Thursday 12 November 2009

My Visit to The F word


November 2009

Had a call out of the blue asking if I would like to be one of the blind tasters on Gordon Ramsey's the F Word. The answer was a resounding yes. So off I trot on a fairly bleak Wednesday Morning to a studio come disused factory in North London. I am met by the nice people at Optotem Television and made very welcome. Boy is this place busy, production staff, food deliveries and celebrities galore. On the day of my visit, they are filming both the F word and market Kitchen, another favourite show of mine. The F Word is a fun full packed food show and has a slot where Gordon cooks the same dish against a celebrity and a panel of 5 then blind taste the dish to see which is the best. Simple I hear you say, not on this occasion.


Myself and my fellow tasters have our mics installed in various interesting places and then take our seats at the tasters table of the restaurant. If you have seen the show, the restaurant is very modern looking and large. In the cold light of day, it's tiny and filled with cameras and production staff. We then find out that Peter Andre is the celebrity this week cooking against Gordon and all we are told that they will both be making a steak dish!

The dishes are bought up and whilst three cameras pan in inches from our faces, we then taste. taste again and try and give constructive comments, feedback on presentation, flavours etc. Not easy to think of something to say for whats seems like five minutes and for such simple dishes.I must say that both dishes were truly great, but Alas one stood out and won me over.


At the end of the results both Gordon and Peter then came over to see what we felt about their dishes what feed back we had for them. It's an unsual situation when you are asked by a Michelin starred chef what I thought of his dish!




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