Customer Reviews
I love everything about this book - By: Gayle Hartley, 16 Nov 2008 
This book is full of inspiring & easy to follow recipes, delicious photography & lots of personal touches & anecdotes which make it a 'real' book. I like the way the dishes are made using accessible ingredients as sometimes celebrity cook books are full of ingredients which are difficult to come by or expensive. In fact I love the old fashioned & 'simple food' element, but above all the recipes are for 'proper' good food, ideal for family meals & social gatherings without days of worry & preparation beforehand.
A must have for everyone who loves to cook good food with simple, quality ingredients.
What's that all about? - By: Discrepancy, 31 Oct 2008 
I am usually not impressed by Gordon's "rushed" which he calls "high-energy" approach to cooking. Nevertheless his recipes are usually easy to follow & as tasty as it gets - if that's what you are looking for you won't be disappointed. Cooking books do not need anything else than that - so why have I rated it as 4 stars only? The simple answer is I do not like his non-cooking, not recipe related introductions & the title. On one occasion he's ranting about Delia's "cheat approach" which led him to donate all his Delia cooking books to a charity shop. My second "favourite" is the revelation that his wife has started to cook something vegetarian for the kids once a week. These statements are not only unnecessary they distract from the subject which is food. I do love cooking & great food but heyin the end it's food not world peace so stop ranting, argueing & self-praise. In my humble opinion the only absolutein the world of cooking is to COOK YOURSELF & avoid fast food/ ready meals. So it does not matter if you are using cheats & cheap ingredients if this creates the basic conditions to make you cook.
The other annoying point is the title. Nothingin this book relates to "cooking for friends", it's just a selection of recipes, which are suitable everyday & anytime.
To summarise: A decent cookbook with a misleading title but a good selection of very nice recipes written by a chef with an attitude.
A different tempo from Gordon Ramsay - By: Amazon Reviewer, 17 Oct 2008 as he leaves his chef's jacket at work!
From the front cover flap:-
'Away from the high-octane energy of the professional kitchen, Gordon's home is a relaxed family affair, where cooking s fun & everyone gets involvedin preparing food for family & friends. The food Gordon cooks here embodies his strongly held views: use in-season, fresh ingredients at their peak; support local producers & farmers' markets whenever we can; & celebrate our food culture & its many influences.....
...'Cooking for Friends' is full of Gordon's best-loved versions of classic British dishes.....and contains more than 100 of his favourite recipes, which he loves to cook & eat with friends & family - uncomplicated recipes but with Gordon's remarkable feeling for flavour & his technical know-how.'
From the introduction:-
'As a chef, I work at a thousand miles an hour, but when I'm at home, I want to slow down. I leave my chef's jacket at work, & I walk into a domestic setting, where everything is completely different. At home, our kitchen is family-run, & it's a relaxed place. A lot of people see cooking as a chore, but we bring an element of fun into it..........'
269 high quality matt pages split over 9 chapters:-
Hot & cold soups
Pasta & grains
Fish & shellfish
Meat & poultry
Pies & tarts
Vegetables & salads
Puddings & ices
Chocolate & coffee
Basics
sandwiched between a 9-page introduction & a full index, which is enhanced with finished-dish illustrations shownin italics.
Each chapter opens with some relevant notes & a list of the recipes contained within, for quick reference.
Each recipe is clearly laid out with a bold title & relevant text, along wiith the method, the number of servings & the list of ingredients. The page numbers are on the edge of the right hand page, which aids quick flicking!
The book is interspersed with illustrations of the finished dishes, although these are rather fewer than expected,in my opinion.....(hence my four star rating)...... along with on-location shots of GR, his family & friends.
My favourite pud is no particular secret, and, as I share Gordon's passion for the caramelized apple flavour & texturein an Apple Tarte Tatin..... his recipe for 'Caramelized Apple Pie', from page 207, really hits the spot:-
'I love the flavour of caramelized applesin a tarte tatin, & this is a way of bringing that flavour into a classic apple pie.
Also, because the apples are pre-cooked, they won't shrink during baking & create air pockets inside the pie.
I like to serve the pie while it's still warm with either a little pouring cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.'
A delicious twist which makes the finished product taste divine, & following on from G's 'Lamb Shank Cassoulet` served with sautéed savoy cabbage & chunks of malted grain bread....simply SUPER to share, after an October strollin the woods with all our friends!
Which... of course....is what this book is all about!
A taste of other recipes within:-
Asparagus velouté
Conger eel bisque
Crayfish chowder
Farfalle with bacon, peas & sage
Grilled vegetable lasagne
Gordon's posh kedgeree (video feature above)
Wild mushroom barley risotto
Fish curry with lime & coconut rice
Grilled herrings with harissa
Fisherman's stew
Poached rabbit legs with gremolata
Pork fillet stroganoff
Home-made bangers
Classic mixed grill
Angus beef olives
Sweet potato & duck rösti with fried duck eggs
Honey roast ham
Shepherd's pie with Branston pickle
Cornish chicken pie
Fish pie with oysters & scallops
Roast winter vegetables
Spicy cauliflower stir-fry
Mixed mushroom salad
Pickled onions
Autumn fruit salad with thyme & ginger
Custard tart
Lemon meringue pie
Chocolate swirl cheesecake
Chocolate & coffee pots
Dark chocolate marquise
Allin all, a 'homely'-type book, which is clear from the GR notes throughout, e.g.:-
From 'Pasta & grains`:-
'At home, we don't just stick to rice & spaghetti. Tana has begun to feed the kids a vegetarian meal once a week, which means being creativein combining pulses, grains & pasta with a variety of vegetables.
The kids love it when she experiments.
When the weather is cold we use a lot of barley, adding it to soups, stews, & winter salads. Barley can even take the place of ricein risotto.
The excellent barley risotto here has featured many a time on our restaurant menus............'
Stocking-filler at best - By: Mr. Gregg Knight, 14 Oct 2008 
This book smacks of the publisher ringing & saying "Gordon, we need a quick book to push out before Xmas". Gordon has then thrown together a few middle-of-the-road recipes & come up with the 'theme' of cooking for friends as a sales pitch. Only around a third of the recipes have accompanying photos, & spaces where they could have a photo of the food, there's a pointless photo of Gordon smiling gormlessly at the camera. A vague attempt at jumping on the Jamie/Hugh bandwagon of "buy fresh/local/organic/free-range" is dotted amongst the very-short intros to each section. And an unnecessary jibe at Delia is thrownin for good measure. There are so many better books out there now.
Gordon Ramsey: Cooking for Friends - By: Cook book Addict, 10 Oct 2008 I have all Gordon Ramsey's books & this one is ideal for people who think everything he creates is expensive
This book deals with things like Oxtail soup which is a simple recipe & easy to make
I really recommend this title for everyday cooking with the Ramsey touch
