The Best Fast Food Recipes | Part One | Gordon Ramsay

Can't beat properly home-cooked popcorn. Start off with just a touch of oil in there. As it lightly starts to smoke, corn in. So now, get your lid. Never leave it far away from you. Sounds like it's raining. It's not. So it's popcorn canals time. Pop out. Boom. Delicious. Just a little shake of the pan. Get it going. And then lift that lid at your peril. Whee. See? It's a very excited pan in there. And when all that little pitter-patter stops, you know your popcorn is cooked. Nice. You could eat it fresh from the pan, but I've got another plan. I'm going to make a salted caramel popcorn. Start off with your sugar into the hot pan. Never stir a caramel, otherwise it crystallizes. It's a salted caramel, so a nice pinch of salt in there as well. Now, once you've got it to a really nice, dark caramel flavor, stir in your butter very carefully. Caramel's very, very hot. Half a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda kickstarts the reaction that gives the caramel a honeycomb flavor. Mix that in. You'll see it reacting almost like a large crunchy in the bottom of your bowl. Now, the gas is off, and that caramel is a nice, dark, rich flavor. Now pour in the popcorn to coat it with that incredible caramel. Give that a good mix. It's that easy, and it's going to taste amazing. Lay that nice and flat. Once that cools down, it becomes nice and brittle. You've got that nice, salted caramel flavor, which just takes popcorn to a completely new level. Whilst the popcorn cools down, it's on to my prawn tostada. Wonderful prawns. I'm going to marinate them first with a little bit of garlic. Nice and fine. And don't worry if you can't slice thinly. Just get a little grater and grate the garlic nice and fine as well. Nice pinch of chili flakes over your prawn. Garlic in, salt, pepper, and olive oil. Give that a really nice little mix. Whilst the prawns marinate, I'm going to knock up a salad. This is a really nice, sort of light, fragrant salad. Radishes, topped and tailed, and then into quarters. Cherry tomatoes, halved. Spring onions, sliced, and seasoned. And then, just to liven things up, a little bit of chili in there. And slice them on an angle. Now the avocado, cut in half. Give that a little twist. So you just go down, and down, and down, carefully with your knife. Turn it around, go down, and down, and down. And then you take your spoon, and you've got your diced avocado coming out already. Now baby gem lettuce, halved, then shred. Freshly squeezed lime juice, and a little drizzle of olive oil. Tostada is a classic Mexican-style open tortilla. So that lime complements it beautifully. Lastly, roughly chopped coriander, and give it a mix. That is the perfect base for a tostada. The salad's ready. Now for the prawns, and don't be afraid of getting the pan nice and hot. Teaspoon of olive oil in. Anything less than that sizzle, when you put that first prawn in there, don't put them in. Keep them nice and flat. Make sure you've got all that marinade in there as well. Watch them change color rapidly. I'd rather cook them quicker in a hotter pan, and slower in a colder pan. The difference in taste is night and day. The prawns will take just two minutes to cook through. Lime juice, just over the top. Nice. Toss them over the lime. These are corn tortilla. Quite robust, and it's the kind of base that doesn't disintegrate. Hot pan in to dry pan. So that corn tortilla goes nice and crisp on the outside. Crispy shell. To build them, generous with the salad. That base will stay nice and crisp. Next, with the prawns. I like to keep the tails in to the center, and lay the round part of the prawn on the outside. And there we have a delicious, yet very humble, prawn tostada. Followed by my superb salty caramel popcorn. Beautiful. Prawn tostadas and salty caramel popcorn. Vibrant, irresistible smelling dishes you'll want to dive in to. Big and bold. When I was living in France, I stayed there for three years. Once, twice a week, I treated myself to the most amazing, bold breakfast. And it started off with these beauties here. Murgays. Cheap, but incredibly tasty. Start off with a nice hot pan. Murgays in. It's a very spicy sausage. Doesn't need any help, doesn't need any chili. Just a touch of salt and pepper. You can smell the spice. They're starting to release all that wonderful oil, that flavor in there. Add a couple of cloves of finely sliced garlic. Spread the garlic across the pan. It instantly changes color. Takes on this nice, dark, rich, golden color. Now, take a little bit of heat out with the parsley. The stalks of soft herbs, like parsley and coriander, can be used to impart flavor during cooking. But the leaves should always be added just before serving to give maximum color and fragrance. And then finish that off with my capers. Amazing. Beautiful. Now, take your croissant. They're literally 24 hours old, so they're crispy on the outside. And just slice off the lid. This recipe is a great way to use up any leftover croissants from the day before. I used to cringe when I saw the French cooks throw away croissants. I used to cry, thinking, oh, my god. Any idea what you're throwing away in terms of flavor? Whatever you do, do not wipe out that pan. Dunk your croissants, mopping up all that amazing flavor and caramelizing the inside for that. Beautiful. And don't forget the lids. And then get your thumbs and go inside the croissant. All I want to do now is just create a little pocket and just manipulate the croissant. Now, this is where it gets exciting. Mix up the capers, the garlic, and the sausages. Look at the color of that wonderful, delicious flavored oil. Now, some cheese, but not just any cheese. Fontina cheese is like the number one cheese for grilling. And because it's a very rich cheese, you shave it thinner than you would a white truffle. But it gives a really nice saltiness and a light, smoky flavor. A touch of pepper, a bit of salt. Place these big boys on the tray, literally 30 seconds on the grill. Here we go. Nice, crisp, packed full of flavor. Now, top them. And that, for me, it's almost like being back in Paris. Except this time, I don't have to share them with the French. My ultimate big and bold breakfast, merguez and Fontina-stuffed croissants, a great way to start the day. Jack? Hi. Mate, you going to help with some pickling, please? Oh, definitely. Now, you love pickles, right? Love pickles. And favorite pickle, what is it? I like pickled onions. We're going to do pickled celery. It's a nice little snack, great for plamons, great for salads. First thing, I want you to pick the celery for me. So you see where the next one's going to be? It's in there. Yeah. OK, off you go, then. God, I'm hungry today. Is this all we're having for dinner? Jack, come on. I wouldn't do that to you. You know that. There's more coming. Now, because we're pickling it, we want to sort of make it look a little bit more attractive. So we go around like that. OK, on an angle. So when you pickle the food, does it preserve it? That's exactly what it does. But also, it gives it a really nice, salty, soury flavor. Yeah. OK, now splash of water, and in with the sugar. Nice. OK? So you've got to bring that up to the bowl. That's going to create almost like a little syrup. Yeah. OK, a little teaspoon of peppercorns. In, mustard seeds in. Quite generous on the mustard seeds. That gives it a bit of sort of spice. Now, those, you must know. Cloves. Excellent. Cloves in. Now, a touch of salt in there. OK? So from there, white wine vinegar. Now, in order for all that to actually pickle, you need to boil it. So by boiling it, OK, it brings all the ingredients together. It infuses all the spices and helps cook the celery. Have a little taste. Nice. Nice, see, I've put some hairs on your chest. Yes, it will. Quick look. Boom, it's working already. Now, see? Mm. Nice. White wine vinegar. Right, celery's ready. Yeah. OK, that's all up to the bowl now. Turn that off. Now, from there, start placing the celery into that jar. So when you pickle other foods, can you use that same recipe? Exactly that, 100%. Once it's pickled, it doesn't really go off. OK, now, put them in there. So can we eat this straight away when it's in here? Do you know what? As soon as it's cooled down, you can definitely eat that straight away. I can't wait to dig into it at dinner. Aren't they delicious? Yeah. We'll leave that to cool down. Our pickles are ready and cooling. Now, to marinate the chicken. When you fry chicken, traditionally, it's always going to be done with the dark meat, the brown meat. So you've got that nice sort of drum here, and this bit, that thigh, cooking on the bone as well, keeps it even more moist. So first things first, salt and pepper, please. From there, buttermilk in. It's brilliant for marinating the chicken. If you can put this buttermilk over your chicken the night before, the more it tenderizes the chicken. It starts to sort of really relax the chicken and puts a really nice sort of creamy, soury flavour in there. So stick that in the fridge for us, please. And we'll start the dulce de leche biscuits. Nice. The Argentinians call these shortbreads Alfa Jorge, and they're the favourite sweet treat on the streets of Buenos Aires. They're light, crumbly shortbread biscuits sandwiched with gloriously golden, caramel-y dulce de leche sauce. For the shortbread, beat together softened butter, granulated sugar, and beat until light and fluffy. Add one egg, sliced vanilla pods, scrape out the seeds, add to the mix, and beat again. Sift plain flour, corn flour, and baking powder. Then fold the mixture together. Using floured hands, roll into small balls, flatten into disks, and place on a baking tray. Chill for 10 minutes until firm to touch. Then simply bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until pale golden. Once cooled, sandwich two biscuits together with a caramel-y dulce de leche sauce. Finish with a dusting of icing sugar. Delicious. My dessert and pickles are ready. The buttermilk should have worked its magic on the chicken. All that's left is to fry it. Now, we're going to roll the chicken out of the buttermilk into the flour, so that's why it gets nice and crispy and blistery on the outside. OK? So what we've got to make sure, because the flour is the last coat, this is nicely seasoned. OK, so salt and pepper in there. Nice. And this is smoked paprika. So that gives it a little bit of sort of a little bit of spice. That's right, a little bit of heat. And this is one of my favorites. What's that? Cayenne pepper. That's right, again, slightly spicy. But the heat works brilliantly well. Garlic powder. Traditionally, they're used a lot in the steaks, onion powder, garlic powder. Just run your fingers through that, please. OK. I'm going to get the pan on. Now, 2 centimeters of oil. This is a really good mix for fish as well. Goujons, biting, a nice spicy texture helps fish. So the first thing is we just shake off some of the buttermilk. Lay that down. Yeah. OK, really important to get them covered completely, OK, in the flour. Yeah. So. I love fried chicken. Do you? Now, lift that up there, the first one, and you place it in there, away from you. Off you go, nice and gently. Good. And lay away. Good. If at any stage you think the oil is getting too hot, just add a touch of cold oil in there, or turn off the gas. Good. Gently fry the chicken for 25 to 30 minutes or until cooked through. Now, very carefully, turn them over, please, yeah? Cool. Can we have this every day? Jack, fried chicken every day, no, definitely not. It's a treat, and it's shallow fried. So once every three weeks? Yeah, sounds great to me. Yeah. Now, off with the gas, OK? Yeah. Paper ready, OK? Onto the paper. Serve them. Very nice. I love fried chicken, I'm telling you. Pretty sure I love it more than you. Here's the best bit. Delicious. Now, fried chicken and pickles. If you pick up Dolce Deleche cakes, we are ready, bud. Very nice. Let's go, bud. Delicious. Want to call Mommy? Wow. Tilly, Phoebe, run. Divine Dolce Deleche biscuits. My pickled celery and buttermilk fried chicken. A soulful street food feast, if there ever was one.