''The Pressure Cooker'' is a once-off fly on the wall documentary broadcast on

RTÉ One RTÉ One ( ga, RTÉ a hAon) is an Irish free-to-air flagship television channel owned and operated by Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). It is the most-popular and most-watched television channel in the country and was launched as ''Telefís ...

. It follows the successful efforts of celebrity chef Dylan McGrath to obtain a

Michelin Michelin (; ; full name: ) is a French multinational tyre manufacturing company based in Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes '' région'' of France. It is the second largest tyre manufacturer in the world behind Bridgestone and ...

star for his business, Mint, in

Ranelagh Ranelagh ( , ; ) is an affluent residential area and urban village on the Southside of Dublin, Ireland in the postal district of D06. History The district was originally a village known as Cullenswood just outside Dublin, surrounded by lan ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

. It was broadcast on 4 February 2008 at 21:30. McGrath was noted in the Irish media and in the general cuisine profession for his repeated shouting and swearing at his staff during the filming of this documentary.

Background

Prior to the show being filmed only four restaurants in Ireland had obtained a Michelin star."About"
RTÉ. Accessed 25 April 2009. McGrath was described as "a driven, ambitious, determined, innovative, hot-tempered, bad-mouthed and very intense man" by RTÉ and ''

Image An image is a visual representation of something. It can be two-dimensional, three-dimensional, or somehow otherwise feed into the visual system to convey information. An image can be an artifact, such as a photograph or other two-dimensio ...

'' food critic Domini Kemp described him as a "creative genius". Mint Restaurant was described by ''

Hot Press ''Hot Press'' is a fortnightly music and politics magazine based in Dublin, Ireland, founded in June 1977. The magazine has been edited since its inception by Niall Stokes. History ''Hot Press'' was founded in June 1977 by Niall Stokes, who co ...

'' as a " gastronomic playground". The restaurant has also received praise from newspaper '' The Sunday Business Post''.

Controversy

McGrath encountered ire from his fellow celebrity chefs for his alleged mistreatment of his staff which was evident during the documentary. Kevin Dundon, who appeared in the show ''

Guerrilla Gourmet ''Guerrilla Gourmet'' is an Irish television series broadcast on RTÉ One. The series features professional chefs from various backgrounds, such as Dylan McGrath and Kevin Dundon, who each take on a new challenge. Each episode sees a differen ...

'' with McGrath, appeared alongside him on the television chat show '' Tubridy Tonight'' and criticised him live on air, describing his attitude as "appalling" and saying that Gordon Ramsay (a British chef) had "a bit of charisma about himself as well and a huge amount of passion". Dundon also questioned McGrath's methods of training his staff and said he would not have been required to shout at them so much if he had taught them better. Kevin Thornton agreed with Dundon – the two appear together on the reality television series ''

Heat In thermodynamics, heat is defined as the form of energy crossing the boundary of a thermodynamic system by virtue of a temperature difference across the boundary. A thermodynamic system does not ''contain'' heat. Nevertheless, the term is ...

'' – describing McGrath's comments as "a mess" and "a waste of energy" and suggesting that "people like that will not go very far". Patrick Guilbaud labelled McGrath "sad" on the RTÉ Radio 1 show, '' Conversations with Eamon Dunphy'', after witnessing him shouting and swearing at his Mint staff.

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pressure Cooker, The 2008 in Irish television Irish cooking television series Irish documentary television series RTÉ original programming