http://www.theherald.co.uk/features/features/display.var.2502736.0.Whats_the_story_with_readymade_food.phpDoes Gordon Ramsay ever suffer moments of angst? Does he ever, in the privacy of one of those big, walk-in refrigerators, remember certain remarks and wince, wondering "gosh" (we're just imagining here), "what was I thinking"?
We can't know for sure - but if the famous perfectionist ever does, then yesterday will have been one of those days.
The multi-Michelin-starred chef and television personality was forced to defend his reputation after it was revealed that one of his restaurants and three of his gastropubs in London use some pre-prepared food which is made in a kitchen facility in Wandsworth.
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It wouldn't have been such a big deal if Ramsay wasn't on record making some characteristically pithy remarks about the importance of preparing meals from fresh ingredients, going so far as to brand it "a crime" not to.
In an interview promoting his programme The F Word on Channel 4 in 2007, Ramsay said: "Using fresh ingredients is the only way to guarantee a great taste and I can't understand how on earth people can ignore fresh food. That's where all the flavour is, all the goodness, and it's a crime not to use it."
Ahem. It turns out that Foxtrot Oscar in Chelsea, west London, uses the Wandsworth facility in south London to prepare components of dishes which are then cooked and sold at the restaurant.
"Gordon Ramsay Holdings operate a kitchen facility in Wandsworth called GR Logistics (which was purchased from Albert Roux)," said the chef's spokeswoman yesterday. "Here Gordon Ramsay chefs prepare components of dishes devised and produced to the highest Gordon Ramsay standards. These are supplied to those kitchens with limited cooking space such as Foxtrot Oscar and Gordon Ramsay's highly acclaimed pubs, including The Narrow.
"These are sealed and transported daily in refrigerated vans and all menu dishes are then cooked in the individual kitchens.
"This is only for the supply of Foxtrot Oscar and the three pubs and allows each establishment to control the consistency and the quality of the food served. GR Logistics also supply a number of other restaurants outside the group with prepared components."
The mark-ups are apparently substantial - reportedly more than 500% in one case.
It's embarrassing for Ramsay, perhaps - but hardly a crime, whatever he himself might once have said. The food hasn't been sitting in a supermarket freezer for a fortnight like a ready meal. In fact, knowing that certain of his establishments use pre-prepared food will probably come as a comfort to many. It's a relief that even brilliant cooks can't do everything from scratch in 20 minutes. Everyone loves a dinner party where the fabulous lemon mousse turns out to be Sainsbury's finest.
Delia Smith understands that. After spending years teaching us all the rudiments of competent cooking, she shocked middle Britain last year by bringing out How to Cheat at Cooking (which, incidentally, was also the name of her first book in 1971). It extolled the virtues of tinned food and frozen mash.
As jaws thudded onto terracotta-tiled floors all over the Home Counties, she clarified her position: "This is not how to cook. It's how to cook when you're busy. How to discover and use ready-prepared ingredients, how to sometimes short-circuit the accepted rules of cooking, and how, at the same time, to eat really well."
"Can one do such a thing?" anxious readers schooled in the fresh-is-best mantra wondered. Well, Nigella Lawson thinks so, too. Her 2007 book Nigella Express was all about cooking in a hurry - and, like Delia's, it had chapters about feeding the family using storecupboard staples because you'd been too busy to shop. Is it a coincidence that both are working women and "cooks" rather than chefs?
Of course, Nigella and Delia would cook most of us under the table whatever ingredients they had in front of them. Like artists who throw away the rulebook only after perfecting figurative painting, their culinary abilities are not in doubt. Neither are Gordon Ramsay's - but, in future, his views on ready-made food might be.
