Results tagged “Heston Blumenthal” from Birmingham Mail - Restaurant Spy

What's the point of Germaine Greer?

Increasingly she has become the (almost) thinking man's Victoria Beckham, who once made vaguely catchy pop songs just as Ms Greer once once vaguely interesting pop books. Both now are simply famous for being famous.

Which I guess is what earned her a place on Heston Blumenthal's television show last night when she sampled various Medieval inspired treats and reacted with exaggerated excitement.

Indeed, the "celebs" on last night's programme were all rather irritating, including the usually likable Bill Patterson.

With his obsessive drive to find new ways to prepare and serve food, Heston Blumenthal is an important figure in contemporary cookery.

His television programmes in which he sought ways to cook perfect versions of well known dishes were brilliant, though its unlikely any of us would create a deep, brick-lined pit in our back gardens to cook chicken tikka masala.

I wonder, though, abut his latest venture - a heavy, lavishly produced cookery book that sells for a hundred quid.

It's a sad fact that the vast majority of recipe books are never used. They simply adorn shelves or coffee tables.

Searching for information about a cookery book on the web, I chanced upon the site of a company called Infusion which supplies a starter kit for El Bulli style cooking.

For those who don't know, El Bulli, in Spain, is regarded by some as the world's finest restaurant and produces startling, modern dishes using pioneering techniques of the sort favoured by Britain's very own mad scientist cook Heston Blumenthal.

It got me wondering whether domestic cooks really ought to bother themselves mastering these new skills rather than relying on the methods that have stood the test of time.