Dishes full of dosh

Gordon Ramsay is leader of the chef rich-list with a fortune of £67 million.

If you're any good in the kitchen, it might be worth making a career out of it. Cooking, it seems, is a fast track to fortune. That's if you're any good with a pot and pan, of course, and not shy of television cameras.

Throw in a book or two a year, open a couple of restaurants and you can join the generation of superstar chefs for whom all of this adds to a recipe of riches.

British newspaper the Independent has released its chef rich list, and heading the pack is Gordon Ramsay, awarded the most Michelin stars in Britain (seven). Television earnings, book sales and restaurant turnover were all taken into consideration for the list.

Ramsay, who is worth £67 million ($198 million), has nine restaurants in London and two in Japan and Dubai. He is expected to expand into the United States with restaurants in New York and Florida in October. He has also written 12 books and starred in five television shows.

Naked Chef Jamie Oliver comes second. A string of television shows and books, as well as his advertising deal with British food retailer Sainsburys, estimated to earn him £1 million a year, means he is worth £58 million.

Rick Stein, one of the BBC's biggest stars and worth £36 million according to the Independent, rounds out the top three. His empire includes a restaurant, 33-bed hotel, cookery school, bistro, cafe, fish and chip shop and patisserie.

In fourth place is Delia Smith.

The 65-year-old chef, worth £25 million, re-acquainted Britain with good cooking. She has produced a whopping 30 books in as many years and featured in several television shows.

Antony Worrall Thompson comes fifth on the list. Worth £21 million, the chef has had a long TV career with Ready Steady Cook and So You Think You Can Cook, and owns five restaurants.

Rounding out the top 10 are the original celebrity chef Marco Pierre White (£10 million) in sixth place, Gary Rhodes (£8 million) seventh, Raymond Blanc (£7 million) in eighth, Nigella Lawson (£3 million) ninth, and Heston Blumenthal (£2 million) tenth.