The Time Top Gear Fed Gordon Ramsay Food Cooked With A Car Engine
Over the span of his TV career, Gordon Ramsay has encountered all sorts of dishes ranging from the stellar to the mediocre. But it's the ones deemed unfit for human consumption that provide viewers with the most entertainment. The celebrity chef has taste-tested more than his share of inedible meals. "Hell's Kitchen" contestants have served this renowned cook a Cornish hen crammed inside a pumpkin, mashed potatoes prepared with sugar, and more raw poultry than you'd find in a grocery store. One aspiring chef even presented him with an "Exotic Tartar," featuring a mix of venison, scallops, caviar, quail eggs, white chocolate, lime zest, and capers. Needless to say, Ramsay was far from impressed.
Recipe's aside, the TV personality has also come face-to-face with some of the nation's filthiest kitchens on "Kitchen Nightmares," tackling dead rodents, cockroaches, mold-riddled refrigeration units, green chicken, and maggots. Ramsay takes it all in stride — vomiting in the nearest trashcan, uttering a few of his favorite curse words, and then getting the disaster cleaned up.
By now, you'd think nothing more could surprise the experienced chef. Yet, "Top Gear" host Jeremy Clarkson did exactly that he when presented him with food prepared in a bizarre way.
Clarkson says car engine food should be cooked at 3000 rpm
Gordon Ramsay has been on "Top Gear" more than once, but viewers may be surprised that he agreed to return after what he experienced on his premiere appearance. Jeremy Clarkson served him food that had been prepared on the engines of three different cars. While "Top Gear" fans are used to Clarkson turning the wildest products of his unusual imagination into a reality, no one actually expected Ramsay to eat the fruits of Clarkson's fanciful mind. But he did.
The show's first step was to strap a turkey breast in a reduction of porcini mushrooms and wine with winter sprouts to the engine of a Subaru Forester. A baby rack of lamb with market vegetables dressed in olive oil and Mediterranean herbs was placed on the motor of a Lada. And the inner workings of a Suzuki Liana bore a wild salmon on a bed of lemon and thyme. After over two hours of circling the track (Clarkson referred to it as "the rotisserie"), at the host's recommended 3000 revolutions per minute, these tender morsels were deemed ready for noshing — well, as ready as they could be.
Food prepared on a car engine can taste oily
The presentation of Ramsay's "car engine food" was auspicious for two reasons. First, it was car food. Need anyone say more? And second, because it was the mysterious professional driver's first time entering the show's studio. As he deposited the tinfoil-wrapped concoctions in front of the celebrity chef, Ramsay appeared more than just a little apprehensive, repeatedly asking if it was really cooked on a car engine. He would soon discover that it definitely was.
When presented with the Suzuki specialty — the wild salmon — he declared that it wasn't worthy of a single star, was dry, and overcooked, reminiscent of motorway service kitchen food. The Lada's not-so-lovingly prepared rack of lamb didn't even fare that well. As Ramsay donned his infamous pre-vomit facial expressions, he announced that it tasted "of petrol, Castrol oil, grease" and that it was more than overcooked. Clarkson explained that is what happens when you cook food on a car engine, especially a four-speed one.
Gordon Ramsay can now add Castrol oil-infused sheep to his already lengthy list of less-than-stellar dishes presented to him over the years, an honor very few can boast. And with all the foods the chef has tasted, this is the dish Ramsay says represents him best.