Known for his fiery temper, Gordon Ramsay is one of the world’s most famous chefs.
He has appeared on television shows since the late 1990s and has built a road to fame all around the globe.
Here are 20 appetizing facts about Gordon Ramsay that you should know.
Gordon Ramsay was born in Scotland but raised in England.
Gordon Ramsay is 56 years old. He was born on November 8, 1966, in Johnstone, Scotland.
His family moved to Stratford-upon-Avon, England, when he was nine years old, which is where he was brought up.
Ramsay started as a pot washer.
His first job was as a pot washer in an Indian restaurant located near where he grew up.
This was his first look into the culinary world, although this was more of a means to an end for him.
He wanted to be a football player (English football) until he had a knee injury when he was 12, which turned his career back to the catering world.
His culinary career started at age 19.
After his football dreams were no longer a reality, Ramsay enrolled in a Hotel Management course when he was 19 years old.
In the mid-1980s, he secured his first job as a commis chef in Wroxton House Hotel in Banbury, England.
He then became head of a kitchen at the Wickham Arms in Sibford Gower, Oxfordshire, England.
Ramsay was caught having intimate relations with the owner’s wife, so he left for London.
Ramsay worked in top restaurants in London.
In 1987 Ramsay moved to London to push his career in the hospitality industry and started working for Marco Pierre White in his award-winning restaurant Harveys.
Ramsay worked with White for nearly three years before leaving to work with French chef Albert Roux in his restaurant Le Gavroche in Mayfair, London.
Ramsay’s mentor was French chef Guy Savoy.
Albert Roux invited Ramsay to work with him as his second man at a ski resort in the Alps in France at the restaurant of Hotel Diva.
After this introduction to working in France at age 23, Ramsay moved to Paris to work with Guy Savoy, a Michelin star chef.
Ramsay continued his training in France for three years.
In Ramsay’s television series Master Chef, he states that Guy Savoy was his mentor.
He worked on a Yacht in Bermuda.
Whilst taking a much-needed break from the hospitality industry, Ramsay took on a more relaxed role as a personal chef in Bermuda.
He spent one year working on the private yacht called Idlewild and traveled with the crew to Sicily, Sardinia, and Italy.
This was his first introduction to learning about Italian cuisine.
Ramsay’s first restaurant opened in 1998.
At the age of 31, Gordon Ramsay opened his very first restaurant in Chelsea, London.
It is called “Restaurant Gordon Ramsay” and can seat up to 45 guests and serves French cuisine.
The restaurant already gained 3 Michelin stars by 2001.
In 2007 Ramsay employed Clare Smyth MBE as Chef de Cuisine, leading the whole team.
At the time, she was the only female chef in the UK to hold 3 Michelin stars under her name.
Ramsay’s rise to fame was through the television show Boiling Point.
In 1998 the British television show Boiling Point followed Ramsay’s opening of his first restaurant in Chelsea, London.
He caught the nation’s attention, not only through his entraining character but with his culinary skill and hard work.
He has won three Catey Awards.
The Catey Awards are a hospitality industry award appearing since 1984. They’re the hospitality industry equivalent to the Oscars.
Ramsay won his first Catey Award in 1995 for Newcomer of the Year, and his second was for Chef of the Year in 2000.
In July 2006, Ramsay won his third Catey Award for Independent Restaurateur of the Year.
He is one of only two people to have ever received three Catey Awards.
Ramsay is a charitable man.
From 2004 he became an Honorary Patron of the Scottish Spina Bifida Association.
He was inspired by a sufferer of Spina Bifida and raised money through charity dinners and running marathons.
He has raised over £1,000,000 for the charity.
In 2006 he was appointed OBE.
OBE stands for Officer of the Order of the British Empire, and it is an award given by the Queen.
Queen Elizabeth II awarded Ramsay with an OBE by adding him to the honors list for his contribution to the hospitality world.
Ramsay almost missed the ceremony as his flight was delayed.
Ramsay has a restaurant called Plane Food at Heathrow Airport.
In 2008 Ramsay set up a one-off airport restaurant called Gordon Ramsay Plane Food.
It was set up on March 27, 2008, on terminal 5 at London Heathrow Airport.
The restaurant has a capacity of 175, and it cost a staggering $3.4 million (£2.5 million) to build.
Not everyone is charmed by his continuous swearing.
Ramsay admits that he swears a lot, but some believe this is part of his charm.
British television broadcaster Channel 4 showed an episode of Ramsay’s Great British Nightmare, and they received 51 complaints about his appalling language.
To be fair, viewers had a point, as in the first 40 minutes of the program, the F word was said 115 times!
That averages out to around three swear words every minute.
Beef Wellington is Ramsay’s most famous dish.
Beef wellington became known as the dish of Gordon Ramsay after being made famous in Hell’s Kitchen.
The most feared question from the show was, “Who made that beef wellington?”
It is a complex dish to get right, and with Ramsay’s precision, it can be quite a challenge.
In a Reddit takeover, Ramsay said he will always order beef wellington if it is on the menu.
Ramsay’s daughter is following in his footsteps!
Ramsay’s daughter Matilda has her own cooking show on CBBC called Matilda and the Ramsay Bunch.
The first series was released on April 14, 2015, when Matilda was just 14 years old.
The young culinary enthusiast wrote and starred in her own series, which covered five series, with 75 episodes in total.
Gordon Ramsay is a black belt in karate.
In an interview with Playboy, Ramsay revealed that he is a black belt in karate.
In an episode of Hell’s Kitchen, a contestant threatened to hit him, and his response was, “I have a black belt in karate. I love boxing.”
Ramsay has a Net Worth of $220 million.
As of 2020, Ramsay has an estimated Net worth of $220 million (£162 million)!
He is paid around $60 million (£44 million) per year.
In 2018 Ramsay was listed as the 33rd highest-earning celebrity in the world.
In 2020 Ramsay had 3 Michelin star restaurants in France.
Ramsay had a total of 3 Michelin stars in two of his restaurants in France.
Ramsay opened Le Pressoir d’Argent in Bordeaux, France, in 2015, and it was awarded 2 Michelin stars in 2016.
Gordon Ramsay au Trianon in Versailles, France, holds 1 Michelin star, which was awarded in 2009.
Ramsay has a restaurant that holds a record-breaking 3 Michelin stars.
Ramsay’s restaurant Murano in London was awarded 1 Michelin star in 2009.
Pétrus, London has held its 1 Michelin star since 2011.
Ramsay’s only restaurant to hold 3 Michelin stars is Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, London.
10 of Ramsay’s Michelin Star restaurants have closed.
Although he has been awarded a total of 16 Michelin stars, some of those restaurants have since closed.
This meant that in 2020 Ramsay had only 8 Michelin Stars to his restaurants that were still open, halving his previous total.
Gordon Ramsay is known for his strong language, fierce temper, and his top-level culinary skills.
His efforts have been recognized globally, and his restaurants continue to thrive and push the industry to new levels.
Ramsay’s entertaining personality has seen him remain on television screens for decades, and I don’t doubt this will continue up until he retires.
