The F Word – Series One : Ready for More Recipes

I have great news! I was able to get Gordon Ramsay’s The F Word – Series One on DVD this week! As a result, I will be posting more delicious Gordon Ramsay Recipes from the F Word TV series! Thank you to all of the faithful visitors who’ve waited so patiently for me to begin updating this site again. I will post the first new recipe later tonight.

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Tonight as I was preparing Gordon Ramsay’s Beef Stew which was featured on the F Word a few weeks ago and I had an unfortunate mishap. Running late, and in a rush, while using a new knife lead to my incident. I’m accustomed to my Calphalon Katana Series Chef’s Knife which has quite a long handle, yet tonight I was trying out a new Forschner Santoku which I had full intention on reviewing here this evening. The Forschner has a shorter handle, as I’ve painfully learned.

As mentioned before, I was in a rush and not really paying much attention. I reached behind me to grab the knife and felt the handle. As my hand wrapped around the unfamiliar grip, I tightened my thumb flat against the blade and cut myself to the bone! Feeling a slicing sensation I haven’t felt for many years sent me into a panic. I immediately raised my hand into the air, away from the pain. It was only after lifting my hand that I realized how deeply this new knife had cut me; it actually traveled up with my hand, deeply embedded into the flesh of my thumb. “Oh F**K, I yelled as I shook the knife free of my skin!

I can’t review the knife now as it’s severely dulled from falling blade first onto my ceramic kitchen tile, but I can tell you that it was razor sharp!

What I can review is Gordon Ramsay’s Beef Stew! I quickly bandaged my hand and resumed my prep work with my trusty Katana Series knife, making the stew according to the directions here on my blog. I could not believe how easy and tasty this meal is to prepare! You absolutely must forget my knife incident and go cook some of Gordon Ramsay’s Beef Stew! If you haven’t tried it yet, you’re in for a real treat! It is absolutely fantastic and a cinch to make. Don’t forget the French Bread.

I’m probably going to need some stiches soon, so I better stop writing and take a closer look at my tightly bandaged wound. Peace out.

Knives are invaluable in the kitchen and cooking with cheap, or dull knives is unpleasant at best. In my article “My New Knives” I evaluated several brands of cutlery and explained why I purchased the Katana Series knives by Calphalon, yet I apparently left out a serious contender. Those of you on a limited budget should be very excited about the information contained in this article!

Recently I had the opportunity to speak with a local restaurant owner about kitchen cutlery and he could not lavish enough praise on Forschner Knives by Victorinox. Victorinox is the same company that makes the oh so popular, Swiss Army Knife.

I must admit that I’ve approached these knives with the utmost trepidation since they are stamped and not forged, and they’re fairly inexpensive! I’m of the old school mentality which believes all good knives must be forged. Trepidation or not, my curiosity has been growing as a result of this restaurateur’s enthusiasm and I finally decided to look into these Swiss made knives.

Review after review regarding Forschner Knives has shown them as consistent contenders against knives costing much, much more than these affordable pieces of cutlery.  Consumer reports, known for their extremely reliable and unbiased opinions rates these knives very well, as does Amazon.com!

Oh, I can’t forgot to mention that Forschner Knives bear the poncy NSF logo as well! For those of you who aren’t in the know, NSF stands for National Sanitation Foundation. Check out the quote straight from Victorinox’s website regarding NSF:

The NSF mark is a certification of quality assurance and hygienic design. The National Sanitation Foundation mark is proudly carried on all our blades with a fibrox or nylon handle and assures you of quality and assurance to use in a commercial environment. Look for this mark. Realize that most manufacturers do not carry this seal! -SA

I’m going to give these bad boys a try by purchasing the little inexpensive three knife starter kit from Amazon.com pictured below. They normally cost about $18, so I’ll be stealing them at $5.20. If you don’t already have a good set of knives, you’d be well advised to click the link and buy a set for yourself.

*edit: Amazon has sold out of these knife sets since I posted this article. The picture below shows what I purchased. You can still get a similar set at Amazon.com by clicking this link: Forschner Knives

I’ll post back and let you know how these knives work out for me after they arrive.

Admit it, you’ve suspiciously eyed those little snails in your backyard and wondered if they were the same thing being sold at the posh french restaurant down the street. If you’re a fan of Escargot, you’re in luck, because you can get it right out of your garden!

I was watching Gordon Ramsay’s F Word a few days ago and he paid his kids to get some snails out of the garden and cooked a great looking salad with them! Now before you run outside and begin greedily stuffing snails in your mouth, you should be aware that there’s a little bit of work which should be done before cooking the snails. Snails in your garden may have consumed toxins so you should purify them.

I would suggest gathering the snails right after or even during a heavy rain. Snails like to come out onto the sidewalk when it rains (they probably don’t like drowning). If you don’t anticipate rain anytime soon, you can spray the yard down with a garden hose and then wait awhile for the little guys to come crawling out. I don’t know how long it takes them to come out when it gets wet, but they are snails, so it’ll probably take a few hours.

After you’ve gathered your snails, place them in a jar with a tight fitting lid and a few holes for breathing and leave them alone for two days without feeding them. You want to make sure you don’t skip this step as it’s the detoxification process and will allow your snails to purge any toxins they’ve consumed recently. Gordon suggests putting a carrot in their jar after two days of detox and leaving them until their poo starts turning orange. I’ve also heard that you can feed them cornmeal which is supposed to make them taste good (I’m going to go with Gordon’s suggestion on this one). After they’re pooing orange, put them in an airtight jar and leave them in the fridge until they stop moving. Your snails are now ready to cook!

I’ll post a great recipe or two for Escargot and link to it soon. For now, I’m off to collect some snails since it just stopped raining (really, it did)!