Heston Blumenthal

[Zorba]

Attitudes like that mean I don't bother buying steak in the UK

Beef is a meat which takes a lot of time and care to get right. The best I've had literally melted in the mouth (that was in brazil) and was the most amazing taste. The worse is tough as old boots (thats in the UK) and made me wish i'd ordered a burger

No, no, no, you've got me all wrong. The quality of the meat itself is paramount - they sell some real shoe leather in the supermarkets here (I use a butcher or at a push CostCo). I'm saying that the whole ceremony he went through to prepare his steak was, in my opinion, over-ornate. He could have achieved the same effect through the 'normal' cooking method and cut out a lot of his pre-steps.

[Ruprect]

No, no, no, you've got me all wrong. The quality of the meat itself is paramount - they sell some real shoe leather in the supermarkets here (I use a butcher or at a push CostCo). I'm saying that the whole ceremony he went through to prepare his steak was, in my opinion, over-ornate. He could have achieved the same effect through the 'normal' cooking method and cut out a lot of his pre-steps.

The show isn't called "Heston's normal steak" though is it!!?!

[Zorba]

The show isn't called "Heston's normal steak" though is it!!?!

For sure, it isn't. Which is why I said that it makes great theatre.

Hey, I'm just saying that if your other great chefs can cook something without getting a flippin mig welder and some cloth from Tutenkhamen's bandages in the pot, maybe Heston's gilding the lily a tad?

[KathyWoolfe]

For sure, it isn't. Which is why I said that it makes great theatre.

Hey, I'm just saying that if your other great chefs can cook something without getting a flippin mig welder and some cloth from Tutenkhamen's bandages in the pot, maybe Heston's gilding the lily a tad?

Most of the cooking programmes on TV are there to make the cook seem good, not the food or the way they cook.

[Zorba]

Most of the cooking programmes on TV are there to make the cook seem good, not the food or the way they cook.

A good point - and of course to entertain the viewer, which Blumenthal does admirably.

[Fishface]

he is a much hyped food stylist.

I agree its theatre.

And this stuff about 'science' and 'perfection' is nonsense - for that to be true he would have to design each taste for each taster and combination thereof.

draws on Brillat-Savarin a lot of the time for his 'genius'.

mixes samples for a very niche market who are whores to connoseurship.

but good for him he is making a packet from it all.

[DimPrawn]

he is a much hyped food stylist.

I agree its theatre.

And this stuff about 'science' and 'perfection' is nonsense - for that to be true he would have to design each taste for each taster and combination thereof.

draws on Brillat-Savarin a lot of the time for his 'genius'.

mixes samples for a very niche market who are whores to connoseurship.

but good for him he is making a packet from it all.

I work the IT Contractor market the same way.

[KathyWoolfe]

A good point - and of course to entertain the viewer, which Blumenthal does admirably.

Yeah, I've no objection to programmes in which the cook entertains - except that most of them do it to boost their own egos and to say to the world "I can cook better than you do" when all they can do is to cook differently to anyone else

[Ruprect]

Yeah, I've no objection to programmes in which the cook entertains - except that most of them do it to boost their own egos and to say to the world "I can cook better than you do" when all they can do is to cook differently to anyone else

Unless you're AWT, in which case you are just an average chef that's been around too long and gets away with it.

[WindyAnna]

Mmmm when he cooks something so slowly at at such a low temperature that it actually starts to go off rather than cook - I'm not the only person I know who has had a really bad stomach from the Fat Duck.

And the leather ice cream is disgusting.

I still admire him but if I was in the vicinity I'd always go to the Waterside Inn rather than the Fat Duck - staff are friendlier too!