Can Gordon Ramsay Make a Puerto Rican Crispy Rice Dish? | Scrambled 

Gordon, I am from Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. The person who “taught” you this dish, tried to troll you. “Pegao” is something that happens in the rice pot, not something you can make in a cast iron pan. In Puerto Rico, we make rice in an aluminium pot. We call it a rice pot (Olla de arroz). It’s the leftover rice that has stuck to the sides and bottom of the pot, during the normal rice cooking process. To make different kinds of rice, we use oil, butter, and even a mix of both for making compound recipes of rice. Yes it steams, but the bottom portion is kind of fried and sticks to the surface. “Pegao” literally means glued. So, the glued rice to the pot is what we eat as “pegao”. You scrape it off with a metal spoon. It can be white rice, yellow rice, rice and beans cooked together, arroz con gandules… it all makes “pegao”. Whoever “taught” you this is a JODIA’ DONA (fucking donut) and should be shunned for trying to troll Gordon Ramsay. Now, you should learn how to make “Arroz Mamposteao”, which is SUPER Puerto Rican, and you can make it with left over rice and beans. Come over for dinner, any time. You are always welcome at our table. 🇵🇷🇵🇷🇵🇷 P.S. to all who are not Puerto Rican who read this. NO, there are no “different” ways to make pegao. What Gordon made in this video is NOT a Puerto Rican dish. 🤦🏻‍♂️ Again, the person responsible for “teaching” this to Gordon is a “ñemo”.

MY PUERTO RICAN FRIENDS, THIS IS HOW WE MEXICANS FEEL WHEN WE SEE THE STUFF THAT MOST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD CALL TACOS…

Every Abuela is ripping their hair out right now

I’m just trying to remember where exactly in Puerto Rico you make a “Pegao” dish!!!! Pegao just happens as you cook your rice. Props for trying though.

Gordon Ramsay has finished the game and just now doing side missions.

As a pure 100% Puerto Rican man chef that is a huge fan admirer of Gordon Ramsey, i must admit there is nothing puertorican about this dish. He didnt use ANY of our complex spices we are famous for at all. I support him but this is the 1 time in his entire career ive seen him cook a cultures food very wrong. My culture is proud to have you Gordon we love you. Hope to see you upload a more appropriate dish from PuertoRican tradition. There are some restaurants or people over in PR that try to veer away from tradition for the sake of originality and im hoping you didnt learn this from someone who does that. You didnt even make your own sofrito. There are many things missing and PR dishes are more complex than people assume. Every aspect of the dish is seasoned including the beans get seasoned, the seasoning even gets seasoned, the rice, chicken, everything gets prepared specificly with a completely different process that come together when served. Thank you for reading this, i wish you well and look forward to your success. Blessings to your family and again thank you for visiting PuertoRico

Your interpretation of "pegao" but you did an elevated "Arroz Mamposteao con Huevo Frito". We love you anyway for presenting our Island on your channel. 🇵🇷

That’s not really “pegao” any Puerto Rican can tell you that. I appreciate the effort tho

Born and raised in Puerto Rico. In my 30 years I've never seen someone murder the meaning of pegao like you've done Gordon. I love you but it hurt my soul. My grandma watched it with me and she's laughing. Also, use the whole longaniza, we cut it in rounds and make arroz con longaniza, which is amazing too. I'll give you some slack this one time.

Pegao means ‘stuck.’ It’s really good. When we make rice, it’s the crispy rice stuck to the edges of the pot.

Puerto Ricans: "If this is pegao, then I was born in Japan."

🤔I don't think anyone in Puerto Rico goes to a restaurant and ask for a plate of pegao😂

Sorry but as a Puerto Rican born and raised I have to say that I'm flattered that he tried to make pegao... but sadly I have to point out that what ever he cooked there wasn't pegao at all.

Actually I’m puertorican and “pegao” is when you make a pot of rice and you scrape the bottom of the pot because the rice is crispy and a little sticky. Gordon I’m sorry but I don’t think that you did it right. You just took rice that was already cooked and then started cooking it until it got crispy. This is not a hate comment by the way I’m just letting you know 😁👍

My husband is a chef and Puerto Rican. This is culturally incorrect - all of it.

Not gonna lie, it looks delicious! I just want to point out that “pegao” is not a dish. It’s what we call to the rice that gets toasted and kinda stuck in the bottom of the pot. In other words, almost burned rice. “Pegao” comes from the word “pegado” actually means stuck. We don’t mind that the rice gets stuck in the bottom because most Puerto Rican’s actually love when there is “arroz pegado”. We kinda do it on purpose, but not in a extent of a whole dish 😂. Anyways, I think you created a new kind of dish in a Puerto Rican style, and, honestly, it looks amazing! It even made me hungry 😅.

The fact you chose my island to showcase some of our food culture and beautiful nature, that makes us really happy. You're a badass chef. 🇵🇷

Just imagine just walking next to the beach then u see a outside kitchen with Gordon Ramsey 😭😭

Gordon literally talked you in a beautiful way as to how not to make Pegao.

It’s very curious to always hear chefs talking about elevating dishes, sometimes they don’t need to be elevated because they’re already amazing, the only elevation it will be the price people pay for something that naturally comes along as a by product of a cooking technique.

The Puerto Rican delegation has accepted Gordon’s Ramsey’s application for Boricua citizenship. He will be sent bottles of Coquito every Christmas and must now be at least 2 hours late for every family function!!

Oh Gordon, dear, love you to pieces. Thanks for choosing Puerto Rico as a destination to showcase your culinary talent. I’ll give you A for effort but, man, big F to the production team for not doing proper research and misleading you. First things first, we would never EVER cook under direct sunlight. That’s what palm trees, blue tarps or camping tents are for. Yes, we do eat rice at the beach, but it is usually homemade!!! ...And reheated under the sun or above some BBQ. What you actually did looks more like a delicious “elevated” Puerto Rican Fried Rice using leftovers of mamposteao’ (mixed rice and beans) and whatever cooked protein found in the refrigerator. As for cooking pegao. You should cook rice from scratch using small or medium grain rice. And please, get a nice true caldero (Caribbean cooking pan). A true cured caldero will save you time and money on spices and butter (none needed for cooking rice nor eggs Puerto Rican style.) As it’s been said, Puerto Rican food is NOT spicy, it’s FLAVORFUL (and colorful). Flavor and color come from using achiote (annatto seeds powder or paste), oregano, bay leaves, capers, canned tomato sause (yes, canned provides a hint of a unique flavor hard to accomplish using fresh tomato sauce) and cooking ham. If cooking just white rice a little cooking ham, a drop of vinegar and some salt will do; and color will come from the caldero’s magic. For me, if you had not said it was a spin on Puerto Rican pegao’ dish this video would have been a hit. Sorry to see yourself getting cooked under the sun. Hope you enjoyed your stay and come back soon.

GORDON - As a native Puerto Rican, I understand that you went to Puerto Rico and learned about our beautiful culture and culinary creations, and we THANK YOU for highlighting what we consider to be the best cuisine in the world. Although the people that posted their comments are correct that Pegao is something that happens after you cook rice in a cast iron pot like our moms and grandmothers cooked, they failed to understand the homage you paid Puerto Rican cooking by creating a dish based on Pegao. I understood the spirit of the dish you created!!! It is not Puerto Rican cuisine, but it’s INSPIRED by it!!! Again, thanks for showcasing aspects of our cuisine, using local ingredients such as the local sausage, or Longaniza, to create something that can be labeled as Fusion cuisine. And to the people that went straight to criticizing what Gordon did, you really should give this world-renowned, 3-Michelin star chef a break and be happy that he was so excited about creating something out of burned rice, because that’s what PEGAO is!!!

I feel like a Mexican mom watching Rachel Ray cook pozole.

I feel like his skin is crisping up more than that chicken did.

I invite you to my kitchen where I will serve you an amazing Puertorican meal! I have never seen this dish. This isn't pegao!!!

New drinking game. Every time Gordan says "Beautiful" you take a shot.

I’m Puerto Rican. I heard of all the criticism he received for this. I decided to watch the video for myself, since people seem to get all up in arms for the most idiotic reasons. Well, it looks to me like he ate pegao, and he liked it. He thought it was delicious. Like any good artist, for his type of art, he was inspired and wanted to play with the concept (this is how new dishes get created!). He took into consideration all of the things about pegao that make it delicious, and he decided to elevated it, as he stated. Take it to the next level. Add something to the experience that wasn’t there before. As I was watching the video, I thought it looks like that would smell and taste amazing, while still allowing me to enjoy the flavor and texture of the origin pegao as it was introduced to me when I was little. Also, we used to throw a fried egg on top of our rice once in a while as an extra treat, so I see nothing wrong with that, I would love to try this dish. I am not offended, I see no reason to be offended. If anything, I appreciate that he was inspired by something so simple and so special, and he creatively came up with a way to make it fancier, more flavorful, and extra crispy. I will probably try to make this-and I can guarantee my parents will love it because they are not closed minded to this type of artistry as many others in our culture are. In fact, my mom has often taken inspiration from other cultures dishes and techniques and involved them in her own Puerto Rican cooking.

Gordon it looks like you combined P.R with Mex and Spanish paella, but that's not pegao

5:15 he almost made the Super Mario theme while chopping the garlic

Maaan I think my dude is high on a munchie trip lol He’s just whippin stuff together Out of all the Puerto Rican dishes he could’ve made He made this 🤦🏽

Pegao is just the rice that sticks to the bottom and sides of the pot that get crispy but I love that you made it into a whole dish 😭

"A touch of butter" he says ..puts the whole cow in it...😂

mmm... "Pehgaado" is made with fresh rice. The "Pegado" part is the rice that lightly burns and crisps at the bottom of the pot (no rice makers here). We scrape it and mix it with the other rice when serving. This still looks great and am a fan.

Pegao is mostly accidental, so if this ever happens to me by accident I'd be the happiest man alive cuz that looks delicious HAHAHH This was more like arroz mamposteao or amogollao, but it's ok Much love Gordon!

This comes to show that not everyone can make our type of food. I enjoy watching Gordon Ramsey but it’s a lot more than just cooking it’s about culture, it’s about cooking from the heart, it’s about taking recipes that have been passed down from generations to generations.

Its funny to see non Puerto Ricans telling Puerto Ricans that “this is his version of the dish” like…BRO! NOOOO! As a Puerto Rican this is not pegao! Pegao is NOT a dish! Learn the language and culture first and why we call it that. It literally means stuck rice. Its something that just happens after you cook lots of rice in a pot. The bottom layer gets stuck and crispy! This isnt something we make on purpose! Lol. Im sure what he made here taste great and all…but its NOT pegao! And just because he is a famous world renown chef does NOT mean he knows it all or what he’s talking about. Because this video literally proves that. No offense to him…but this aint it in the slightest dude.

Gordon literally made up a "Puerto Rican" dish, that's not my grandmother's pegao my guy, but we appreciate the love. 🇵🇷

I need a spell to summon Gordon anywhere in the world with his portable oven, table, and ingredients

I love how every major Puerto Rican RU-vidr has a reaction video to this one filled with utterly comedic levels of rage. Dude even caught the ire of Ironmouse.

So puertoricans did the impossible they made Gordon eat leftovers and he actually like it

Those waves are just from the sharks looking and licking their lips,waiting to eat that delicous meal,and Gordon.

I truly loved what Chef Ramsey did with the Rice. Listen I take leftover rice and throw in a wok with all these ingredients and Yes I have me some pegao with a twist. Love that you're thinking out of the box and turning leftovers into a beautiful tasty fancy dish.

He needs a Puerto Rican to do it right.

Take a shot everytime Gordon says, "Beautiful". Great drinking game, you'll be drunk in no time🤣.

"Just a touch of butter" *drops half a stick in the pan* 😂 🔥

What Mr. Ramsay Gordon made here is A CALENTAO with here in Ecuador is made with leftover rice and beans, additionally you can add steak or chicken with eggs… It all depends how big is your family or appetite at the time of breakfast…

My home chef son tells me that he is smart enough to turn the flame off and leave the rice covered up in the caldero, fifteen minutes before it is supposed to be done. He says the rice will keep cooking, and absorbing liquid, slowly even with the flame turned off, and the lid still on, during those last fifteen minutes. So the rice is basically resting for fifteen minutes in the still warm, covered, aluminum caldero. That is why we never get any pegao. His rice is perfect every time, and though it may stick a little bit together towards the bottom after the pot cools down, it is not brown or crunchy at all. His technique has eliminated pegao completely. I was not aware that some folks actually crave the crispy burnt parts called pegao. I guess its like people who like to eat burnt popcorn, or burnt toast. In my house though, we try not to burn stuff and thereby save ourselves the headache of fighting with the smoke alarm. I would like to add that your leftover rice recipe with eggs on top looks scrumptious. I am glad to see that no part of it looks burned. I checked the video at the end, to see if it was going to come out blackened, (like the pegao I have seen at some parties and baptisms), and I was relieved to see your dish looks very appetizing, and not burnt. But of course right? Gordon Ramsey' cooking is always top notch, and not burnt. :D.

As a Puerto Rican I never imagined Gordon Ramsay making a Puerto Rican dish on a beach in Puerto Rico. !! Thank you for this🇺🇸🇵🇷🇺🇸🇵🇷🇺🇸🇵🇷🇺🇸🇵🇷😎😎

Im Puerto Rican and I’ve never heard of this dish lmao

Gordon really "Grilled Cheese-ed" the hell out of this one.

My man literally made mamposteao and called it pegao lol. NONE OF THE RICE EVEN STUCK TO THE BOTTOM

Gordon…we’d like to personally thank and applaud whoever is managing the Kitchen Nightmares channel. Their taste in titles is immaculate, and on behalf of all, we believe that person deserves a raise, for keeping it alive.

Born and raised in Puerto Rico and I've never heard of this dish. It is not a staple.

I’ve never seen pegao made, after most of the rice is gone I’ve always heard people ask do you want the pegao referring to the hard rice at stuck to the bottom of the pot but never once have I heard of someone inviting me over for pegao

Uff that looks tasty. 100% sure that Chef Ramsay knows how "pegao" is made, he just did HIS version of it like the Chef he is. I for one think he is the coolest Chef in the world and he can do whatever variations of our Puerto Rican food anytime he wants. I don't mind AT ALL and I am not offended by his method or recipe. I mean, imagine having Chef freaking Ramsay cooking something inspired by our local food while in a beach and wearing sunglasses? 😆 I love that so much. In fact, I would have loved to taste his version of our "pegao" and give him my input, like he does in his show. Im sure his plate was "a 5" but maybe it was more like a "solid 3" 😂 Who knows!

'Pegao'(Sticky, rice sticks to the bottom of the pan) is just the result of cooking rice, its a left over some ppl eat, others throw it away. Never seen anybody actually making pegao on purpose. This video reminds me more of Arroz Mamposteado.

Gordan is one of my favorite celeb chefs to watch.. with that said.. you will not find this meal in any Puerto Rican home or restaurants.. Especially that butter part lol offensive to call it a local dish.. still got love for you Ramsay

This is not Pegao, it's some re-fried rice and beans mixed with they found in the fridge.

While obviously someone didn't do their research properly, it's also clear that Gordon is just doing what chefs do: putting his own spin on something they have tasted and liked. He actually says as much at the start of the video (even though at the end he does say that his dish is "beautiful Puerto Rican pegao," which we Puerto Ricans know it isn't... poor lamb; have a talk with your writer, lol). As a Puerto Rico born-and-raised avid home cook I didn't have a problem with what he made because I could tell it was his own dish he intended to make; it actually sounds delicious even if it looks messy. For praising the island to the heavens and clearly being an admirer of our products and our cuisine you get high marks, Gordon!

I can’t be the only one wondering just how many eggs Gordon has cracked throughout his career…?

*when your the best cook in the world and manage to mess up the easiest meal by adding too much*

Bruh, that ain't pegao, you just made fried-rice.

How to piss off a whole island in 8 mins lol

Me thinking he was gonna do arros con abichuelas or pollo guisado 🗿

Tiene que probar el Arroz com Gandules, Lechón a la Vara y los Pasteles de masa, eso si que es comida tradicional Puertorriqueña, saludos 🤟

Gordon Ramsay here: beautiful presentation, I can vizualise all the ingredients in this plate. Gordon Ramsay in kitchen nightmares: depressing, this looks like dog dinner.

Gordon said Make sure the beach is empty when we film so the locals don’t see me murder their cuisine 😂

Hell yeah! I'm Puerto Rican, and it's amazing to see this! Not sure that pegao is on it's own a staple recipe, but rather a by-product of making various other rice dishes (ex. arroz con gandules). Another weird quirk was several references to heat/spiciness. I think it's a common misconception that Puerto Rican food is spicy; I imagine because many people assume that anywhere Spanish is spoken, the food will be spicy. Nonetheless, great to see this!

I think if this was brought to him in hells kitchen he would say it looks like mud and spit it out

7:27 Hey, he even got a good 30 to 40 percent of the crust to come out when he inverted the pan! What is with this whole genre of "Gordon Ramsay doesn't know WTF he's doing?"

I am 100% Puerto Rican & I am also a fabulous cook. Never in my LIFE have I seen a mess like that on ANY Puerto Rican table. Gordon Ramsey, in the future investigate more before you cook. What you made is an insult to Puerto Rican cuisine!

You took what was the closest you ever came to real pagao and turned it into mediocre fried rice.

Notice how much Gordon describes everything he's excited about as 'beautiful'. He really has such a passion for food and cooking. I think that's why he gets so angry at chefs who just coast by, making disappointing food without any effort or care.

Pegao is not a dish. Its just what happens when we cook arroz con gandules, the rice that gets stuck on the bottom is what we eat after all the rice is finished. Its more of a leftover snack instead of a dish or a meal. But I guess it can be a dish now that Mr. Gordon Ramsay showed us the way

As a wise tungstenrat once said: "Pegao isnt something you make; its something that happens"

Not a traditional way of making mamposteao’, but it is appreciated anyway.

I'm puertorrican and even I dunno what this dish is. Appreciate the love though 🇵🇷

Mid way through the video I envisioned a slingshot catapulting Gordon into the ocean.

Gordon literally making a dish that has never plan to be actually made before lmao is just happens tbh 😂 This is our leftovers basically

Popular Opinion: Every single one of ya'll agreed that Gordon in Puerto Rico made our day:

30 years living in Puerto Rico, eating all over the island and I have never ever seen this... nor even on a restaurant! 😭😭😭😭😂😂 My life was a lie!

The truly hilarious thing is that because the pegao is a byproduct of just making rice normally, whoever sold him that rice in whatever cafeteria he got it nearby already has the pegao. He bought a bunch of planks to try to build a box like the one the planks came in.

All the people who said this isn't Peago, this is an "elevated version" of it.And let's be fucking real it probably tastes better than the original

I would love to try a meal from Gordon himself at some point in my life.

Gordon: Nice cooking The background music: **INTENSE METAL MUSIC**

Gordon. It's fucking *RAW*

Start of recipe: We are making XYZ..." End of cooking: "50 kg salt".

As a Puerto Rican honestly I never thought that Gordon Ramsay would go to Puerto Rico. It's awesome that he went to our island.

This isn't Pegao because Pegao isn't a dish you can make, Pegao is literally the crispy rice on the bottom of the pot from cooking Puerto Rican rice how we normally would. This is literally just some concoction he made that has crispy rice on the bottom. Real Puerto Ricans know the difference. 🇵🇷

Even though the beans are not separate!! This dish is more likely to be a "Mamposteao". "Pegao" is the crispy bottom part of the cooked rice. 😊

Gordon really is one of the greatest chefs and restaurant owners there has ever been. He worked hard and put everything on the line when he opened his first restaurant. He deserves all the success and so much more. I love the way he takes dishes and makes them his own. All chefs restaurant owners could learn so much from his business plans

Chef Ramsey is way too brave, because we are in summer and he doesn't mind to film under the sun.

This looks like Gordon's take on "Mampostea'o a Caballo" .

I would eat this, but it is true Pegao is more just a name for the "burnt" leftover rice at the bottom of the pot. Some in my family really enjoy it others not so much.

Man he made that peasant dish spectacular! I usually just break off a small chip of pecao and eat it. Gordon made a whole delicious dish out of it. I'm impressed!

Sir you might be a chef but you can’t make “pegao” because we don’t make it out of left over rice and beans.

Plain and simple. This is not “pegao” but I guess since he has so many followers some may believe it is. Anyway, I will eat this dish in a heartbeat.

Puerto Rican, pegao is when the white rice is fully cooked and the sticky part of the rice is stuck in the bottom of the pan. That's pegao.

5:10 When he chops the garlic it sounds like Super Mario Bros.