Heston Blumenthal
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| Born | May 27, 1966 High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom |
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| Cooking style | Molecular Gastronomy |
| Education | Self-taught |
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Current restaurant(s)
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Television show(s)
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| Official Website | |
Heston Blumenthal OBE (born May 27, 1966 in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire) is the chef and owner of The Fat Duck, a three-Michelin-starred restaurant in the village of Bray in Berkshire voted Best Restaurant in the UK by the Good Food Guide 2007. Blumenthal (pronounced /ˈbluːmənˌθɔːl/) is famous for his scientific approach and has been described as a culinary alchemist for his innovative style of cooking.
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[edit] Biography
Heston Blumenthal attended the John Hampden Grammar School, High Wycombe. Apart from a week's work experience in Raymond Blanc's kitchen, he is self-taught. According to an interview with The Observer in 2004, he has been cooking "seriously" since the mid-1990s.
Blumenthal has 3 books published: Family Food "A new approach to cooking" in 2004, "Heston Blumenthal: In Search of Perfection" in 2006 and "Heston Blumenthal: Further Adventures In Search of Perfection" in 2007, in which he attempts to find the best way of preparing classic dishes, including fish and chips and Black Forest gateau. His traditional British cuisine is served at the Hinds Head Hotel near the Fat Duck. He is due to release the first book from the Fat Duck, The Big Fat Duck Cook Book in October 2008, edited by Bloomsbury.
In 2005 he produced a series of six half-hour television programmes called Kitchen Chemistry with Heston Blumenthal which were transmitted on Discovery Science along with a book Kitchen chemistry, published by Royal Society of Chemistry and distributed to 6000 schools in the UK and Ireland. This was followed by two more series (with much higher production values) called Heston Blumenthal: In Search of Perfection and "Heston Blumenthal: Further Adventures In search of Perfection" in which he created dishes based on but different from British favourites like (series 1, 7 episodes) bangers & mash, fish & chips and spag bol etc.) and (series 2, 8 episodes) chicken tikka masala, hamburgers and peking duck.
Blumenthal signed a two-year deal with Channel 4 in March 2008, joining the channel's roster of celebrity chefs which already included Jamie Oliver, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Gordon Ramsay. It was reported that he had agreed to revamp the menu at a Little Chef motorway restaurant with his recipe ideas to be introduced in all 193 outlets and that this would be broadcast on Channel 4. [1]
Blumenthal is a devotee of neuro-linguistic programming,[2] and lists kickboxing as one of his hobbies, although in another interview he mentioned that he gave this up due to a back operation.[3]
In the Chili Con Carne episode of the series In Search of Perfection he said that he was unable to participate in the MRI study of chili's effect on the brain as he had a metal plate inserted in his back after hurting it falling off a roof at the age of ten. [4]
[edit] Cooking methods
Blumenthal is a proponent of modern cooking; he opened his own research and development kitchen in early 2004.
One of his signature techniques is the use of a vacuum jar to increase expansion of bubbles during food preparation. This is used in such dishes as an aerated chocolate soufflé–like dessert. The low air pressure inside the jar causes bubbles to grow to a larger size. He has experimented with amplification to enhance the sounds, such as the crunch, created while eating various foods.
Blumenthal is a proponent of low temperature, ultra–slow cooking, whereby a joint of meat is cooked for up to 24 hours so as to contain the fat content whilst preventing collagen molecules from re-forming within the meat. In his In Search of Perfection series, he cooks a Bresse chicken at 60 degrees Celsius (165 degrees Fahrenheit). Ultra-slow cooking does not melt the fat or release many juices, making the creation of gravy impossible, but Blumenthal says that gravy is unnecessary as the meat itself is sufficiently moist.
[edit] Signature dishes
Blumenthal's trademark dishes include:
[edit] Collaborations
Blumenthal has collaborated with scientists, including:
- Professor Peter Barham, Reader in Physics at Bristol University and author of the book The Science of Cooking
- Dr. Charles Spence, an experimental psychologist at the University of Oxford, with whom he collaborated in experiments with the use of headphones during eating
- Professor Andy Taylor at the University of Nottingham with whom Blumenthal has sponsored a PhD studentship
- Professors Don Mottram and Margot Gosney of the University of Reading, which recently awarded Heston an honorary degree
[edit] References
- ^ "Heston Blumenthal to transform Little Chef - Daily Telegrah News". Retrieved on 2008-03-27.
- ^ "Like a kid in a sweet shop: the use of generative metaphor". Retrieved on 2006-12-10.
- ^ "Independent Online: Britain's richest chefs". Retrieved on 2006-12-10.
- ^ "Daily Mail: Heston Blumenthal I injected my head chef with a dangerous dose of chilli oil".
[edit] External links
- Official website of the Fat Duck restaurant
- Blumenthal's biography
- Heston Blumenthal's column in The Times
- The Hinds Head Hotel
- Heston Blumenthal recipes at www.bbc.co.uk
- An interview in the Observer newspaper, 2004
- Guardian newspaper article on Blumenthal's collaborations with academics
- Heston Blumenthal profile on CatererSearch (Named 3rd most influential chef in the UK in 2005)
- 'The Molecular Gastronomer to the Best Restaurant in the World' Rachel Edward-Stuart Freeview 'Snapshot' video by the Vega Science Trust.
- Heston Blumenthal's Desert Island Discs
- Appearance on Irish television Part 1 of The Panel on RTÉ
