Heston Blumenthal is the glasses wearing, shaved head, English uber-chef whose multi-sensory food philosophy means that the key ingredient to any great gastronomic feast is not to discount the power of sight, smell and sound.
On a short break away from his beloved Fat Duck restaurant, Heston’s Michelin star eatery in the English village of Bray, Berkshire, The Weekly caught up with the superstar chef about all things food and got his secret recipe for a fantasy Christmas.
Q: You’ve been on a food safari all over the world – where is your favourite restaurant?
A: I don’t have one. There are restaurants where you just say, ‘I fancy a so and so’ but it could just be somewhere with a view. It depends what mood you’re in.
Q: You’re a self-taught chef, so why the scientific and super sensory method to cooking?
A: In a nutshell, we taste with all our senses. You can make two glasses of wine seem totally different by the moods that you drink them. The ears, the eyes the nose the mouth, they all send signals to make a decision on whether you like or dislike something.
At the moment my team and I are doing a thing with a science museum basically and we’re looking at how it was previously thought that when you ate food and you swallowed it, if you got pleasure from the food all of that decision making was in your brain. But now they think maybe the digestive system has more to do with deciding about pleasure- they reckon it has a brain.
Q. Do you think you missed out on anything by not doing all of the fancy cooking classes?
A. Look, it doesn’t make me better but what it’s done is it’s constricted me less.
So if you’ve had something very rigid and classic installed into you then you think, ‘Well that’s it, it has to be like this’. It’s like Italian restaurants. You go to an Italian restaurant and you ask them for a cappuccino (raises his hand) and they’ll kick you out.
And how often do you eat spaghetti bolognaise? Because Italians would never eat it – no way. It doesn’t exist in Italy. Because they would never eat spaghetti with bolognaise. Why? Because bolognaise comes from Bologna and tagliatelle comes from Bologna. They [Italians] are staunchly regional and historical.
Q. You seem so passionate about cooking, almost obsessive, does that ever test your temper in the kitchen – are you one of those yelly chefs?
A. No. Absolutely not. I used to be a yeller but I haven’t raised my voice in about ten years. I don’t need to.
Q. When you come here to Australia is there anything you look forward to eating?
A. Oh loads of things! It could be one of David Blackmore’s steaks or the other night I had some seafood which was really good. I’m open to trying new food.
Q. Christmas is just around the corner, if you could have your fantasy Christmas where would you host it?
A. If I had my choice, probably up in a mountain. In a cosy chalet close to the skiing slopes but also a place where I could relax and spend some time with my loved ones.
Q. Is Christmas cooking at your house all about experimentation or do you take a traditional approach?
A. I would say that it is a combination. A turkey is always best when it is roasted but instead of roasting by time, I use a thermometer probe to determine the right doneness as well as cooking it low and slow. I would also brine the turkey overnight. Roast potatoes are always best when cut into sharp angle to get the crispest edges and if they are first cooked in water until they are almost falling apart. This will allow the hard edges to crisp up and the oil to get in any crevices for extra crispiness.
Q. What sight and sounds and scene would you set for the ultimate Christmas setting?
A. Snow falling, wood in the fireplace cracking with a light smoke smell coming of it. Everyone sitting around the Christmas tree enjoying themselves listening to music and happy after a full day on the slopes.
Q. Is there anything you cook at Christmas that harks back to the recipes of your childhood? Are there recipes you want to pass on to your children?
A. More than just specific recipes, it is the fact of being together and sharing some of my family traditions. I love a good ol’ turkey doorstop sandwich either at the end of the night or the next morning. Leftover Turkey doorstop sandwiches were my father’s contribution to the cooking when I was a kid but they were awesome.
Q. Do you think it’s wise to get the kids involved in Christmas cooking or is that just asking for trouble?
A. Kids should definitely be involved. This is the perfect occasion to pass on those tips and anecdotes that have been in the family for generations. It is time to make new traditions and keep the old ones alive.
Q. Do you have a secret tip for Christmas lunch?
A. A lot of people eat roast potatoes around Christmas lunch so you should base your whole lunch around roast potatoes.
You can cook meat first, green beans, cabbage, carrots, broccoli, all of that stuff, you can cook that two hours before you eat and just heat it all up, but the roast potatoes, they won’t keep. When they are ready is when you eat.
The superstar chef has created a Heston for Coles Christmas and seasonal range.
Q. Do you have a favourite festive dessert?
A. Tough one, I think it would be a cross between a fudgy chocolate cake and actually we always have the hidden orange Christmas pudding.
Q. And while it’s not quite a cooking question, do you have any advice about what the Christmas guest list should look like?
A. Well if you find out you are having 80 people over for Christmas and you are moaning and saying, ‘Oh I can’t believe I am doing it,’ well… don’t invite them over then! It’s just simple. Why would you do it to yourself?
Q. And finally, any hints on what to do if everyone hates what’s been served up at Christmas?
A. Well… I’ve never had that problem (laughs).
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