As you may have realised I’m a huge Heston Blumenthal fan, really I am. I have a couple of his books, one I’m constantly diving into for tips, tricks and recipes, I’ve also spent a small fortune on a meal at The Fat Duck with his second restaurant Dinner high on the list of places to visit. However as much as his restaurants interest me, they don’t really interest my wallet, my visit was a single lone treat, what really inspires me is his cooking techniques. Continue reading
Modern cook books are a puzzle, some of them are excellent, while others, or more accurately, most, are very very poor. Cook books aren’t about cooking or learning skills, they’re about life style, selling the gastro dream of perfect manicured food every time you eat. These books are recipe after recipe, with accompanying perfectly lit glossy photographs, and on the whole they are completely useless. In the words of Michael Booth “Don’t worry, it’s not you. Recipes don’t work” there are so many permutations to a simple recipe, type of pan, heat of oven, quality of produce, age of produces etc etc, that no real recipe will ever work without a fundamental range of skills to back them up. So, as I’ve written before, I look for cook books that talk about technique and skills rather than recipes; my final list of favourite books is quite short. Continue reading
In January I had the privilege of dining at The Fat Duck, a restaurant that needs little introduction. For some reason I never got round to writing about it, partly because it had sliped my mind and partly because I wasn’t sure it was right for this blog. However I had posted some pics from a meal I had a Le Manoir a while back, so I think its probably is OK. I was also encouraged by the recent review written by Gordo for Manchester Confidential.
So here it is, a few pics of some of the courses we had, I‘m not really going to comment as its not needed, I couldn’t say anything that hasn’t been said before. All you need to know is, it was fantastic, a meal that is as theatrical as it is delicious, and a level of cooking that I doubt could be topped. If you would like to read more about it then check out the article in Manchester Confidential.
Sid
