By the Book: Heston Blumenthal at Home

To cook with it or not? That is the question when a beautiful cookbook worthy of championing the coffee table gets into our hands. Normally for this column, we’d pick a recipe and describe our experience in preparing it. This month, however, we’ve chosen hefty, hardbound tomes written by culinary gods. Being that we’re prone to making messes, we’d prefer to give the winners of the cookbook giveaway untainted copies. Moreover, with a book at hand like Heston Blumenthal at Home, it would be such a disservice to write about just one recipe. Blumenthal is a self-taught chef, owner of the highly acclaimed The Fat Duck just outside of London, and recognized for the progressive nature of his cooking. In the foreword, he explains his habit of “questioning everything” and “constantly challenging the orthodoxy.” While Blumenthal’s new cookbook includes recipes for familiar-sounding dishes, they are not prepared like Mom made them. Rather, he uses tools like a liquidizer or sous-vide machine “to make the cooking easier and more accurate, or to create flavours and textures that would otherwise be difficult.” His view on modern gadgets and gizmos: “Technology is a part of cuisine to be embraced rather than shunned.” Flip to the back of the book for a summary of such tools and ingredients. Upon obtaining them, like Blumenthal, you too can become a culinary “specialist.”  

{Scottish egg, a starter}

The 400-page, full-color publication is comprehensive, with recipes divided into sections that include: stocks; soups; starters; salads; meat; fish; sous-vide; pastas and grains; cheese; sides and condiments; ices; desserts and sweets; and lastly, biscuits, snacks and drinks. Were I to have cooked from this book, the first one on my list would have been The Ultimate Cheese Toastie: A grilled cheese sandwich gone decadent with melted Gruyere and Comté cheeses, shredded ham, an onion compote and truffle oil.

{The Ultimate Cheese Toastie}

Home cooks seeking a cooking lesson rather than just a recipe will find this book highly useful since Blumenthal gives tutorials for improving your basic culinary skill sets. For instance, in the fish section, you’ll learn his preferred ways to brine, sear and poach fish. In addition, he explains his reasoning behind unconventional processes and atypical ingredients. (Why thicken sauces with agar-agar instead of a starch? The latter can mute the flavors.) Where so many cookbook authors make you guess at their logic, Blumenthal does not.

{poaching fish}

Many of these recipes, but not all, require a kitchen that is modestly stocked with modernist culinary implements and ingredients. A requisite for preparing every recipe – should you decide to cook with this book instead of just ogling over it – is a scale that gives weights in metric since Imperial measurements aren’t provided. The rest of the world has gone by the way of the gram, so why shouldn’t we?

What modern culinary tool ranks highest on your wish list and why? Tell us about it in the comments section below for a chance to win a copy of Heston Blumenthal at Home by Heston Blumenthal. We’ll announce the winner in next week’s By the Book column. And now, we’d like to congratulate Brad, whose comment on last week’s By the Book has won him a copy of Tartine Bread. Brad, keep an eye out for an email from the Sauce crew.