakes an avocado for “boiled coconut” (via YouTube). Both of these egregious tasting mistakes go to show how important an accurate palate is to a successful chef.
Now, maybe it’s unrealistic to expect to have a palate and the ability to taste complex flavors like Gordon Ramsay. But Ramsay’s overall point stands — everything starts with taste. You can make the most beautiful looking beef Wellington in the world, but if it tastes like dry, bland cardboard, you’re wasting your time. Take it from chef Ramsay and don’t be a donut.
