Anyone who has not heard of Gordon Ramsey must have been living a very sheltered life for the last two decades. Ramsey has established himself as one of Britain’s top chefs, and can probably lay a strong claim to being one of the best in the world. But he did not start out at the top of the profession. Let’s take a closer look at the career of this remarkable Scot.
Ramsey has always made no secret of the fact that he is very proud of his Scottish roots, and is a big fan of the famous Glasgow Rangers, as well as the Scotland national football team. But you wouldn’t think he was Scottish from the way he speaks. Although born in Johnstone, near Glasgow, in 1966, Ramsey was raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, perhaps more famous as the birthplace of William Shakespeare, which was where his family moved to when he was five years of age.
Ramsey might have been a professional football player, as he had a trial with his favourite club, Rangers, when he was 15. The trial came to nothing, though, and Ramsey also endured a very bad knee injury, something which brought his soccer career to an end. The Scot has asserted that the pain and disappointment of this drove his resolve when it came to being a top chef later in life.
He certainly has excelled when it comes to the kitchen too. After studying and beginning his career in Warwickshire, Ramsey started working in London the late 1980s. He spent two years with the notoriously temperamental Marco Pierre White, and later with Albert Roux, at London restaurants. He also worked in France, first at a ski resort in the Alps. Later, he moved to Paris to work with Guy Savoy and Joël Robuchon, both Michelin-starred chefs.
In 1993, Ramsey became a head chef, back in London at La Tante Claire in Chelsea. The restaurant was soon renamed The Aubergine, and it was where Ramsey won his first two Michelin stars. In 2001, he would become the first Scottish chef to hold three Michelin stars, after opening his own restaurant, called Restaurant Gordon Ramsey. He would go on the establish a kingdom of restaurants across the world in the following years.
That proved the springboard for a subsequent media career, with Ramsey becoming a fixture on TV screens in the 21st century. Shows like Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmares have catapulted Ramsey to genuine media stardom, and made him probably the most recognisable chef in the UK. So what is in his Masterclass course? We’ll answer that question next.