Gordon Ramsay's Ultimate Cookery Course

I heard about Gordon Ramsay's cookery course from my mum who has so far seen every episode and has ordered a copy of his book. I watched several programmes and was impressed by his down to earth approach and basic tasty recipes, and bought the book myself. Having now tried three of the recipes I have discovered that just because a dish is spicy doesn't mean that it is hot (unlike supermarket ready meals). Used correctly and in the right balance spices can add lots of flavour without heat and each recipe so far has been really tasty and the kids liked them too. The recipes are not hard if you follow them carefully and the book is also packed full of good advice on techniques, kitchen equipment, buying guides, basic recipes such as stock, home made mayonnaise, vinaigrette dressing etc. along with lots of tips. There are lots of colour pictures but sadly not of every recipe. Having previously bought Jamie Oliver's 30 minute meals and found the recipes I tried took a lot longer than 30 minutes AND were absolutely revolting, Gordon Ramsay's is much better and far more practical. The Jamie Oliver book is now en route to the charity shop where it will join lots of other copies whose previous owners have obviously done the same!

Really getting a lot of use out of this book. It's a slightly different layout compared to many other cook books. There are the standard type of chapters on meat, fish etc but also chapters on good food for less and cooking for one/two. The instructions are all step-by-step so following the recipes is easy, I like the 'how to' tips and I'm learning to not fear the really hot frying pan! I've followed about 12 of the recipes so far and there are still so many more I want to try. I have bought a few new things for the store cupboard (vinegars and smoked paprika) but Gordon tends to use things in lots of recipes so they aren't going to be sat in the cupboard going out-of-date. I can highly recommend the Chilli Beef Lettuce Wraps and the Smoky Pork Sliders. I think they'll both be new staples from now on. Overall it's a fantastic cook book full of recipes I will use. This one is definitely worth the investment if you want to vary your repertoire, learn better cooking skills and enjoy delicious food.

The paper quality isn't the best by any means, that's were woodchip wall paper goes to die is it? I do feel slightly cheated in that it has been produced to sell for a tenner - not the list price - perhaps I'm fooling myself. The book itself is very informative and has many recipes that Mr Ramsay gives clear concise instructions on how to produce them. It is a strange mix and isn't the "ultimate cookery course", but how could any book become that? The cheat's cheese souffle recipe is simple to understand, follow and make and is delicious. The layout of the book in areas means that the next recipe isn't necesarily a logical step - sirloin roast followed by Mexican food type of thing. This is because the chapters and focus of the book change, but if you read it from the start its logical. I know however that cookery books tend to be flicked through so be aware that tuna fishcakes aren't in the "fish" section for example, but where they are isn't wrong in the chapters context which is in "cooking for two". So I recommend the book to accompany the series which I enjoyed, perhaps they should consider a book with DVD "cheap" combo for these TV inspired projects?

GR used to be known for being a gobby twit, but I happen to like him and where he came from to get where he is today. His achievement only came from many long hours working in kitchens and pure hard work learning his trade and reaping the rewards for his accomplishments. Personally I don't want a library full of cookery books I want one or 2 really good ones that fits in with my life style easily. The Ultimate Cookery Course does what it says on the cover, it has easy amazing recipes that don't break the bank for the ingredients but it also gives you some great tips on the way from the best culinary utensils to cheats but without the B.S. G.R is like marmite you either loath him or love, but don't judge a book by the cover as I've had the pleasure of reading his 2 autobiographies which created a lasting impression on me. He is man who is the dogs bo*****s at his trade but also a great husband and father, you must be a very proud man!!!

This book is wonderful!!! I have made so many of the recipes so far....I cooked the stuff chicken last night (way too much stuffing for the size of the chicken, but I just put it in an oven dish and cooked it alongside the chicken for 30 minutes - delicious), the sweetcorn with chipotle butter, the chilli dogs, the fiery lamb, chilli beef lettuce wraps (blew my head off; but soooo tasty) and the slow roasted pork belly with fennel......just to mention a few!!! They have all turned out wonderfully tasty, they are all easy to make and so far no weird ingredients that you can't find or cost a fortune. I have tried many other chef cookbooks from Jamie Oliver to Gary Rhodes, via Silvena Rowe. I don't really like my Jamie Oliver book (his American one) and whilst Gary Rhodes has some great recipes a LOT of them are way too difficult for the average cook, require kitchen tools you simply don't have, techniques you don't know and ingredients you can't find!! There are only 2 other chefs that I LOVE as much as Gordon and they both have great books too!!!! Ken Hom's Complete Chinese Cookbook makes cooking chinese food so simple; until I bought it I had tried various other Chinese cookbooks and every dish I made was a failure...not now!!! And Madhur Jaffrey's Ultimate Curry Bible - a truly wonderful collection of recipes!!! Tonight we are having Bollito Misto and tomorrow night we are having Chicken and Autumn Veg pies!!!! We are eating like Kings since I bought this book........yummy!!!!

This must be Gordon Ramsay's best book so far. The book is a faithfull guide and companion to his television series of the same name on Channel 4. It is full of easy to complete recipes with easy to obtain ingredients. There is nothing worse than looking at the ingredients list and wondering where the devil you're going to buy half of them! Gordon has chosen relatively easy and tasty recipes which are terrific. It is also full of helpful hints to make life easier in general when in the kitchen. Grandma would have loved it. Some great photo's although not every meal comes with associated photographs and trying to recall the meal on the telly isn't working for me. Apart from that small let down I found this to be an excellent Gordon Ramsay addition to my bookshelves and hopefully to yours as well.

Having seen a few episodes of Gordon Ramsey's cookery course on TV (pleased to say no swearing!), I was inspired to get this book. Very nice to look at with good photos of most of the dishes. Recipes look straight forward. There are plenty of dishes which I immediately felt I would like to have a go at which is always a good sign. However as it is a cookery course and I am a novice I was expecting a bit more detail. For example I tried the Fish Pie and followed the instructions to the letter. No where in the book does it say whether a tablespoon of flour (the recipe requires four) should be heaped or level. I went for something inbetween. Even as a novice I thought it looked like an awful lot of flour and I found that when mixed in it quickly turned into a paste even after adding the stock and milk. Instead the recipe states 'boil for 5 minutes until reduced by a third', you can't do that with a paste! I had to add another 300ml of water to thin it out. Even if I had done level tablespoons I think it might be too much flour. Is the receipe wrong? However, the final result was tasty and my dinner guests loved it. I will persevere with this book but I think a cookery course aimed to 'teach you to cook' should have a little more detail for complete novices like myself.

I watched the TV series that goes with this publication and decided to take the plunge and buy the book. I'm a student, so in the past I haven't done a massive amount of cooking but this book has definitely inspired me to do more. I've made quite a few of the recipe's from the "Good food for less" and "Cooking for one or two" chapters. The book is well written, easy to follow and perfect for someone like me with little cooking experience as everything is well explained. My older brother is a much more experienced cook than me and he also likes this book and has made quite a few things from it. My favourite recipe is Spicy Sausage Rice! Easy Arancini is also a great recipe, but I quite often just eat the Risotto part without making it into Arancini.