Oct. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Gordon Ramsay is the most famous British chef and it's arguable he's the most successful ever.

He runs the only Michelin three-starred establishment in London, he controls an international stable of fine-dining restaurants and he's a household name through television programs such as ``Hell's Kitchen'' and ``Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares.'' He's also about to open in New York.

So why is he angry? His media persona is of a kitchen monster who yells at his staff and breaks them down before discarding them or mentoring them through tough love. Ramsay seeks to supply some answers in ``Humble Pie,'' his autobiography, published today.

Ramsay, 39, was born in Scotland to a violent alcoholic father who beat his mother and couldn't hold down a job. The family moved from town to town across the U.K. as the father sought employment, often as a swimming-baths manager. Money was tight and Ramsay was humiliated in front of his classmates as he received vouchers for free school dinners.

He pursued a macho career as a soccer player to impress his father, even while enrolling in a catering course. ``Cooking is for poofs,'' was the dad's view. Ramsay's talent and drive took him to Glasgow Rangers, the dream side of his childhood, and he played twice in the first team before injuries ended his sports career.

Ramsay then took jobs in local restaurants, leaving one, at the age of 19 or 20, after complicating matters by starting an affair with the owner's wife. His cooking career took off after he called Marco Pierre White -- the other main contender for most successful U.K. chef -- and asked for a job at Harveys restaurant.

`Dark and Brooding'

``Marco was running a dictatorship,'' Ramsay writes. ``He fancied himself as a kind of Mafioso, dark and brooding and f***ing terrifying. He had favorites, and then they would be out in the cold. He would praise you, and then he would knock you down.''

Ramsay went on to work under other great chefs: Albert Roux at Le Gavroche in London and Guy Savoy and Joel Robuchon (``a tyrant'') in Paris. Ramsay was so driven, he would work for nothing during his time off. He then took a job as a private chef on the yacht of the Australian entrepreneur Reg Grundy, before opening his own restaurant, Aubergine, with the help of White.

He won his first Michelin star in 1995, aged 28, and his second two years later, before falling out with his main shareholder, who sacked Marcus Wareing, one of his chefs. Ramsay quit and all 46 staff members walked out with him, he says.

Ramsay opened his flagship Royal Hospital Road in September 1998, and won his third star in January 2001. With the backing of Blackstone Private Equity, he went on to open Gordon Ramsay at Claridge's, among other Michelin-starred restaurants.

Kitchen Rage

The chef's media career took off with a fly-on-the-wall documentary at Aubergine, ``Boiling Point,'' which showed his rages in the kitchen. ``Back then, the public knew nothing; they imagined chefs to be ponces with stupid French accents and big white hats,'' he writes. ``Then again, perhaps I WAS a little out of control.''

As a television performer, Ramsay is the master of the one- liner, the cripplingly effective put down. He includes an unprintable one he addressed to the Conservative politician Edwina Currie, whom he also dismisses as a ``silly cow.'' The chef Antony Worrall Thompson is ``a squashed Bee Gee.'' And as for the restaurateur Terence Conran: ``You might go to him for a sofa, but you don't go to him for an experience in food.''

Smooth Memoir

``Humble Pie'' might have used more such sparks. Much of it is too smooth, as if over-edited. As a food book, it lacks the vigor of Anthony Bourdain's ``Kitchen Confidential.'' As a memoir, it has little of the poignancy of Nigel Slater's ``Toast,'' even when Ramsay describes his father's death or his brother's heroin addiction.

Ramsay is a complex individual and, having read the book, I don't feel I know a lot more about him. The abusive father and chefs help to explain the anger and toughness for which he is known. But he is more than that: he's a genius who has done as much as anyone to improve the quality of restaurants and cooking in the U.K.

``Humble Pie'' is published by HarperCollins (299 pages, 18.99 pounds.)

(Richard Vines is London food critic for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.)

To contact the reporter on this story: Richard Vines in London at rvines@Bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 2, 2006 08:27 EDT