| Heston Blumenthal |
Article Index for Heston |
Website Links For Heston |
Information AboutHeston Blumenthal |
|
BIOGRAPHY Apart from a week's work experience in Raymond Blanc 's kitchen, Blumenthal is self-taught. He even taught himself French while translating French cookery books. According to an interview with '' The Observer '' in 2004, he has only been cooking "seriously" for about ten years. He is a regular contributor to '' The Sunday Times '' and formerly wrote for '' The Guardian ''. His book, ''In Search of Perfection'', was published in 2006 and is tied in with a television series of the same name, in which he attempts to find the best way of preparing eight classic dishes, including Fish And Chips and Black Forest Gateau . He also has a cooking series on Discovery Science called "Kitchen Chemistry with Heston Blumenthal". Blumenthal is a devotee of Neuro-linguistic Programming 1, and lists Kickboxing as one of his hobbies2. COOKING METHODS Blumenthal is a steadfast proponent of molecular gastronomy, going so far as to open his own research and development kitchen in early 2004. He is known for cooking with 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 also uses blowtorches for quick searing and has experimented with personal sound Amplification systems to enhance the sounds, such as the crunch, created while eating various foods. Blumenthal is a proponent of Ultra-slow Cooking , whereby a joint of meat is cooked for up to 24 hours at a low temperature in order 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). Blumenthal recommends the use of an oven thermometer for this process, as the heat control of most ovens cannot be trusted at low temperatures. Ultra-slow cooking produces no excess fat, making the creation of gravy impossible, to which Blumenthal argues that gravy is unnecessary, since the meat is sufficiently moist on its own when cooked in this way. Over the years Blumenthal has collaborated with many scientists such as Dr. 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, and Professor Don Mottram of the University Of Reading , which recently awarded Heston with an honorary degree. Blumenthal's trademark dishes include Bacon -and- Egg Ice Cream , and Snail Porridge . Other examples are oyster and passionfruit jelly with lavender, triple-cooked chips, and poached breast of Anjou pigeon with pancetta. REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS
|
|
|