Cooking Challenge vs Gordon Ramsay (Ft. ‪@NickDiGiovanni‬) wow

 Transforming Fish and Chips: A Culinary Face-off with Gordon Ramsay

By The Golden Balance Published Dec 25, 2025. 5 min read

Today, we take on the culinary titan Gordon Ramsay in a friendly yet delicious challenge: recreating his famously beloved fish and chips. This iconic dish, a staple of British cuisine, is known for its perfectly crispy batter and tender fish. But can we make a better version? Let’s dive into our cooking process, share tips, and culminate with a taste test from a random stranger on the street to see whose dish comes out on top.

The Legendary Dish: Fish and Chips

Fish and chips is not just a meal; it’s a cultural phenomenon. Particularly popular in the UK, this dish combines deep-fried fish in a light batter with chunky fries, usually accompanied by tartar sauce and a wedge of lemon. Gordon Ramsay has perfected this dish, boasting a reputation that precedes him. With his expert touch, he’s set the benchmark high. However, with determination and the right techniques, we’re up for the challenge!

Getting Started: Ordering Gordon's Fish and Chips

Before we start cooking, we needed to experience the original. We ordered Gordon Ramsay's fish and chips to gauge what we're up against. The first bite of the beautifully fried cod was revealing; the batter was perfectly golden, crispy, and seasoned to perfection. The chunky potato wedges offered a classic presentation, though they were less crispy than we hoped.

Preparation: Prepping Our Fish and Chips

With insights from Ramsay’s fish and chips, we returned to the kitchen ready to make our own version. Here’s how we approached it:

1. Selecting the Ingredients

• Fresh Cod: The backbone of any good fish and chips. Opt for fillets that are firm and fresh.
• Potatoes: Choose starchy varieties for the best fries—russets work great.
• Seasonings: Use high-quality seasonings like Osmo's Coastal Catch for depth of flavor along with classic spices.

2. Preparing the Fish

• Salt the Fish: Lightly salting the fish and letting it rest for a few minutes extracts moisture and enhances flavor. This also allows for better batter adhesion when frying.
• Creating the Batter: We combined self-rising flour with a tiny amount of white rice flour for a light, crispy texture. Don’t forget to season! A pinch of smoked paprika and curry powder added complexity to our batter.

3. Prepping the Fries

• Cutting and Rinsing: Cut the potatoes into thick wedges (or traditional chip shapes) and rinse them to remove excess starch, which helps achieve a crispier finish.
• Blanching: Pre-cook the fries by blanching them in salted water for about 5 minutes. This step softens the interior while keeping the exterior intact. After blanching, we laid them out to cool and dry, crucial for crispiness in the frying stage.
  
  
  

Cooking Process: Frying to Perfection

4. Frying the Fish and Chips

• Heating the Oil: Using a thermometer, we heated oil to about 350°F. This high temperature allows frying to occur rapidly, sealing in moisture.
• Battering and Frying: The fish was dipped lightly in the dry flour, followed by the wet batter. This technique ensured a delightful crunch.
• Cooking the Fries: The blanched fries were dunked into the oil until they turned golden brown and crispy, usually taking around 5 minutes.

5. Seasoning to Finish

Once out of the fryer, we seasoned both the fish and fries immediately to ensure the salt sticks well. The final touch? A squeeze of lemon over both to brighten the flavors.

The Moment of Truth: Taste Testing

With our dish ready, it was time for the ultimate test. We approached a random stranger on the street to conduct a blind taste test featuring both our homemade fish and chips and the original Gordon Ramsay dish. Here’s how it went down:

• Fried Cod A (Our Dish): Had a nice crunch, juicy interior. The seasoning was on point with a good balance given by the batter.
• Fried Cod B (Ramsay’s Dish): Crisp with a classic taste, but our tester noted some issues with crumbly batter consistency.

Critical Feedback

The responses from our tester were enlightening:

• Our Fish and Chips: Rated at an impressive 8 out of 10, appreciated for the well-seasoned fries and juicy fish. The tester remarked that it was better than typical street offerings they'd had in London.
• Ramsay’s Fish and Chips: Received a slightly lower score of 7 out of 10, noting that although the fish was moist, the batter wasn’t as crunchy as desired.

Conclusion: An Unexpected Victory

In the end, we emerged victorious! Our homemade fish and chips edged out Gordon Ramsay’s near-legendary offering, thanks to careful preparation and a focus on flavor. This delightful cooking challenge not only taught us invaluable cooking techniques but also showed that with passion and creativity, home cooks can indeed rival culinary greats.

Next time you approach a classic dish, don’t shy away from experimenting. You might just surprise yourself—and others!

If you’re inspired to create your own crispy fish and chips and want to relish in the challenge of cooking up against culinary icons, grab your aprons and start experimenting with different recipes and flavors today!