Gordon Ramsay Grilled Cheese

[Carborendum]

In the midst of the COVID shutdown, Gordon Ramsay decided to make a "gourmet" grilled cheese sandwich.

You can see it here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8E4cQHejFq0

Apparently, it was heavily panned at the time.  (Even gods bleed).

Why am I commenting on this?  Because he added freakin' Kim Chee to a DAIRY PRODUCT.  Who on earth does this?!?!  Oh, Gordon Ramsay, that's who.  NOOOOOO!!!  He's a master chef with accolades up the wazoo.  And I had always listened to his advice about cooking*.  But seriously!?!

Let me tell you something about Asian cuisine.  With very rare exceptions** Asians don't have dairy in their diet.  Why?  Because 90% of us are lactose intolerant.

My second beef is the type of cheeses he used.  Try varying the cheeses you may like, sure.  But who on earth actually likes asiago?  It smells worse than limburger.  The first time I ever put some into my mouth I didn't know what reaction would be more appropriate: expelling via gastric juices or expectorating it out of my mouth.  It's a freaking grilled cheese sandwich.  Just use cheddar, mozzerella, or jack cheese.  You want some spice?  Use pepper jack.  DO NOT USE KIM CHEE.

 

*Ramsay's method to guarantee easy-to-peel boiled eggs is to bring the water to a rolling boil first.  Then add the eggs.
  Another chef I know in my ward uses a different method.  Put it in cold water in the pot.  Then bring it to a simmer and let it simmer (not a rolling boil) for 15 minutes.
  I've found that both methods give you 90% or better success rate for easy-to-peel eggs.

**One exception to the dairy rule that I'm aware of is that Koreans have adopted a yogurt drink that is a desert drink with cultures to help digest the lactose.  They are super yummy.  I love them.

Edited August 19, 2022 by Carborendum

[Emmanuel Goldstein]

did you try it though?

[Vort]

19 hours ago, Carborendum said:

lactose intolerant

One of my favorite "backward phrases". I'm not lactose intolerant, but I am arsenic intolerant. Also rabies intolerant and shotgun blast intolerant.

Edited August 20, 2022 by Vort

[NeuroTypical]

Related:

 

[askandanswer]

5 hours ago, Vort said:

shotgun blast intolerant.

Is this just a theory or have you actually tested it?

[Carborendum]

On 8/20/2022 at 11:08 AM, Vort said:

One of my favorite "backward phrases". I'm not lactose intolerant, but I am arsenic intolerant. Also rabies intolerant and shotgun blast intolerant.

whatever you want to call it, you don't want to be around me at about the four hour mark after I've had some buttermilk.  I figured this out when I decided to have some buttermilk before I went to bed.  Both my wife and I woke up in the middle of the night because...  well... 

Edited August 21, 2022 by Carborendum

[Carborendum]

On 8/19/2022 at 3:39 PM, Emmanuel Goldstein said:

did you try it though?

OK.  I haven't responded yet until I had a chance to actually try it.  I did NOT, however, use asiago cheese.  I cannot tolerate it.  It literally made me want to wretch when I first tasted it.  I honestly thought I was eating spoiled food.

So, I tried cheddar and pepperjack with the following iterations:

• As in Ramsay's video -- except I used my stove rather than an open fire.  I DO NOT RECOMMEND.
• Melted with buttery toast on both sides of each piece of bread (as is normal) with kim chee.  The flavors were ok.  But the textures did not blend.  Kim chee is wet.  Cheese is greasy.  The kim chee also caused some of the cheese to not fully melt despite appearing so around the edges.  I do not endorse this idea.
• Standard grilled cheese sandwich normally cooked with kim chee on the side.  That actually worked.  As long as the kim chee was in a separate mouthful, it was fine.

Edited August 21, 2022 by Carborendum

[Just_A_Guy]

That cheese was visibly *not* melted.

IMHO, a proper grilled cheese sandwich is made with two slices of American cheese between two slices of a dense white bread coated with mayonnaise, garlic salt, and Italian seasoning.  (Butter is acceptable in lieu of mayonnaise, but the result is more bland.)

[Carborendum]

11 hours ago, Just_A_Guy said:

That cheese was visibly *not* melted.

Yeah, that was one thing that was pretty common among all the detractors of the video.  How did he not know that it was supposed to be melted?  I had to realize that the guy is British.  He probably has no idea what an "ideal" GCS is supposed to be like.

I also happened to notice the makeup of his "homemade" kim chee.  It seems like he made it with regular green cabbage instead of nappa cabbage.  That is a big no-no.  I remember about 10 years ago, Korea had some flooding that wiped out nearly all of the country's nappa cabbage (also called Chinese cabbage or Korean cabbage) crop.  People in the government said the people should use green cabbage (which was not wiped out).  Response from political commentators was "That's like telling us we can eat cake!"

Yeah, not good.

11 hours ago, Just_A_Guy said:

IMHO, a proper grilled cheese sandwich is made with two slices of American cheese between two slices of a dense white bread coated with mayonnaise, garlic salt, and Italian seasoning.  (Butter is acceptable in lieu of mayonnaise, but the result is more bland.)

I must disagree.  Butter is better.

But I remember a particular stereotype of white people having mayonnaise fixation for some reason .  My wife couldn't explain it.  She hates mayonnaise.

Edited August 21, 2022 by Carborendum

[Just_A_Guy]

4 hours ago, Carborendum said:

Yeah, that was one thing that was pretty common among all the detractors of the video.  How did he not know that it was supposed to be melted?  I had to realize that the guy is British.  He probably has no idea what an "ideal" GCS is supposed to be like.

I also happened to notice the makeup of his "homemade" kim chee.  It seems like he made it with regular green cabbage instead of nappa cabbage.  That is a big no-no.  I remember about 10 years ago, Korea had some flooding that wiped out nearly all of the country's nappa cabbage (also called Chinese cabbage or Korean cabbage) crop.  People in the government said the people should use green cabbage (which was not wiped out).  Response from political commentators was "That's like telling us we can eat cake!"

Yeah, not good.

I must disagree.  Butter is better.

But I remember a particular stereotype of white people having mayonnaise fixation for some reason .  My wife couldn't explain it.  She hates mayonnaise.

It’s funny, I grew up on grilled cheese with butter.  Tried it with Mayo for the first time in the last 5 years, and I was immediately converted.

[Emmanuel Goldstein]

On 8/20/2022 at 7:18 PM, Carborendum said:

OK.  I haven't responded yet until I had a chance to actually try it.  I did NOT, however, use asiago cheese.  I cannot tolerate it.  It literally made me want to wretch when I first tasted it.  I honestly thought I was eating spoiled food.

So, I tried cheddar and pepperjack with the following iterations:

• As in Ramsay's video -- except I used my stove rather than an open fire.  I DO NOT RECOMMEND.
• Melted with buttery toast on both sides of each piece of bread (as is normal) with kim chee.  The flavors were ok.  But the textures did not blend.  Kim chee is wet.  Cheese is greasy.  The kim chee also caused some of the cheese to not fully melt despite appearing so around the edges.  I do not endorse this idea.
• Standard grilled cheese sandwich normally cooked with kim chee on the side.  That actually worked.  As long as the kim chee was in a separate mouthful, it was fine.

seems like Gordan Ramsey has a garbage mouth taste. sounds gross, I will stick with breaded butter, fried in a pan with cheddar cheese.

[Carborendum]

9 hours ago, Emmanuel Goldstein said:

seems like Gordan Ramsey has a garbage mouth taste. sounds gross, I will stick with breaded butter, fried in a pan with cheddar cheese.

Usually, he has great taste.  But there are certain things that as a gourmet chef, he just doesn't have much practice in.

As an engineer, I can design all sorts of fantastical things.  But we had a family activity where we were supposed to build stuff out of straws and popsicle sticks.  I lost.

Edited August 23, 2022 by Carborendum