Restaurant Gordon Ramsay

Chef's Diary

In the kitchen we are constantly creating, testing and tasting new dishes. Some of them work and make it as far as the menu whilst others fail. We are always inspired by nature and the changing of the seasons. At the moment we have black truffles (tuber Melanosporun). The best ones come from the Perigord region of France. They are much more versatile than the white truffle and lend their robust flavour to many other ingredients. We also have the lesser known Bianchetto Spring truffles from Tuscany which have arrived earlier than usual this year. The small white truffles have a strong minty, garlicky flavour and are fantastic shaved raw on salads and pasta. My mind is already drifting, thinking of the arrival of spring produce, the flavour combinations and new dishes.

As a Chef I find that a good understanding of the history of food and cooking is very important. Even going back as far as Roman times helps us to understand the origin of ingredients, how our culture developed and why we eat the way we do in Britain today. This gives us a solid platform on which we can begin to build new creations.

As a young chef I steeped myself in the history of cuisine. I read a great deal about Grande Chefs throughout history, in fact it was this that spurred me on to work in the finest kitchens. Even today, just by flicking through a book like ‘La Guide Culinare’ by Auguste Escoffier there are so many dishes that leap out and make me hungry from reading the recipe. Put simply it is because some ingredients just go together and it doesn’t get any better than that, despite it being over one hundred years in culinary evolution since such books were written.

Today of course we have much more at our disposal, such as technology. There have been many more great chefs since Escoffier who have been instrumental in developing the style in which we eat and the way kitchens and restaurants are managed today.

Escoffier was a gastronomic mastermind and was seen by many as the ‘Emperor of Chefs’. He introduced the ‘Brigade de cuisine’ system, structuring the kitchen in a military fashion. This brought discipline which inadvertently led to a greater respect for the profession. Escoffier established an ‘army of chefs’ at the Savoy Hotel here in London and his system is the same that we use in kitchens today. The Savoy will be back to its former glory when it reopens later this year under the Gordon Ramsay umbrella, with Chef Stuart Gilles at the helm. As with our predecessors we have taken the culinary knowledge passed on through generation and hopefully we can all continue with its evolution.

Chef's Diary will be updated on a regular basis by the Restaurant Gordon Ramsay Head Chef Clare Smyth.

For more information on Master classses with Clare please click here.

To view the November 2009 Chef's diary entry please click here.

To view the October 2009 Chef's diary entry please click here.

To view the August 2009 Chef's diary entry please click here.

To view the July 2009 Chef's diary entry please click here.