[thechat] Recipe: Tom Yam Gai (Thai Hot n' Sour soup)

Martin Burns martin at easyweb.co.uk
Wed Jan 8 05:58:04 CST 2003


On Wed, 8 Jan 2003, Norman Beresford wrote:

> Hi Madhu
>
> He's in his 20's.  The mockney bit is that he worked in his dad's pub in
> Essex, the truth is that his dad ran one of the first gastropubs in rural
> Essex.

However, he also left (a pretty rough) school at 16 with no qualifications

>  Then went and

learned professional cooking properly at Westminster College (where his
Jamie's Kitchen kids did their crash course)

> worked in a few kitchens

Quite a few - you don't get to the River Cafe overnight. I should point
out that one of the kitchens was Antonio Carluccio's, which is why much of
Jamie's food is Italian-influenced.

> The Naked Chef was a big success, bascially him in a loft/warehouse
> style apartment cooking food in a laid back style (lots of handfuls,
> dipping of fingers, and utterings of mockneyisms "pukka")

Intended to very much look like cooking for friend and family.

> He really had his way paved for him by Garry Rhodes, who was the original
> 'young' cook.  He was responsible for the rebirth of 'British' cookery, ie
> lots of traditional recipies (faggots, stews, steamed puddings etc).  He
> also had spikey hair, drove a sportscar and cooked with obvious enthusiasm.

...and whose idea of a recipe for home use takes 3 days.

> And he's generally reckoned to be the best British cook around.

hmmmm - where's his Michelin stars, then?

> There's also Rick Stein (sea food),

Has a very good restaurant in Cornwall

> Hugh Fernly Wittenstall (dropping out of
> the rat race and cooking good farmhouse kitchen stuff)

which is along the lines of "If it moves, cook it". Famously once catered
for a post-birth celebration whose entree involved the placenta in
question.

> Ainsel Harriot (far too big and bouncy in my opinion)

Can't cook, doesn't cook. He's a TV presenter first and foremost.

>  Gordon Ramsey (ex-footballer, specialises in shouting, swearing, and
> threatening people).

Once threw a restaurant critic out of his restaurant for being an arse.
Now *that's* balls. Also, despite his highly renowned abuse of his staff,
when he left one restaurant, his *entire staff* (front of house and
kitchen both) went with him. He has 3 Michelin stars. Very much a chef's
chef.

Cheers
Martin
--
"Names, once they are in common use, quickly
 become mere sounds, their etymology being
 buried, like so many of the earth's marvels,
 beneath the dust of habit." - Salman Rushdie




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