2024 Author: Jasmine Walkman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 08:29
Heston Blumenthal is a chef, owner of one of the most famous restaurants in the world and is often called a culinary alchemist. The Englishman is a supporter of the culinary trend of molecular gastronomy, which is actually a combination of cooking and chemistry. His seemingly strange ideas about food and its preparation can be read in the articles he writes, in the books he has or in the shows he hosts.
Blumenthal was born in 1966 in London, and his passion for cooking began at the age of 16. Then, together with his parents, he visited the Michelin star French restaurant L'Oustau de Baumanière.
He shares that he felt truly captivated by the whole experience - not only the taste of the food, but the whole atmosphere contributed to a person to be able to truly enjoy the food. At that moment, Heston realized that he definitely wanted to be a part of this world and after graduating from school he started an internship in a restaurant.
In just a week, however, Heston realizes that this is not his dream - he needed more freedom, so he leaves. He began to engage in various activities in the following years, and in the evenings he educated himself for French cuisine.
He began to prepare recipes of popular French chefs in order to find his technique and improve. In search of the best taste, Heston traveled to France every summer for two weeks and visited various restaurants and wineries - watching the work of each person.
He wanted to study every aspect of the restaurant business. The turning point in his self-education turned out to be Harold McGee's books - On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen. At this point, Heston decides he wants to combine cooking and science.
Today, Chef Blumenthal has been called a pioneer of modern cuisine and has received a number of awards for his work. His restaurant, The Fat Duck, is one of four restaurants in England that has three Michelin stars. In addition, the restaurant won first place in the ranking of "50 best restaurants in the world" in 2006.
The restaurant is located in Berkshire, but is not the only restaurant. It has two pubs (one has a Michelin star) and another restaurant in London (which has two Michelin stars). In June 2014, he announced that he wanted to open a new restaurant at Heathrow Airport.
Watching his TV appearances, his workplace will look more like a laboratory than a kitchen. It applies various chemical reactions, processes the products by vacuum, centrifugation, very often uses liquid nitrogen.
In fact, Blumenthal was one of the first English chefs to use the vacuum technique in the kitchen, or sous-vide. For this purpose, special equipment is used, and the product is placed in an envelope, then cooked in a water bath at low temperature for a certain time.
Such a technique is difficult to apply at home. Dishes that are his trademark are ice cream with bacon and eggs, snail puree, etc.
He has written several books and gained special popularity with the show "Chemistry in the Kitchen". He has hosted other shows, including Heston's Feast, where he recreates various historical epochs through a variety of culinary methods.
He often combines products that have a similarity at the molecular level - one of his first such combinations is that of caviar with white chocolate. He makes absolutely unusual combinations of foods and finally serves them in remarkable form, as a whole, and those who consume the food are fascinated.
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