How to Cook Like Heston (TV GB)

[Shalmanese]

Did he cook that steak in a non-stick pan? Seems pretty dangerous to heat non stick the way he was advising. Also, how hot could the pan have been if the oil in it wasn't even smoking (even grapeseed oil can't get above 500F).

I would have thought a decent non-stick pan would be OK?

All Teflon coated pans will become dangerous if they exceed 500F which can quite easily happen with a dry pan.

With a dry pan, yes, but in a pan with a good layer of oil as per in the TV show I'm not sure it would be an issue?

I went back and looked carefully at the scene again and it does seem like he had oil in the pan the entire time. However, there's no shot or instruction of him ever putting oil in the pan and every camera angle is low enough that you can't see the bottom. Furthermore, he explicitly advises people to ignore their gut instincts and make the pan hotter than they think. I think all in all, if people end up following his advice, it's going to end up in a lot of ruined teflon pans.

[rotuts]

I agree.

the teflon on this dish does not help.

a steel pan would have worked.

[jmolinari]

how are people in the US watching this show? What british channel is it on here? Didn't see it on BBC america

[emannths]

how are people in the US watching this show? What british channel is it on here? Didn't see it on BBC america

Looks like some of the episodes are on youtube (beef episode, most of the egg episode). It looks like it's also available over peer-to-peer services like bittorrent.

[Broken English]

how are people in the US watching this show? What british channel is it on here? Didn't see it on BBC america

Looks like some of the episodes are on youtube (beef episode, most of the egg episode). It looks like it's also available over peer-to-peer services like bittorrent.

I'm using a torrent.

[Bricktop]

uknova.com is a good source for torrents of British telly.

[jmolinari]

thanks. foudn them on some torrents.

[LesleyC]

Had the Oxtail & Kidney Pudding for dinner tonight. Was very nice, but I think I would prefer to take the star anise out before everything going in the pressure pot. Didn't burn off the alcohol fumes either, because I couldn't find any long matches, and kinda like my fingers.

Worth making again at some point.

[Shalmanese]

I've never heard of using skim milk powder to enhance maillard reactions. Does anyone have any more info on this? It sounds really interesting.

[ChrisZ]

I've never heard of using skim milk powder to enhance maillard reactions. Does anyone have any more info on this? It sounds really interesting.

Bakers have been adding milk powder to doughs for decades because of this, the milk powders make the bread softer and give it a more consistent golden brown colour - the colour and flavour of bread are the result of maillard reactions. A quick google search found this pdf with a few bits of information in there.

A baker I worked with told me that there was a period (around the 50s) where so much milk powder was being added to bread doughs that they started referring to the product as "milk bread". However powdered milk is expensive, and eventually large bakeries found other products that did the same thing, but were much cheaper - including soy flour. So although there are loads of bread recipes out there that include powdered milk as an ingredient, large commercial bakeries will be using cheaper alternatives.

[Dakki]

What a good episode. I enjoyed the use of props in the other eps, but it always reminded me of Good Eats, maybe a bit too much.

The powdered milk tip looks (to borrow Heston's favorite word) brilliant. I'll be trying it on a small batch of stock as soon as I accumulate enough bird trimmings. Chicken wings are expensive here.

What's eG's consensus on making stock in a pressure cooker?

[Shalmanese]

It's pretty much superior in every way (except that you're limited by the size of your cooker and you're likely to have a bigger pot than cooker). Tests by the Cooking Issues guys suggest that covered cookers like the Kuhn Rikon do a better job that venting ones.

[Broken English]

What I don't get is why Marco Pierre White insists there is no difference between conventional and pressure cooked stocks.

I'm really enjoying this series, it's quite a good spin on those traditional home cooking shows, even if it does diverge into the obscure every now and again.

[olicollett]

What I don't get is why Marco Pierre White insists there is no difference between conventional and pressure cooked stocks.

I'm really enjoying this series, it's quite a good spin on those traditional home cooking shows, even if it does diverge into the obscure every now and again.

Marco appears on TV ads for Knorr stock - not sure he's much of an authority on the subject!

[_john]

the color of that potted cheese was really off putting.

[Broken English]

What I don't get is why Marco Pierre White insists there is no difference between conventional and pressure cooked stocks.

I'm really enjoying this series, it's quite a good spin on those traditional home cooking shows, even if it does diverge into the obscure every now and again.

Marco appears on TV ads for Knorr stock - not sure he's much of an authority on the subject!

Well yeah, but stock powders have their uses. Still, you'd think a three star chef who was obsessed with perfection could tell the difference.

I enjoyed tonights episode though, the cheese sauce recipe is definitely one I'll be adding to my repertoire.

[olicollett]

What I don't get is why Marco Pierre White insists there is no difference between conventional and pressure cooked stocks.

I'm really enjoying this series, it's quite a good spin on those traditional home cooking shows, even if it does diverge into the obscure every now and again.

Marco appears on TV ads for Knorr stock - not sure he's much of an authority on the subject!

Well yeah, but stock powders have their uses. Still, you'd think a three star chef who was obsessed with perfection could tell the difference.

I enjoyed tonights episode though, the cheese sauce recipe is definitely one I'll be adding to my repertoire.

This could be a more reasonable explanation as to why:

http://www.cookingissues.com/2009/11/22/pressure-cooked-stocks-we-got-schooled/

Wrong pressure cooker perhaps?

Anyway, yeah it was interesting with the info about different melting points of different cheeses and the effect on texture

[emannths]

For anyone interested in this show having trouble viewing it, it looks like youtube user zodiacza1 is consistently uploading the episodes to Youtube.

[Dakki]

Is UK "cornflour" US "cornstarch"? Heston seems to be using the second in the cheese sauce, although he calls it "flour."

Also, Julia Child (in Mastering the Art) seems to think pressure cookers are no good for stock. Can anyone clarify why the difference in opinion?

[olicollett]

Is UK "cornflour" US "cornstarch"? Heston seems to be using the second in the cheese sauce, although he calls it "flour."

Yes

Also, Julia Child (in Mastering the Art) seems to think pressure cookers are no good for stock. Can anyone clarify why the difference in opinion?

She's wrong, but there is a caveat - see the link to cooking issues i posted 2 posts ago.

Oh and if that, along with Heston's approval is not enough - they advocate using pressure cookers in Modernist Cuisine

Edited February 8, 2012 by olicollett (log)

[nickrey]

Someone from a traditional pedigree probably told Julia that and it has become lore. This really encapsulates a lot of what the self-taught Heston is about: kicking old cooks tales into touch.

[olicollett]

Someone from a traditional pedigree probably told Julia that and it has become lore. This really encapsulates a lot of what the self-taught Heston is about: kicking old cooks tales into touch.

It's amazing how much of this kitchen lore is passed around without question. I spent ages trying to demonstrate to someone why the steak flipping method (as advocated by Heston, McGee et al.) is superior to get a more even cooking and he just said "well that's your opinion".

A lot of taste is of course subjective, and we don't have to be completely reductionist, but we can at least demonstrate, using science, that certain methods are going to produce more consistent results that will work