To wonder what the buggery bollocks Jamie Oliver means half the time

[scaryfrogfish]

I'm currently flicking through his 5 ingredients cookbook, and several times it says to cook something until it's "gnarly". He even has whole recipes called "gnarly" this that and the other.

Gnarly means dangerous... I cannot find a single definition that could be descriptive of exactly how this "gnarly" food is supposed to look.

He uses the wrong word all the time for things, like a "good gulag of oil" and it just irritates me.

AIBU to think "gnarly" is a shit description when you're trying to explain to a cook how something needs to look?

It's just his style, it is irritating, but his recipes are usually pretty good if you can get past the "Bush, bash, bosh".

"But surely a proofreader would pick up on the fact that he has used entirely the wrong word for something?"

He deliberately writes as he speaks. Not all authors, even of cook books, are to everyone's taste.

I agree, OP.

I used to like JO’s cookbooks. Now they read like he’s desperately trying to get down with the kids and I find them unbearable.

@Boireannachlaidir He has a recipe called Gnarly Peanut Chicken, for example.

I mean, as previous posters have pointed out, it is likely to mean crunchy, crispy etc... but lots of words sound a bit like other words but mean something completely different. It doesn't mean it's useful in a cookery context to "say a word that sounds a bit like the one you wanted to use".

It's brilliant in poetry... not so useful in a glorified instruction manual.

@Ponoka7

"But surely a proofreader would pick up on the fact that he has used entirely the wrong word for something?"

He deliberately writes as he speaks. Not all authors, even of cook books, are to everyone's taste.

So what does cook until gnarly mean then?

It's not a matter of him being to one's taste, it just doesn't make sense

Gulag - forced Soviet labour camps.
Glug - pour or drink liquid with a gurgling sound.
That’s hardly writing as you speak. It is an entirely different word.

I refuse to pay any attention to anything Jamie Oliver does, I can't forgive him for wrecking pop & Lucozade.

@Nat6999

I refuse to pay any attention to anything Jamie Oliver does, I can't forgive him for wrecking pop & Lucozade.

This. Bastard —semi lighthearted—

He can say what he likes UNLESS he says waffer when I, and the rest of the world, wants to hear wafer. That's way-fer JO. Not waff-er. Grrr.

And turkey twizzlers, they were delicious!

Ah this really made me chuckle. He annoys me too. Mainly for having to give everything a 'twist'. What a knob.

Turn the noodles out onto a plate, retro style

YABU OP, I always plate up my noodles whilst wearing flares and singing Bee Gees Staying Alive

My hangovers also miss proper lucozade.

And thanks to the previous poster who mentioned arthritic fingers 😂 I won't be able to tolerate this word again!

'Bush, bash, bosh' sounds like an entirely different sort of publication

Very much this!

Also in another book ("Save with Jamie"?), he keeps on about how good things look crinkle-cut and every blessed time says "I love my crinkle-cut knife: you should get one".

Could only presume there's a version of said knife in his range.

EVERY time he mentions adding chilli, he does a "(as much as you dare!)" which is TOTES HILAIRE even though he does the same thing FOUR PAGES IN A ROW.

@LioneIRichTea

Turn the noodles out onto a plate, retro style

YABU OP, I always plate up my noodles whilst wearing flares and singing Bee Gees Staying Alive

I've been doing it all wrong! I was wearing a corset and crinoline! I went back too far!

@mynameiscalypso

I've just got his new book and almost every single recipe included the phrase 'season to perfection' at least once, if not multiple times. Driving me mad!

Sorry! Meant to say I was replying to the above.

Christ he is very irritating. What grates on me is him putting on this ‘normal guy’ persona, then saying things like ‘why not grow your own lettuce’/‘just pick up (insert exotic ingredient)’ - yes Jaime, me in my tiny flat with a full time job has all the time in the world to farm lettuce and buy ingredients I’ve never heard of

And the amount of olive oil he puts on everything! A drizzle?? Drizzle my arse!! More like a giant heaping tidal wave

I've been doing it all wrong! I was wearing a corset and crinoline! I went back too far!

Yes @scaryfrogfish you went for the noodles Victorian style, not the same at all!

I like to go retro style prehistoric human.

Unfortunately noodles weren't invented then so it all gets a bit tricky.

I see what you mean OP, sadly I think he's just trying to be down with the kids/ appeal to the masses /wider audience and it will grate on some of us.

Plenty of people disliked Nigella's easy conversational style in her cookery books and there are those who will prefer Delia's precise instructions. I think it depends on what type of a cook you are perhaps. Confident or slapdash ones prefer the former for example. Horses for courses

I've warmed to Jamie over the years but I expect I'd find his "cheeky mockery" banter irritating in his books.

@NiceGerbil

'Bush, bash, bosh' sounds like an entirely different sort of publication

😂😂 it really does

"good gulag of oil"

Solzhenitsyn, he ain't. One for the Russian literature fans .