Gordon Ramsay has angered Puerto Ricans with his take on what he called a ‘staple’ rice dish from the Caribbean island.
The TV chef told viewers of his YouTube series Scrambled he was making pegao, a crispy rice dish.
But locals who saw the clip were quick to point out pegao is not actually a dish, it’s the word used to describe rice that sticks to the bottom of the pan.
Sharing the recipe with his 17.8 million YouTube subscribers, Gordon said: “I’ll show you a local, beautiful dish made with leftover rice. It’s called pegao.
“Now the beauty of this dish is that it’s a staple. Nothing fancy, but the flavour profile is unique – and I mean unique.”
Puerto Ricans slammed the 54-year-old’s efforts saying pegao wasn’t what he had cooked at all.
One person wrote on social media: “Not a single puertorican on this earth makes that or calls it “pegao”.
“Pegao is just the crunchy rice that sticks to the bottom of the rice cooker or the pot when cooking fresh rice. That’s it and every single puertorriqueño will tell you that. This? This is blasphemy.”
Another wrote: “I can hear my ancestors crying while watching this.”
A third wrote: “Nobody makes a pot of “pegao” for lunch or dinner. Whoever wants it, eats it. Otherwise, it gets thrown out or given to the pigs as ‘fregao.'”
Others were annoyed Gordon had failed to ask local chefs about the recipe before making it on his YouTube channel.
One person said: “Did you even bother to consult with Puerto Rican chefs about this recipe?”
“Anthony Bourdain was smart enough to let the people in the places he visited do the cooking. You’d be wise to follow his lead, Gordon,” said another.
The Mirror has reached out to Gordon’s reps for comment.
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