Dear Gordon Ramsay

Dear Gordon Ramsay (can we please be on a first name basis?),

This year I have tried cooking through 75% of your Home Cooking cookbook. This idea came from my total inspiration from watching every show you have out there and my total lack of inspiration in the kitchen.

Cumulatively, I’ve watched DAYS of Hell’s Kitchen, Kitchen Nightmares, and my all time favorite Hotel Hell, among others. Everyone I’ve ever confessed this goal of cooking through your cookbook has always talked about your foul language. While yes, you do use foul language, I feel like the more I’ve cooked your book, watched your shows, and read your instructions, the more admiration I have for you. People always judge you before they know you (isn’t that life?), but really, you have changed my life.

My Kitchen Nightmare

2019 started with me feeling totally defeated in the kitchen and my complete lack of confidence leaked out to other areas of my life. I thought I always hated cooking. Turns out, I was just ignorant. I respected you before I started this challenge, but now that I am down to the last few recipes, my respect for you is even deeper. I feel like we are like friends.

WARNING: I am a major Gordon Ramsay fan girl and I am now realizing it might be a bit embarrassing.

You will probably never read this letter or see the Instagram stories I tagged you in, but you deserve to know the difference you have made in my kitchen and family. Your dishes helped us discover some of our favorite family meals, even for picky eaters. The encouragement and tips throughout the book have kept me going through botched recipes that broke within a ceramic dish I left on a hot stove (true story). Your kind spirit, accompanied by a slew of swear words has shown me that anything (including a Michelin Star) is possible as long as I keep going and growing.

My New Recipe for Success

I don’t think I will ever achieve the culinary success you have, Gordon Ramsay, but I know that you once started like me. That encourages me to believe that even a small bit of culinary success CAN be achieved through hard work and dedication. I’ve poured both those into my cooking this year. I’ve gently mixed in the chopped humility that plucked from a handful of failed recipes. And I combined it with a glug of determination. I whisked it all together with tools I learned from you and baked it at 350 for 40-45 minutes or until golden. Let’s just say that not every page I tried in your book turned out golden. However, I always took something valuable away with each recipe and always created a good story.

Well, today is Thanksgiving in America and I am cooking some of my family’s traditional recipes. But as I have lingered in the kitchen for hours I am reminded of how thankful I am for you and your cookbook. Thank you for believing in a very amateur chef, like myself. While many of the world will only ever see you as a hot-headed, foul-mouthed, British guy, I consider you an artist. I appreciate your passion of utilizing ingredients WELL and WITHOUT WASTE. More than that, I consider you a friend.

Thank You, Gordon Ramsay.

I’ve spent hours in 2019 pouring over your book and taking notes on how to cook. Now, for one of the first times in my life, I feel so confident cooking for friends and family. I know that I have been taught to use the resources I have that make up delicious dishes. And now, there is no longer any panic in my mind when I ask myself what is for dinner. Why? Because I know that I have a whole host of quick dinners that are TRIED & TRUE.

So why write a letter? First, because I think it’s good to practice gratitude. So thank you. Thank you so much for using your valuable time to impart wisdom to people like me. Second, I needed some way to close out my challenge for 2019. I don’t know what 2020 will bring, but I’m hoping that it will be a visit to one of your world-famous restaurants to try your latest dish. I keep telling my husband it is one of my dreams.

Only admiration and gratitude and wishing you all the best,

Keri Wyman