My own private hell would, in fact, be in a kitchen. I don’t like to cook, I am not good at cooking and I really hate the mess in the kitchen when you have actually made the effort to cook. It’s like punishment for making that effort. The problem is, I have fairly sophisticated taste when it comes to food. I blame this on my mother. My mom is by far the best cook I know. Everything she makes could be served in a five-star restaurant. Even her macaroni and cheese is super-fancy with four different cheeses from around the world and finely chopped peppers and onions simmering perfectly over exactly the right level flame. I think back to growing up and I don’t know how she did it. We never had the same meal twice in a month and everything was fresh and made from scratch. And all this after working a full day at work. My mind can’t even begin to comprehend how she did it. Nor does it really want to.

I know that being a good cook is fairly simple. You have to be able to follow directions and just have some basic food and kitchen knowledge. Being a great chef is a whole different thing. Great chefs are artists, using food as a form of expression rather than such things as painting or playing music. Often times, with great artists comes great eccentric behavior and Gordon Ramsay does not disappoint. You might think it’s an act, or played up for TV with all his swearing, yelling, and just general temper tantrums, but this guy has been around on British television for years and has always been the same. What the American version of his program doesn’t show however, is the incredibly smart, funny and brilliant businessman that the original British version “Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares” portrayed. Gordon Ramsay has built a food empire, from dozens of high-end restaurants, to cookbooks and TV shows. Everything he does, he does well and his high standards are maintained throughout.

More of OCD TV’s voracious appetite for “Hell’s Kitchen” after the jump…

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