The Unexpected Place Gordon Ramsay Gets His Olive Oil
Chef and restaurateur Gordon Ramsay has been on television screens around the world for ages now, lending his culinary expertise to cooking competition shows such as "MasterChef," bringing his knowledge in to help save failing restaurants on "Kitchen Nightmares," and much more. He's even traveled around the world on "Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted," learning the culinary tips and tricks specific to certain countries or regions (per IMDb).
No matter where in the world he is or what type of show he's on, Ramsay's cumulative years of experience means he knows how to identify and select good quality ingredients. After all, no matter how skilled you are in the kitchen, you'll be hard-pressed to turn out a stellar dish if you're working with subpar ingredients.
Olive oil is a staple ingredient in just about any kitchen. As Brightland explains, you can use it for searing meats, whipping up salad dressings, and so much more. In fact, it's such a critical ingredient that Gordon Ramsay Restaurants put together an explainer on what makes a good olive oil (hint: it should have a wonderful fragrance and low acidity). And Ramsay mentioned in an episode of "Gordon's Ultimate Cookery Course" on YouTube that it's the oil he cooks with most frequently. However, if you assumed he picked up his bottles of olive oil at a high-end grocery store, you'd be wrong. Ramsay's go-to spot for picking up the best olive oil is somewhere you'd never guess in a million years.
Gordon Ramsay's secret olive oil spot
Thanks to his decades-long career in the culinary industry, Gordon Ramsay likely has plenty of relationships with producers around the world. That means he's able to source high-quality ingredients for his kitchens. However, that means he's also able to find the hidden gems that others may overlook — such as his olive oil source.
As he revealed on YouTube in an episode of "Gordon's Ultimate Cookery Course," he purchases his olive oil from an electrical shop in London's East end. That's right — Ramsay gets at least some of his preferred extra virgin olive oil from a shop where it's nestled on the shelf amidst various household goods and tools.
The location is because the Turkish-born owner of the shop comes from a family that has produced olive oil for centuries, using old-school methods. As he explained in the episode of Ramsay's show, the olive oil he sells is cold-pressed by stone and spun in a centrifugal spinner afterwards so that only the highest quality oil ends up bottled.
Though you may not be able to make the trek to London to buy the exact olive oil Ramsay recommends, you can take a cue from the shop owner for how to enjoy a high-quality olive oil. He recommends simply mixing the oil with a bit of oregano and then using it as a dipping sauce for some fresh, crusty bread, allowing the natural flavor notes of the olive oil to shine.