Cookbooks

[swissmiss]

Thank you for your fascinating answers so far. I am also amazed by the photos on your website.

Do you use/read cookbooks? If yes, which ones do you favor and why?

[Heston Blumenthal]

Thanks, there have been some great questions.

I really don't read that many cookbooks now. I used to, with a vengance. I have somethingn the region of six hundred cookbooks but the ones that fascinate me at the moment are Food,the science of its components by Dr Tom Coultate, The mind and emotion by Prof. Ed Rolls and I loved reading The man who thought his wife was a hat by Oliver Sacks. This last book is a collection of case studies of people who have lost their sixth sense or the sense of propreoception.

This is, in effect our on board computer and what pulls our whole functional system together. Current work on the perception of flavour is focusing on this sense and this is one area that I am fascinated in.

I am also really interested in historical recipes.

The Vivendier, the recipes from Taillevent, the chef to the Palais Royal in Paris in the 13th Century makes fascinating reading as in it he serves dishes that "trick" the palate.

It really is amazing just how many things in cooking have been around in some shape or form for hundreds of years.

I also try and stay up to date with the publication of research papers on anything that I think could be relavent.