It's the Cookalong with Gordon at 9pm on Channel 4 tonight, and we hope you're as excited about it as we are. We want to hear all your stories from the night - what went wrong, and what went right, and how much of a state your kitchen was in afterwards! We'd also love to see your photos, which you can post on our 4Food Flickr group and, of course, hope that you'll be following our Cookalong guinea pig's minute by minute diary of the event itself.
Went very well but needed my hubby as sous chef to washup as we don't have that many pans.
A tip I would recommend is to line the tea towel with greaseproof paper - that way you don't lose any crunchie when bashing it up for the pud. Flat-leaf parsley was an excellent substitute for the coriander in the salsa (tastes of sweaty socks to me!). One error I noticed was Gorden cooked the steak with olive oil whereas the recipe said to use groundnut oil?
Brilliant - just brilliant. Sorry Gordon or is that Graham Ramsey, but I will and I promise I'll cook along next week. No tuna as allergic to fresh tuna... can't help it.
The programme was totally spoilt by self indulgent camera direction.Fast out of focus wobbly shots are neither trendy or arty - just bad! We were trying to follow what Gordon was doing - its a shame that your director didn't give the audience a second thought.
The meal was excellent and was enjoyed by all. The timings were good and I was able to enjoy each course with my guests. I would cook everything again, although I would serve the mousse chilled next time. The only real down side was the awful camera footage. It made it impossible to follow what Gordon was doing and cook at the same time. My guests were shouting a lot of instructions!! Tip for Carol-Ann - put your crunchie in a plastic bag- no mess and no wastage. Also, our scallops from 'Iona Shell' in Fife were amazing!!!
What could have been an enjoyable programme was spoilt by the camera directions. Camera movements were too fast. A little more emphasis on the food preparation and cooking and less flitting about would have been helpful.
Oh dear! I tuned in, with great expectations, to enjoy what I thought would be a serious programme about proper cooking. How wrong I was. It was slapstick. With a real naked chef. How revolting. Shame on you Gordon for putting your name to this shabby presentation. On the cooking side, the scallops (Gordon's) looked overcooked. After frying, the steaks were set aside uncovered for 9 minutes. Is it "Michelin" to eat them cold? And where was the chocolate kept long after it was melted? I cannot begin to express my disappointment.
Well it was very fast and sometimes I couldnt keep up (Im new at cooking,normally just stick ready made meals in the microwave), but I had sky + and so I could rewind it if I got stuck!
I dont think I did to badly, and my hubby seemed to like it as his plate was almost empty!
I have added my pictures to your flickr group so please feel free to comment!
I am going to save this recording and try it again in a couple of weeks, to see if I can improve on my cooking!
But I had loads of fun and would totally do it again in the future, if channel 4 decided to do it again.....although maybe a bit slower next time
I was very disappointed with the whole thing. I agree with the previous guy who commented on the naked chef. why do we need this on a cookery program? Also the interviews with celebrities - why do we need to know how many people Max has slept with? And fingering!?? Totally uncalled for! This is the sort of program that the whole family could get involved in and sexual references make it uncomfortable viewing. I know that with Ramsey you do expect bad language and that somehow has become acceptable but it seems now that anything goes. So i totally agree with the previous entry. Shame on Gordon Ramsey for presenting such tripe and shame on Channel 4 for ruining what could have been an innovative and fun experience.
We were well prepared as our local seafood supplier in Boston had reserved a kilo of finest frozen king scallops (big letdown) much prefer the fresh ones from Billingsgate (is it still in business?) our local butcher was also on the case but we opted for fillets and rib eyes!! also addes a dozen tiger prawns to the starter, unfortunately we dont eat as fast as your other veiwers appeared too, I mean would you expect to eat three courses in a top 3 star gaff in an hour ??? I think not.. maybe a 90 minute prog next time.. we were still eating the steak when G tore into the chocolate pud bit and we ruined it completely but in all we got absolutely plastered and finished up finishing a couple of bottles of wine in the hot tub... great idea and it might be great to cook for a few guests but if you also want to eat along... nahhh...
I was watching but wasn't cooking. I recorded it with the intention of cooking it another time -which I'm glad about because there was NO chance of keeping up! and what was going on with the camera work?! Not sure how anyone cooking at home had a clue what was going on!! Why couldn't the programme have been on for longer so Gordon could have gone slower!!?
Originally posted by carol-ann: Went very well but needed my hubby as sous chef to washup as we don't have that many pans.
A tip I would recommend is to line the tea towel with greaseproof paper - that way you don't lose any crunchie when bashing it up for the pud. Flat-leaf parsley was an excellent substitute for the coriander in the salsa (tastes of sweaty socks to me!). One error I noticed was Gorden cooked the steak with olive oil whereas the recipe said to use groundnut oil?
No he did use groundnut he said NOT to use olive oil as he poured it in!
Great evening and break neck speed but with my finance and a copy of each recipe with instructions (to refer to in the kitchen) we managed it - food was fantastic and we learnt a lot. Hope Gordon does a few more - will be more prepared next time.
Originally posted by Dianeg: I was very disappointed with the whole thing. I agree with the previous guy who commented on the naked chef. why do we need this on a cookery program? Also the interviews with celebrities - why do we need to know how many people Max has slept with? And fingering!?? Totally uncalled for! This is the sort of program that the whole family could get involved in and sexual references make it uncomfortable viewing. I know that with Ramsey you do expect bad language and that somehow has become acceptable but it seems now that anything goes. So i totally agree with the previous entry. Shame on Gordon Ramsey for presenting such tripe and shame on Channel 4 for ruining what could have been an innovative and fun experience.
I completely agree. I was very disappointed. What should have been a really interesting show was sexed up for who knows what reason. I think this show would have been much better had it been produced for the BBC. I would expect that most of channel 4's key demographic were at the pub anyway. Maybe next time they do it it will be more about the cooking.
I think 9pm is a weird time to have a cookalong anyway.
Would have preferred it if it had been more family friendly.
ehm.... like most everyone else said... thought I'd enjoy, but felt sick even before dinner as the mixture of Gordon's upwards bouncing + cameraman overcompensating horizontal shakes soon reminded me of my first channel crossing in rough weather on the seacat...
Loved the programme though it took me and my husband to follow it one would listen while other would do, and thank goodness for sky + I ran into the living room a couple of times to rewind and listen to what he said!!! We enjoyed cooking togather and had really good night. Please do this again I think as people get used to the format the better we'd become at following it!! Enjoyed the meal I learnt a lot more actually doing it at the same time rather than just watching a cooking programme will definately cook this again Thank You Gordon xxxxx
Been having real computer problems, have posted several times but keep on getting an internal server error, well here goes again. It was very very fast, without my son to help and my hubby washing up we would not have been able to complete. The starter was great, loved the salsa. The scallops may have looked overcooked on screen but they were just how Gordon wanted the, caramelised. Ours were delicious. The main was great but I wished that I had pre-boiled the potatoes before the show giving me more time. Found it hard to hear all the instructions and I too had my son and hubby shouting instructions to me that I had missed. We were all cleared up by 22.30 and sat with a brandy in the front room. The dessert could have done with a little more time chilling, the extra tasted much better after an hour in the fridge, I would have liked more time to sit and enjoy but it really did prove the point that you can do good food fast. Had a lot of fun, shame about the naked chef, didn't really see the point. Would I do it again? You bet, but give us more time next time to sit and eat and digest. Thanks. BTW Justine P, Have tried to mail a thanks for the wine suggestion but without success.
"Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain - and most fools do" Benjamin Franklin "Some cause happiness wherever they go - others whenever they go" Oscar Wilde
I didnt cookalong, as i knew as soon as i heard about it that i would never be able to cook and eat inside of an hour! Im not a particularly slow eater but thats pushing it, for me cooking is about having fun and enjoying the food and i cant do that if i feel rushed. I watched the show and reckon i can do it without having to watch simultaneously, as i plan to some other time, but i recorded it just in case.
Really enjoyed watching it, i did notice the camera techniques but it didnt bother me too much...just thought it added to the exciting atmosphere of the show. I did expect them to show more of people cooking at home, the show was definitely too rushed and they tried to cram alot in.
As for the comments about the content being 'sexed up', i guess thats true but i also expected it, and found it entertaining although i can see that its not to everyones taste. I think some people are still able to respect Gordon despite his swearing because he is clearly so good at what he does, however the sexual references do lower the tone somewhat. Even though i found myself laughing out loud, im sure they could have found other stuff to talk about that would have come across just as funny as well as being cleaner
Enjoyed immensely. Delighted to see Eriskay and Barra on the map(we know Eriskay, our family is family from South Uist). Only sad thing was that the time ran out, we wanted the feedback on the chocolate mousse. So Gordon, when is the next show, and would you like to film it live from our house? -we would love it, All your family welcome!!! Much love 'Fluffy' South Edinburgh.xx PS Fluffy is out Persion cat.
Enjoyed the whole experience immensely - the food,was fantastic, the fast pace kept the adrenalin going. However, our kitchen was like world war 3 at 10pm! We used every bowl and pan we possessed!
What a fantastic way to spend an evening with special friends. I haven't had such fun and laughter for a long time. My husband and I invited 2 of our very oldest friends to join in the experience, as we knew they would muck and accept the consequences if it all went wrong! Well apart from my husband chopping into his finger along with the potato wedges and a bottle of wine falling off the top of the fridge and onto my head as I opened the fridge door everything went more or less according to plan UNTIL!!!! Unfortunately, we had got a little bit behind but managed to keep going via the TV and the recipe I had printed off from the website so it was about 10.30 when I asked my husband to break up the crunchies that I had wrapped in a clean tea towel. My friend,Maureen,(after 2 large vodka and tonic appertifs, white wine with the starter, 2x glasses of red wine with the steaks and raring and ready to go with the dessert wine) grabbed the first available tea towel. Unfortunately it was the one with the broken crunchies in, and of course it went everywhere, on the woktop, all over the floor and even down Maureen's pop-socks. And so, after wetting our knickers, rolling around the kitchen with laughter and generally having lost complete control of ourselves, we managed to retrieve most of the bits, put them into the mousse and it was bloody delicious. Really hope that another cookalong is in the pipeline for the not too distant future as we shall be first in the queue and raring to go. Great show, superb entertainment and fabulous food. Thank you to all concerned at Channel 4 especially Gordon Ramsey, From, Blackpool fans, Bob, Penny, Maureen and Ernie. XXXX
