“It was the hardest decision of my life, like getting divorced,” he said in a recent interview with Restaurant magazine.

See http://www.bighospitality.co.uk/?page=articles&ID=204528 for more details.

“Fuck him”, said Ramsay. “Hes a sniveling little shit anyway”.

(P.S. For the hard of thinking, the last comment was made up. Please don’t press charges.)

Shit, I don’t think I really appreciated just how long this project would be part of my life.That said, I have been really enjoying myself – it’s great having an excuse to get into the kitchen regularly and cook something I wouldn’t normally try. As you know, I have a lot of cookbooks, but this is the first time I’ve really become totally engrossed in one. I feel like I’m starting to know those Great British Pub Food pages like an old friend now.

This bloggers life is due for some serious upheaval over the next few weeks. My job of five years comes to an end on Tuesday, so I am having to give up my nice (but oh so expensive) flat in the heart of London’s west-end and it’s lovely, open plan kitchen (sob, sob). I’ll be moving, for a few weeks, to The Laywer’s flat in Notting Hill and then onto Spain for a year or so ( I am looking at attending grad school in Madrid ). Change of job, change of house, change of country, change of career. To be honest, I’m glad to have my cook-through project to keep me sane. It seems like the only constant in my life right now!

But, as the great man Winston Churchill said,

“To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.”

So I’m looking forward to exploring some different pubs while I’m in Notting Hill, and my new life afterwards in Madrid is a totally blank canvass. But you can be sure that, wherever I end up, there will always be some Great British Pub Food to cook. Have a great weekend!

Jon

Looking for my latest recipe attempt? Check out my Hot Chocolate Fondants.

My favourite early morning pub experience in London has to be breakfast at The Cock Tavern. As well as guaranteeing a decent supply of bacon and sausage, the Cock’s location, right underneath Smithfield meat market on the edge of the square mile, guarantees an unorthodox crowd. The 70’s time warp of a pub opens at 6am and serves hearty breakfasts and pints of Guinness to an unusual mix of end-of-shift market workers, early rising city traders and bemused tourists. Definitely one to check out if you find yourself in the capital with an early morning thirst to slake!

Whilst a “Full English” is great way to start the day, my weekend breakfasts are usually a simpler affair of toast and scrambled eggs, of which I’ve always been quite proud. That was until I stumbled across this YouTube video of Gordon showing how to make the perfect scrambled eggs – I have to admit to making everyone of the common egg scrambling mistakes he mentions in the clip. It’s a fun and easy demonstration and it’s also good to see that even Michelin starred chefs burn the toast sometimes! Check it out below.

This weekend I will try making my breakfast eggs the Gordon Ramsay way – why not give it a go yourself?

Looking for my latest recipe attempt? See my post: Gammon Steak with Pineapple and Fried Duck Egg.

 I’ve updated the recipes page with a full list of what awaits me in my Great British Pub Food challenge. Wish me luck!

And at two o’clock in the afternoon, just as I was finally falling asleep, he did…..

I am excited to finally get my hands on the book. As you may know I chose the book for this project sight unseen, so its only now that I have any idea of what I have let myself in for. First thoughts on the book – at 250 odd pages it is pretty big so it will hopefully keep me busy for quite a while. The recipes are broken down by section, e.g. “Bar Snacks”, “Pies and Savoury Tarts”,  “Weekend Roasts” etc and each section comes with lots of nice photography to help bring the dishes to life.

The recipes themselves don’t strike me as bearing overly complicated or difficult (famous last words chef…) and look to include all of the usual pub classics. Although I think one or two of the dishes you would be pushed to find on the menu down the old Dog and Duck. Who ordered the pigs liver faggots…..?

Anyway, I will read through the book over the weekend and add some more detailed thoughts. For now, all those pictures of Gordon drinking a pint are making me thirsty – time for this blogger to head down the pub and ponder what awaits him in “cook through” land.

Amazon are offering the book, which officially goes on sale from this coming Thursday, for just £10-99 with free delivery. This compares with the full list price of twenty quid, so it seem like a pretty good deal to me. I expect amazon are hoping to shift a boat load at this price!

Here is the amazon description of the book which gives a sneak preview of some of the recipes I’ll be having a crack at. Sounds pretty good huh?

Amazon Product Description
In his outstanding new cookbook, Gordon Ramsay teams up with Mark Sargeant to showcase the best of British cooking. Packed full of sumptuous and hearty traditional recipes, Gordon Ramsay’s Great British Pub Food is perfect for relaxed, homely and comforting cooking. Pubs were once a place where you could always guarantee good, simple, cheap food and a great Sunday roast, but when the steak houses and fast food chains arrived the good home cooking from the pub kitchens was replaced with tasteless, defrosted meals. Then came the gastropubs, which weren’t much better, serving mediocre food at restaurant prices. That’s why when Gordon Ramsay and Mark Sargeant set up the Gordon Ramsay pubs in London they wanted to produce the sort of simple but delicious British classics that warm the cockles of your heart and to serve them at affordable pub prices. Dishes like rich, hearty Chicken and Smoked Bacon Pie, mouth-watering Gloucestershire Sausages with Grainy Mustard Mash and Red Onion Marmalade and indulgent Treacle Tart – classics that have stood the test of time. Now Gordon has gathered his favourite British recipes into one sumptuous collection so you can invite your friends round, serve some good, English ale and cook the best in traditional pub food classics in your own home.