26% Think They Could Cook Eggs Better Than This Celebrity Chef
If you have actually paid attention to a chef's hat, you have probably noticed that it adds height and plenty of it because it is also 12 inches tall. The hat, known as a toque blanche, is not only tall, it also has pleats that are meant to symbolize skill, signaling how many years a chef might have spent in the kitchen. Back in the day, a master chef might have 100 folds in his toque, and kitchen lore says that the 100 folds are meant to symbolize just how many ways the chef can prepare an egg (via The Baltimore Sun).
While a majority of home cooks would not own a toque blanche with its hundred folds, and we may not be able to prepare a dish with egg 143 ways, we know what we like and how we like them, particularly where eggs are concerned. So it didn't come as a surprise that, in a recent Mashed poll, 612 respondents from across the country told us they could cook up an egg better than these particular celebrity chefs.
More than a quarter of respondents say they can beat this celebrity chef
She may score points for being approachable and likable on television, but celebrity chef Rachael Ray has made no secret of the fact that she's never had any formal culinary training, which probably made a little more than 26% of Mashed's respondents confident enough to say they could see their egg dishes beating Ray's. Coming in second at 21% in the Mashed survey is Guy Fieri, but this could rank up there with taking candy away from a baby, since, although Fieri has been known to make things with eggs in them, this celebrity chef also hates them.
Gordon Ramsay may have racked up more than 46.7 million views on YouTube for his scrambled eggs, which involves a calorie-burning process of constant stirring (which is a given with scrambled eggs), accompanied by an "on-the-heat, off-the-heat" dance with the scrambled egg pot, but 21.7% of Mashed respondents say that in an egg-cooking smackdown, they have what it takes to outdo the Hell's Kitchen chef.
From here on down, the Mashed poll dives down into single digits: nearly 9% of respondents say "I Can Beat Bobby Flay" in an egg-themed cook-off; while 7.35% and 7.03% respectively say they can best Giada De Laurentiis and Wolfgang Puck in an egg-based cook-off. And while everyone's favorite Ina Garten prides herself on preparing accessible dishes, only 6.7% believe could take on the beloved chef and win.