I’ve been trying to focus on the best aspects of human nature that have been revealed by the stresses and heroics some folks have gone to, to survive the COVID-19 experience. But for every success, there’s pretty much got to be a counterbalancing failure (see: Newton’s Third Law of Culinary innovation)…
Ramsay on Tik Tok: Steak macerated with butter. The one that haunts his dreams…
True to his nature and reputation, Super Chef Gordon Ramsay has been calling out folks who fancy themselves culinary influencers for their worst and most disgusting ideas as seen on social media channels such as You Tube, Tik Tok and wherever. Unless you are a diehard Ramsay fan (i.e.- menu-bashing sado-masochist), you’ve probably fallen behind as his posts on his own internet media outlets have increased this past fall.
Time to catch up!
I first became aware that Mad Man Ramsay was working overtime, critiquing Tik Tok Chefs’ efforts as the festive season approaches, when one of his critiques went viral.
He actually targeted a post by a hotel-based self-isolator who had been posting recipes and new cooking techniques involving a unique self-imposed challenge: making meals using only objects found in her hotel room. Her procedure for grilling a steak on a flat iron one would usually use to press one’s shirts went viral across several online media, and Ramsay praised it as creative. I want to know if the iron could ever be used for anything else again after the stunt.
Recently, his post about another would-be isolator infuerncer made his hit list for opposite reasons. Somebody suggested cooking a beautiful Ribeye Steak in a toaster. No, really. And I’m sure the toaster was unfit for anything but steak grilling thereafter.
Ramsay told PEOPLE Magazine that, for every ‘genius’ lock down cook he’s seen, there’s another who is among the worst: “There’s an exciting plethora of young talents on Tik Tok that are super, super talented… and then you cut to some really bad crap,” he said. “People are putting rib-eye steaks in toasters! They’re doing the most ridiculous things with ice coffees! It’s crazy.”
The worst he’s seen?
“The one that I have nightmares every time I close my eyes is the guy that bought a rib-eye steak and he macerated it with something like four pounds of butter. It turned this thing into one of the greasiest, most disgusting steaks I’ve ever seen,” Ramsay shared.
But another post probably generated more viral traffic consisting of enraged cooks’ reactions than the post itself: A poster made a Tik Tok video about how to rinse cooked ground beef to get the grease off of it!
First, in culinary school, we learned that ‘fat is flavour’. Drain the excess, but never rinse cooking fat and juices off of foods to ensure you don’t lose all that great flavour! There’s another really good reason not to rinse. You’ll almost certainly do it directly over the sink drain, which is the easiest way to create a drain clog of the most stubborn kind.
The poster argued that she’d first heard of rinsing as a way of banishing unwanted unhealthy stuff from naturally greasy foods. But we know all it does is make the meat dry and cardboardy.
And If I read one more post about the best way to drain and rinse pasta, I’ll go completely bonkers. Ask any Italian mama and she’ll tell you to never rinse pasta. The starch helps thicken and the sauce, and helps it stick to the noodles. Most even say to retain some of the starchy water to help thicken the sauce. That tip is just about the oldest ‘chef secret’ in the Italian culinary arsenal…
A family affair…
Ramsay also tried to juice up your lock down experience by posting ten videos about cooking with his own daughter, Tilly’s, cooking. First, there was a ”turnabout is fair play’ gambit which showed him satirizing a demo she’d done for him about one of her fave recipes. Aside from a little totally unnecessary cross-dressing, that one was fairly amusing. But subsequent installments have just gotten sillier and less good-natured. At least, they seem so to me. Or, maybe it’s just my patience and tolerance for silliness that are suffering.
Big-chain novelty foods
The so-called novelty food offerings of even the biggest, most respected Fast Food chains are getting too close for my comfort to the boundary between the ridiculous and the sublime.
I’ve covered a few really ‘out-there’ ideas that even the biggest (and usually most respected) Fast Food chains have floated in the past 45 days or so. I refer to the Burger which included a hash brown patty meant to serve as a gravy reservoir. Can’t think of anything messier to eat! Ever! And then, there was a pizza covered with turkey stuffing and drenched in gravy, in homage to the Yuletide’s most most popular festive main.
Everything you could possibly conceive of – and lots of stuff you probably wouldn’t – is being offered in Advent Calendars this year. Even cat food? I heard someone ask. Probably, but I just haven’t seen it yet. If I was a serious, practicing Christian believer. I’d be insulted by the marketing sector abuse that the old, traditional Advent Calendar has had to endure over the past decade or so.
My take
Enough of this nonsense! I’d love Ramsay and others, who’ve been wasting their time, reputations and skills on all the nonsense, turn their millions of followers to some better use. How about sharing their secrets about how to make the old standard favourites more interesting and tastier? Your Mac and Cheese creamier? Your Scalloped Potatoes more fool-proof? How about polling their social media followers about their lock down meals and addressing their questions and frustrations?
People in high places have all been pontificating about how ‘we’re all in this together’. Let’s start concentrating on making that work!
~ Maggie J.