Keith_W

Beautiful effort Scottyboy! I had a look at your blog ... no wonder your food looks so good, you are a chef! Puts us home cooks to shame Blether I love the crumbly pastry on your Cornish pasty. It looks perfect. Mind sharing the recipe?

Hi inductioncook - no he doesn't. The title of the Heston book is "Heston Blumenthal at Home". I have read it cover to cover, and it does not call for any exotic equipment or ingredients. His ice cream recipe does call for dry ice, and he does suggest using gelatin filtration for making consommes. Both are fairly advanced techniques but not beyond the scope of a home cook. If you want "state of the art procedure" ... either get The Fat Duck Cookbook, or Modernist Cuisine.

Heidi, over here chicken are sold without the feet - but I agree that they make a wonderful source of gelatin for stock. I tend to save the chicken winglet tips for the same purpose! I have a bag of frozen chicken offcuts. My top two uses for them are for making stock, and as sacrificial chicken pieces for my BBQ.

Mallet, if you think about it ... the vast majority of cookbooks don't offer anything new either. I am fed up of cookbooks that tell you to cook to time instead of temperature, measure ingredients by volume instead of weight, and ESPECIALLY cookbooks that tell you to open a tub of bought ice cream. I don't need a cookbook to tell me to open a tub of ice cream ... do you? The truth is, close to 95% of the cookbooks in the market aren't worth the paper they are printed on. How is a Nigella roast chicken recipe different to a Jamie Oliver roast chicken recipe? I can tell you how the Heston recipe is different - he follows best practice, educates you about a chicken roast, and tells you to cook to temperature.

Chris, I think that everyone knows how to take their own shortcuts when it is warranted. I don't always go to the trouble of making my own ice-cream, even when a recipe calls for it. Everyone has enough common sense to know when to take a shortcut when they know they are short of time. I just don't expect a cookbook written by the world's greatest chef to do it. At the very least, he could have said "Vanilla ice cream (see p240) or store-bought". That is acceptable. You actually learn how to cook with Heston's book. He goes through all the steps, explains the reasons, and tells you what happens if you were tempted to take a shortcut. Not so here - the instructions remind me of Airfix instructions. And even I know that many of the things he tells you to do are not "best practice" ... it is what you do when you are pressed for time, and not concerned with ultimate results. I suspect I am not alone on this forum in wanting the absolute best. I will go to great lengths to source the best produce, and cook the best food. A cookbook that tells me to open a tub of ice cream does not cut it.

I bought this book at the same time as the new Heston book. What a contrast - where Heston has modified his recipes for home use by omitting some modernist ingredients and leaving out specialist equipment, Ferran Adria's book uses shortcuts. Heston's book is doable by any home cook who has the commitment to attempt his multiple step recipes, but you can tell that each recipe has been carefully formulated with a keen eye for detail. Now for Ferran Adria's book. I was gobsmacked to see that his potato straw recipe was ... open a pack of potato straws! Likewise, his basil and tomato salad recipe was a complete joke. Here it is: peel and slice tomatoes, then add EVOO, salt, vinegar, and basil. Or take his Mandarins and Cointreau recipe - juice mandarins, add Cointreau, drizzle over mandarin segments, add vanilla ice-cream (you guessed it ... the recipe was: open a tub of vanilla ice-cream), and serve. His roast chicken recipe does not tell you what temperature to cook the chicken to, nor does it even tell you to brine the chicken. Heston's recipe is the complete opposite - Heston will have you fussing over your chicken for 24 hours before finishing it with the precision of a scientist. After reading this book I can't help but think he is taking the piss out of us. What new insights does this book have to offer? None! Avoid, save your money.

I think it is a cultural thing - many people find undercooked white fish repulsive, yet have no problem with eating salmon and tuna with pink centres.

To be honest that risotto looks a bit dry to me. Did you follow the recipe exactly?

Hi Foodman, I made 3 fillets - the one pictured above was John Dory, the other two were Rockling and Flathead. Not sure if these fish are available in the USA ... they may be unique to Australia.

Tonight I made the Fish and Chips from MC. The chips were supposed to be the Pommes Souffle, but as you can see from the photo - the chips failed to puff up - despite following the instructions EXACTLY - down to sourcing Russett potatoes (very rare in Australia at this time of the year!), the 30 minute ice water soak and the two stage frying at the recommended temperatures. Thank goodness I had more potatoes and decided to play it safe by making the Blumenthal triple cooked chips recipe. The fish batter was much more of a success. I skipped the fish stock gel and coated the fish in Trisol. Yes, I actually went and bought a 5kg bucket of Trisol so that I could use 100gm for this recipe! My other variation was to use beer instead of water (as recommended) in the batter. The moment the fish and batter hit the hot oil, it puffed up like you wouldn't believe. The batter was the crunchiest I have EVER tasted, and the fish nestled within was beautifully moist. I wonder what it would have been like if I made the fish stock gel ...

So far the pics look pretty enticing ... keep us updated!

Now that I think about your post a little, I am not sure what you mean by "stay in shape". Are you hoping to pipe the eggs so that they have a sculpted look, like icing? The eggs I get using the MC technique have the consistency of whipped cream, which is still a tad too thick for my taste. This is why I cook the eggs at 71C instead of the recommended 72C - I prefer the looser texture. I think if you want a thicker texture, try 73C or 74C.

The MC version calls for the egg mixture to be cooked at 72C for 35 minutes, then held in the ISI whipper at 65C. I don't think it would be fair on them if I gave you the exact recipe, but it is very close to the Ideas in Food mixture.

Hi Dan, as long as the alcohol is cooked off it should cause no problems with your wife's pregnancy. Enjoy

I heard that the original version of the Caesar salad had no anchovies because the Worcestershire sauce used to make it had more anchovies in it back then. They have since changed the recipe for the Worcestershire, so we now need to add anchovies ...

Must say I am partial to a good panzanella myself

Beautiful looking food there scottyboy ... what filter are you using on your camera? Looks like some kind of soft focus plugin for an iPhone?

Last night I had a dinner party! Here were the courses: I revisited the mushroom omelette recipe from Modernist Cuisine. ... then served a duck l'orange, but with blood orange. The duck leg was cooked sous-vide as per MC. The potato is Thomas Keller's potato pave from Ad Hoc at Home. dcarch note the pale green stems on the carrots - in contrast to the vivid green of yours! I tried microwaving a carrot but I wasn't sure how I would go with a big batch of carrots so I didn't risk it. I cooked the carrots sous-vide with butter. ... dessert was a simple cream caramel. Not shown were pictures of the wine consumed nor the inebriated guests who could barely walk to their taxi. Tonight, I had a couple of friends over. I was still feeling hung over from last night's dinner so the last thing I wanted was anything rich. What better food to make than "steamboat" - also known as Chinese hot pot. An aromatic broth is made from pork bones, chinese cabbage, ginger, and various dried herbs. Raw food is dipped into the boiling broth to cook. The broth gets richer as the evening progresses. This is normally a simple dinner, but I could not resist the urge to make it look pretty! Chicken, wontons, tofu, stuffed tofu, bitter gourd, okra, and shaved beef. Yes, that is raw chicken and raw beef. Don't worry it's perfectly safe - everything will be boiled. Veggies were chrysanthemum leaves, choy sum, and Chinese cabbage. Dried tofu, fried tofu, and more wontons. Noodles and eggs.

Thanks for posting, ChrisZ. I have had my eye on this recipe as well, but I was wary about the ratio of the parmesan to the pasta. Chris Hennes also complained that the parmesan was too intense, and indeed it looks as if there is way too much parmesan for that amount of pasta. Perhaps if we laid cooked spaghetti into the parmesan block, it would cut down the intensity of the parmesan? The name "carbonara" comes from the black pepper, which looks like flakes of carbon on the plate. Perhaps a squid ink spaghetti laid into the parmesan block could replicate the look. Did you take any pictures of your effort? I could have a lot of fun with this. Maybe I will try it later in the week! (edit) Over the weekend I had another shot at making the MC mushroom omelette. Result: Apart from over-filling the omelette and ruining the aesthetics of the dish, I was very happy with the result. This time, I made the omelette skin one day in advance. I laid them on top of each other, seperated by some baking paper. To reheat, I wrapped the whole thing in foil and put it in the oven at 80C for 20 minutes. I served it on a warm plate. THIS time, the skin was beautifully tender. The other variation was the mushroom puree. The last time I made this, the puree turned out brownish instead of black as it appears in the book. I had to cheat by using some squid ink. This time, the puree was made from 100% mushroom gills. It worked!

Your images are too small to see the characters properly. If you would care to repost an image of the buttons in a larger size, I can forward the image to a friend who will be able to read it for you. My Chinese is pretty elementary. In the group of 8 buttons, the first button in the top group on the left says "beans". The 3rd button from the left says "meat". The last button in the top group says "chicken". In the bottom row of buttons, the second from the left says "fish".

A chocolate fondant, perhaps? http://www.masterchef.com.au/chocolate-fondant-with-amaretto-milkshake.htm

Simple, I cook them in the microwave with only the carrot part covered. I am sorry, I don't understand. If you cover the carrot part only - won't the uncovered part cook quicker? What do you use to cover it?

Here in Australia, we call sirloin steaks "Porterhouse". I have had arguments with people telling them that a real Porterhouse steak is a T-bone with the fillet left on. They insist that "Porterhouse" is a sirloin. Don't believe me? Take a look at this! I have given up arguing. When I want a Porterhouse steak, I ask the butcher to cut me a T-bone with the fillet left on.

Hi John, the seeds can be boiled or roasted. It is high in starch and protein. After cooking, remove the skin and eat it like a potato - or cut it up and use it as an ingredient in another dish - e.g. curries, soup, etc. Yes it is good, but not as good as the flesh

dcarch - beautiful presentation as usual. One question - how did you cook the baby carrots so that the stems were still green? Normally when I try that they turn an unappetizing dark olive colour.