inspired by Chef Gordon Ramsey

      While I am not a big fan of the cooking show "Hell's Kitchen", I do none the less admire Gordon Ramsey's abilities. There are several different reasons I don't care much for that particular show. First off is his excessive swearing. Secondly is all of the stabbing in the back that goes on amongst the contestants and the extreme competitiveness of the whole thing. And, well anyways, you get the concept.
      Usually I have enjoyed the episodes of "Kitchen Nightmares" that we have watched. Yes, he still swears way to much, or at least usually he does. But he also often grants us glimpses of his other side. The side that cares about people. The side that wants others to succeed as well.
      There is one aspect of this show that often just amazes me, and I think I'll insert it right here. It has to do with the extreme filth that Gordon sometimes finds in the kitchens of these establishments. Unbelievable!!! Yes, unbelievable that the restaurant would allow their kitchens to drop to such levels. But even more unbelievable to me, is that they know Gordon Ramsey is coming to their place of business, and yet they don't totally attack and clean it before he gets there. Unbelievable!! I mean, it's not that he's just popping in unannounced. His arrival has been all set up and arranged ahead of time. Now true, they might not know the exact hour of his planned arrival, but they know he's scheduled to come, and yet leave the mess. Unbelievable.
      On a couple of different occasions I have seen episodes of another show of his. I can not at all remember the name of it. Sorry. But this particular show usually shows off his nurturing nature to it's fullest. In this show, he does one on one, hands on training with an individual person, usually in their home kitchen. I got inspired for today's posting by one of the episodes from this show.
      In the particular episode I am referring to, his mission (as he put it) was to aid a fellow cook in believing in her own abilities. No, the "fellow cook" was not a trained cook or chef. He explained that a "fellow cook" is one who also thourally enjoys cooking and their love of it shows in the quality of the food they prepare. I liked that description! :-}
      But the "fellow cook" had had an horrendous experience happen to her. She had hosted a dinner party, and one of the guest had become so sick from the chicken she had served, that the guest had to be hospitalized, for a week!!! Yeah, horrors!!! Nightmares come to life. The unthinkable had taken on proof. Shrudder.
     The "fellow cook" had cleaned down her kitchen and refused to cook ever again. In her house, the refrigerator, microwave, and dish washer got used, and the rest of the absolutely beautiful kitchen just sat there. Her spirit had been badly shattered. Gordon Ramsey was there not only to encourage her to enter and really use her kitchen again, but yes, they were also cooking chicken. "When you fall off the horse, the best way to conquer your fear of the horse, is to not only get back on it, but also to ride it."
      But before they had started actually cooking, they had gone to the store. Not only to buy the ingredients, but a couple of other "highly important tools of the trade" as well. One was a meat thermometer. Another was a meat temperature schedule, which they then attached to the inside of her spice cupboard after they arrived back at her home. "No more guessing games."
    
      The way they were cooking the chicken in that episode is what inspired me, and thus led to today's posting. He wrapped the chicken breasts, which had been rubbed with spices, in the papers which blocks of butter come in. I had never heard of, nor thought of such an idea. He claimed first, that people usually waste a lot of butter by just taking the blocks out and tossing the papers. I don't fit there, because I always scrape the papers off first o;-p. And his second point was that your not only paying for the butter, but also the wonderful protective covering they come in. I know that your also paying for the paper and it's protection, but did not know that the 'protection' could extend further than just getting the butter into your home (which was his third point).
      I h-a-d to try this some time for myself. Had to!!! I figured that instead of scraping the papers off from now I, I would fold them in half, insert them into a large Ziploc baggie, and store them in the bottom of one of the refrigerator drawers. Easy, and wouldn't take up much room.
      But then when I was baking up all of those cookies, and using up so many blocks of butter, well, yeah, no need to keep waiting to try the inspiration :-}
      All I did was rub the chicken breasts heavily with garlic powder, roll them up in the papers, and bake them.

                                          
      Next time, I would definitely use less garlic powder, and I would add another spice or two to the rub.
      But all of us were amazed at just how moist and tender those chicken breasts turned out!!! Exceptionally so!!! And no, I had not also covered the baking pan, just sprayed it first.

        For the record, I buy my BUTTER at GFS. Theirs is priced considerably less than the grocery stores are. Now true, theirs only come in the solid block form, not cut into quarters with each quarter individually wrapped and then boxed up together. But for the price difference, combined with how darn easy it is to use a sharp knife and cut the block into quarters, re-wrap what I don't need at the time, and stick it back in the fridge, paying the higher price just seems absurd.
     Please let me know two things: 1 - what spices you would recommend to rub it with next time. And 2 - how yours turns out when you try this methodology ;-}

I 'plan' on linking this particular posting to:
~ "Tuesday is Food Day", hosted by Byron, at 'A Lord, A Lady, and a cute little Princess' (http://byroncyndi.blogspot.com/) .
~ "Tasty Tuesday('s)", hosted by Jen, at 'Balancing Beauty and Bedlum's' (http://beautyandbedlam.com/).
~ "Tempt My Tummy Tuesday('s)", hosted by Lisa, at 'Blessed with Grace' (http://blessedwithgrace.blogspot.com).
~ "Tuesdays at the Table", are hosted by Cole, at 'All The Small Stuff' (http://allthesmallstuff-cole.blogspot.com/).
~ "Tightwad Tuesdays with Canada Girl", are hosted by Mary, at 'Raising 4 Godly Men' (http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/canadagirl).
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