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Blumenthal: In Search of Perfection

tony h

By tony h
in Food Media & Arts

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Tim Hayward

Tim Hayward

Posted
Posted
Tim

Lol and, indeed, rofl.

Actually, now we've descended to the entirely infantile I'm thinking of going the whole way.

How about 'Celebrity Chef Trading Cards'. We could stand in little knots in the corners of the playground.

"My Heston Blumenthal could have your Gordon Ramsay any day. Look, he does kickboxing and Ramsay only does angry punchups"

"Yeah, but my Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall beats him on silly ingredients plus he's got the second most stupid hair after Gary Rhodes and HB is just a baldy"

It's a ridiculous idea, of course, (though, just to be clear, my Fergus Henderson, beats HB on stupid glasses and HFW on stupid ingredients).... maybe we should start a 'my chef's better than yours' thread somewhere.

Tim Hayward

"Anyone who wants to write about food would do well to stay away from

similes and metaphors, because if you're not careful, expressions like

'light as a feather' make their way into your sentences and then where are you?"

Nora Ephron

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camp_dick

camp_dick

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Posted
We should be celebrating Heston, his is an inspirational rags to riches story that gives hope to millions of deprived youngsters. From a poverty stricken one bedroomed flat with all the family in the same bed on the mean streets of Paddington, becoming a champion kick-boxing to survive, and using his muscular body to earn a living the only way he knew how by debt collecting. Selling everything he owned to eat in the great restaurants of the world, and then, with no formal training, buying and refurbishing a former 12th century pub, which he has made into the undispitued number one restaurant in the world, and on the way inventing molecular gastronomy and revolutionizng cuisine!
That's not exactly how Heston tells it himself you sarky clart.
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muichoi

muichoi

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Yes-and I suppose it's extravagant for the home cook to have two separate oil baths on the go. It did look rather good, though. The chips are easy, and indeed with modern potatoes this is about the only way to make them. Turbot is a dubious choice, partly on economic grounds but mostly because I think that this noble fish deserves to be cooked with its bones. I'm going to have to try that batter-though I imagine that 300ml of vodka must leave quite a lot of taste behind. Presumably pure alcohol would be even more effective.

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Matthew Grant

Matthew Grant

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The fillets he initially used from the Turbot looked way too thin to me, later it looked like he had swiched to thicker slices across the body. The proportion of batter to fish looked too much to me as well, visually appealing perhaps but I prefer my batter a little thinner. Chips looked (and indeed taste) very good.

"Why would we want Children? What do they know about food?"

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offcentre

offcentre

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I liked the look of the chips. Too much batter on the fish for me but definitely something I could attempt at home and this would be easy to modigy.

Was intersting, I watched this program with my wife last night and she couldn't believe what she was seeing - thought the whole thing was a total waste of time and money and completely ridiculous to go to such lengths.

I thought it was interesting and no more worthy dish to be examined in such detail.

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Zoticus

Zoticus

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I've never liked Heston's chips, they're sort of chip shaped roast potatoes, but then that's just me and what do I know.

I must admit that I am a little sad knowing that this remarkable TV milestone is more than half way through, but something I saw this morning cheered me up. I must admit to thinking that Heston was missing something, and before Timmy chimes in it wasn't charisma, no, I felt he was missing a catchphrase, something uniquely Heston. Well, whadda ya know! I've just heard some youngsters imploring each other to " Look at the chocolate! Look at the chocolate!" like in the opening sequence.

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Tim Hayward

Tim Hayward

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Well, whadda ya know! I've just heard some youngsters imploring each other to " Look at the chocolate! Look at the chocolate!" like in the opening sequence.

Amazing isn't it?

It's almost like there's some kind of viral campaign.

Keep wishing, Zotty. You might get a pony for Christmas :biggrin:

Tim Hayward

"Anyone who wants to write about food would do well to stay away from

similes and metaphors, because if you're not careful, expressions like

'light as a feather' make their way into your sentences and then where are you?"

Nora Ephron

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Zoticus

Zoticus

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Posted
Well, whadda ya know! I've just heard some youngsters imploring each other to " Look at the chocolate! Look at the chocolate!" like in the opening sequence.

Amazing isn't it?

It's almost like there's some kind of viral campaign.

Keep wishing, Zotty. You might get a pony for Christmas :biggrin:

I don't understand this.

Anyway I think it's great that Heston's down with the kids, although I'm not surprised because Heston Blumenthal:In search of Perfection is a bit like Blue Peter (but not the episodes with John Leslie obviously)

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Zoticus

Zoticus

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Do you deep fry your roast potatoes?

I normally roast them. All I'm saying, and I'm not criticising, is that I'm not sure His chips are perfect. Lots of people I know like chip shop chips which are different, and not huge crunchy chips that cost 50p each. I don't think Heston has taken the widespread love of chips into account and really His chips are just the way He thinks chips should be. In fact if a chippie in Middlesborough started serving Heston chips he'd probably go out of business quite fast.

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Andy Lynes

Andy Lynes

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In fact if a chippie in Middlesborough started serving Heston chips he'd probably go out of business quite fast.

Or Brighton. I don't want crisp on the outside, fluffy on the inside chips with my large cod and mushy peas, I want a huge mound of soggy, fatty potato goodness. Everyone knows Heston's method, the real mystery is how British chippies manage to avoid serving crisp chips, even when they are forced to hand over a portion that's come straight out of the fryer and not languished for that all important period in the hot cupboard. That's real culinary magic.

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Matthew Grant

Matthew Grant

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Now there you have a point, similar to the one I made earlier about the mash potato with the sausages. Why do they show the clips at the beginning of people describing their perfect version of whatever he is cooking that day and then he goes and cooks a completely different version? The sausage and mash and Fish and chips demonstrate this well. Most people suggested haddock or cod so Heston persists in using Turbot. Everybody says smooth mash, sausages with texture so Heston does it the other way around. :wacko:

"Why would we want Children? What do they know about food?"

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muichoi

muichoi

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In fact if a chippie in Middlesborough started serving Heston chips he'd probably go out of business quite fast.

Or Brighton. I don't want crisp on the outside, fluffy on the inside chips with my large cod and mushy peas, I want a huge mound of soggy, fatty potato goodness. Everyone knows Heston's method, the real mystery is how British chippies manage to avoid serving crisp chips, even when they are forced to hand over a portion that's come straight out of the fryer and not languished for that all important period in the hot cupboard. That's real culinary magic.

Andy, can you make reliably crisp chips from fresh potatoes at home? I now find it almost impossible with modern potatoes, whether the way they are grown or stored I don't know. This is I think the real reason for Heston's method, which works reliably. Nor do I know a single london restaurant where successful chips are made-this is becoming a gastronomic holy grail. The Potato council are very unhelpful.

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Corinna Dunne

Corinna Dunne

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I really enjoyed the show. And I couldn't stop laughing everytime I thought of the Guardian article.

Heston looked quite comfortable, and I think his charisma could be a slow burn (quite appropriately long time low temperature). He really comes across as such a nice guy that I can forgive the "where is the fish delivery" fillers. I think the music works too. I'm even getting used to the Bond bubbles...

It's very entertaining. I hope there's another series.

Corinna Hardgrave aka "Corinna Dunne"

CorinaHardgrave Twitter

https://corinnahardgrave.wordpress.com/

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Tim Hayward

Tim Hayward

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He reminds me of the comedian Harry Hill.

He reminds me of Chuck Norris, only sexier, and without hair or a beard.

LOL

I'm watching it now on Sky+.

You're dead right. He's funny, talented and really at fun to watch. Dammit, the man is even sexy. :laugh:

But I still think the producers should be taken out and shot and I still want to know where he's going from here.

Edited by Tim Hayward (log)

Tim Hayward

"Anyone who wants to write about food would do well to stay away from

similes and metaphors, because if you're not careful, expressions like

'light as a feather' make their way into your sentences and then where are you?"

Nora Ephron

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