Does your fella only venture into the kitchen to get a beer from the fridge? Want to get him cooking but not swearing like Gordon Ramsay? Then Heston Blumenthal’s new series may be just the ticket. It’s the perfect mix of science and simple recipes sure to appeal to the “inner bloke” in anyone.
Back-to-basics cooking is all the rage nowadays, adding new twists to old favourites, and there’s plenty of that in episode one, which focuses on beef. Heston invites viewers to “come and share my innermost secrets” (what else does a celebrity chef ever do?), but fortunately is not jumping on the “British is best” bandwagon, which started rolling after the success of The Great British Bake-Off.
Not only will he show you how to cook the perfect steak, but he will explain why his method will result in maximum flavour and tenderness. For a man who taught himself to cook and has been “experimenting obsessively” with food for 20 years, it’s no surprise to hear him using the term “Maillard reaction” to explain the cooking process. Something to impress your mates with should it come up in a pub quiz.
Top Tips From Heston Blumenthal
At the home of the alpha male, the local rugby club, Heston soon has the men barbecuing some suitably man-sized burgers, with a further male bonding session when he invites them round for a meal. “I always like to serve my dinners with a blow torch,” he tells the lads, passing them round so each guest can duly set fire to the wood chips underneath their bowl of chilli con carne. You can smell the testosterone from 10 paces.
The most time-consuming (although not particularly complicated unless you quake at the thought of making suet pastry) dish is an oxtail and kidney pudding. But with his love of gadgets coming to the fore yet again, Heston uses a syringe to inject some sauce inside the pudding rather than just pouring it over the top.
Mostly Cooking, But A Sprinkling Of Science
He’s not as “matey” or as free with the catchphrases as Jamie Oliver, but his presenting style is endearingly casual. “If you overcrowd the bloody pan it doesn’t work” he says, trying and failing to come up with the technical reason for browning meat in batches. Yes, he’s a guy’s guy but he’s not aggressive, and it’s certainly easy to picture him as a slightly geeky boy with his first chemistry set wondering “what happens if I do this?”
So it seems it is possible to learn How To Cook Like Heston (Wednesday, 8pm, Channel 4) even if you don’t happen to have an industrial blast freezer or a fully equipped science lab in the garden shed. Next week – the infamous bacon and egg ice cream. Yum?
Arlene Kelly - Born and raised in a small prairie town, by the time I graduated high school I decided I’d had enough of Manitoba winters and headed ...
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