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I just got three of Gordon F**KING Ramsay's cook books and they are full of exciting recipes and different things to try and cook. I looked at Jamie Oliver's and compared them to Ramsay's and I have to say that Gordon is alot better and more inventive chef than Jamie. One of the books I got was Recipes From A Three Star Chef By Gordon Ramsay and it is just under $100 to buy and i got that through work. Only downside is now Mrs. Strawb's wants me to cook most of these as she says I am a better cook.

Strawb07 wrote:I just got three of Gordon F**KING Ramsay's cook books and they are full of exciting recipes and different things to try and cook. I looked at Jamie Oliver's and compared them to Ramsay's and I have to say that Gordon is alot better and more inventive chef than Jamie. One of the books I got was Recipes From A Three Star Chef By Gordon Ramsay and it is just under $100 to buy and i got that through work. Only downside is now Mrs. Strawb's wants me to cook most of these as she says I am a better cook.

Deal time - you cook, she does the washing up.

I like JO's work better than GR. Gordon's wrinkles freak me out!

Must admit although I enjoy watching the tv shows I've pretty much given up on celeb chef cook books. I usually find there's only a handful of recipes I like in them but if I did buy them then JO and GR would probably be two chefs I'd choose.

My current cookbook obsession is your very own Aussie Women's Weekly cookbooks...love 'em...got 23 so far with more on the wishlist. I've tried out more recipes from them than any other books I've had over the years...and I've had far less disasters using them too. Now my mates are collecting them as well after trying some of the recipes from mine. The other brilliant thing is that if you email them with a question...they DO answer

Regards
JAS

got an AINSLEY cookbook

cant go past the best

pity my food never comes out as good as it looks in the picture

devilsadvocate wrote:Deal time - you cook, she does the washing up.

Thats the deal in our household and it works pretty well for me ... Now if I can just con here into cleaning the Barby I'll have it made in summer

I don't cook. In fact, I'll accept my wife's assertion that I am barely house-trained.
We have a deal. I kill dragons and she cleans and cooks them.
When she is ill I can organise a basic meal, but I prefer to fetch take-away in those circumstances.

devilsadvocate wrote:Deal time - you cook, she does the washing up.

The washing up?

Or the "washing up" nudge nudge, say no more...

I have learnt to do a lot of cooking since I have been living in Japan. There are so many things that you just can't get here, or if you can find it here it is usually not done right.
In the past seven years I have learnt to bake bread, make pizza from scratch, lasagne, meat pies, pasties and cheesecake with the cookie crumb base.
Most of that comes from the internet, but I got the cheesecake recipe from a "Philadelphia" brand name cook book.
Now if I could just get a Farmer's Union Iced Coffee I'd be just about set.

I enjoy Gordons tv shows .But have you noticed how often he would lose the cooking challenge.and most times home style cooking would beat his restaurant food in the tv shows.

Mickyj wrote:I enjoy Gordons tv shows .But have you noticed how often he would lose the cooking challenge.and most times home style cooking would beat his restaurant food in the tv shows.

One of the books I got was just that home style cooking and Sunday is a day off work but a day busy in the kitchen.

The only cookbook you'll ever need!

therisingblues wrote:I have learnt to do a lot of cooking since I have been living in Japan. There are so many things that you just can't get here, or if you can find it here it is usually not done right.
In the past seven years I have learnt to bake bread, make pizza from scratch, lasagne, meat pies, pasties and cheesecake with the cookie crumb base.
Most of that comes from the internet, but I got the cheesecake recipe from a "Philadelphia" brand name cook book.
Now if I could just get a Farmer's Union Iced Coffee I'd be just about set.

I'll be in Kyushu is 3 weeks time, I'll bring you some.

Mic wrote:

therisingblues wrote:I have learnt to do a lot of cooking since I have been living in Japan. There are so many things that you just can't get here, or if you can find it here it is usually not done right.
In the past seven years I have learnt to bake bread, make pizza from scratch, lasagne, meat pies, pasties and cheesecake with the cookie crumb base.
Most of that comes from the internet, but I got the cheesecake recipe from a "Philadelphia" brand name cook book.
Now if I could just get a Farmer's Union Iced Coffee I'd be just about set.

I'll be in Kyushu is 3 weeks time, I'll bring you some.

Now that sounds like a plan!
Holidays? Work?

therisingblues wrote:

Mic wrote:

therisingblues wrote:I have learnt to do a lot of cooking since I have been living in Japan. There are so many things that you just can't get here, or if you can find it here it is usually not done right.
In the past seven years I have learnt to bake bread, make pizza from scratch, lasagne, meat pies, pasties and cheesecake with the cookie crumb base.
Most of that comes from the internet, but I got the cheesecake recipe from a "Philadelphia" brand name cook book.
Now if I could just get a Farmer's Union Iced Coffee I'd be just about set.

I'll be in Kyushu is 3 weeks time, I'll bring you some.

Now that sounds like a plan!
Holidays? Work?

Holiday (for 1 month in Japan plus a couple days in Taipei). I was actually in Fukuoka for 2 days back in late July. This time I have about 5 days in Kyushu, am thinking 2 days in Nagasaki, 1 in Kagoshima and 2 in Kumamoto. You been there?

Jamie was plucked from obscurity by the BBC because he stood out in the background of a kitchen where they were filming some other cooking show. It was his charisma that stood out and that potentially catapulted him to stardom despite his cooking potentially not being as good as other chefs who didn't have the same TV saleability.

Gordon Ramsay is highly regarded by other chefs and many attribute their own success to his teaching. To me, his recipes reflect that. They seem to have less of the bells and whistles that Jamie uses and what strikes me most is his simplicity. I reckon a great chef is one who produces the best meal from the least ingredients.

But for home cooking, as JAS said, cook books like the Woman's Weekly series are just as good for those of us that, like me, see themselves as home-chef gourmets Also, the internet is a great source of recipes as Theri said. I found a winner Calzone recipe and was able to replicate what is one of my favourite restaurant meals. Theri .. well done on teaching yourself like that it sounds like there is a budding chef over there!

Mic wrote:Holiday (for 1 month in Japan plus a couple days in Taipei). I was actually in Fukuoka for 2 days back in late July. This time I have about 5 days in Kyushu, am thinking 2 days in Nagasaki, 1 in Kagoshima and 2 in Kumamoto. You been there?

Yes, I have been to all those places a few times.
Nagasaki is interesting. The way it is all crammed inside the valley near the river. I imagine that when the A bomb went off it must have been like a big firecracker going off in the middle of an opera theater, with the hills standing in place of the balconies and raised audience section. A real shame they had to bomb it though, out of all Japanese cities it was the one most influenced by European culture, as reflected in the surviving buildings; a real change from the prefab stuff they whack up in a couple of months everywhere else.
Kagoshima is a great place. My favourites are Ibusuki, Sakura-jima and Yaku-shima, as well as the mountains and countryside.
Kumamoto is also mainly mountains and countryside. Aso-san is good, and Kumamoto castle is one of the best in Japan.
My place is closer to Kita-Kyushu city. I used to go to Fukuoka City for all night binges when I first got here, but trips to the big smoke are much rarer these days.
I also went to Taipei for a couple of days once. Love Chinese food.
Sounds as though you do a bit of travelling in the region. Do you have contacts over here?

hondo71 wrote: I found a winner Calzone recipe and was able to replicate what is one of my favourite restaurant meals. Theri .. well done on teaching yourself like that it sounds like there is a budding chef over there!

Thanks Hondo. I try to get things to taste as they do back in Oz. My greatest challenge recently is replicating the flaky Balfours pastry for pies and pasties. I managed pretty well by using a mix of lard and butter, but the lard tastes different to the Balfours style. If anyone out there knows how they do it I'd be very grateful.
You don't have a link to that Calzone recipe do you Hondo?

therisingblues wrote:

Mic wrote:Holiday (for 1 month in Japan plus a couple days in Taipei). I was actually in Fukuoka for 2 days back in late July. This time I have about 5 days in Kyushu, am thinking 2 days in Nagasaki, 1 in Kagoshima and 2 in Kumamoto. You been there?

Yes, I have been to all those places a few times.
Nagasaki is interesting. The way it is all crammed inside the valley near the river. I imagine that when the A bomb went off it must have been like a big firecracker going off in the middle of an opera theater, with the hills standing in place of the balconies and raised audience section. A real shame they had to bomb it though, out of all Japanese cities it was the one most influenced by European culture, as reflected in the surviving buildings; a real change from the prefab stuff they whack up in a couple of months everywhere else.
Kagoshima is a great place. My favourites are Ibusuki, Sakura-jima and Yaku-shima, as well as the mountains and countryside.
Kumamoto is also mainly mountains and countryside. Aso-san is good, and Kumamoto castle is one of the best in Japan.
My place is closer to Kita-Kyushu city. I used to go to Fukuoka City for all night binges when I first got here, but trips to the big smoke are much rarer these days.
I also went to Taipei for a couple of days once. Love Chinese food.
Sounds as though you do a bit of travelling in the region. Do you have contacts over here?

Nah, just have the year off from work so I'm blowing all my cash travelling overseas (it's almost gone, and the Aussie dollar won't help).
Don't know if I'll get to Sakurajima, will probably just get some good shots of it from Kagoshima.
Am hoping to get to Mt Aso from Kumamoto if I can work out how to get there.
I found Fukuoka pretty flash and very modern.
Chinese food is great, so is Japanese.

Sakurajima is pretty easy to get to, there's a ferry that leaves Kagoshima City. I reckon there's a bus stop on the other side but have no idea about the service as we drove when we went there. There is a Youth Hostel pretty close to where the ferry docks on Sakurajima, so you could make those Aussie dollars stretch a bit further.
According to my "Lonely Planet Guide", you should be able to catch a bus from JR Aso station to the cable cars, which will take you straight to the Aso-san's crater. Aso station is on the JR Hohi line which connects Kumamoto City with Beppu City. I lived in Beppu for three years and for one of those I had to catch this train every month for meetings in Kumamoto City.
Whenever we have gone to the volcano's crater we have always driven so I am unsure exactly how the bus and cable car bits work. Sometimes when we have arrived the crater has been closed due to toxic gas.
What other parts of Japan will you visit?

JAS wrote:Must admit although I enjoy watching the tv shows I've pretty much given up on celeb chef cook books. I usually find there's only a handful of recipes I like in them but if I did buy them then JO and GR would probably be two chefs I'd choose.

My current cookbook obsession is your very own Aussie Women's Weekly cookbooks...love 'em...got 23 so far with more on the wishlist. I've tried out more recipes from them than any other books I've had over the years...and I've had far less disasters using them too. Now my mates are collecting them as well after trying some of the recipes from mine. The other brilliant thing is that if you email them with a question...they DO answer

Regards
JAS

We have a AWW cook books too JAS. Mrs JTC uses them all the time. Great straight forward food.