Heston's Fantastical Feasts

by Heston Blumenthal

Once upon a time there was a Chef called Heston who opened a small restaurant called the Fat Duck. At first, he served only simple French classics but gradually, as is the way of things, the Chef's curiosity got the better of him and he began thinking up more unusual dishes, such as Snail Porridge and Chocolate Wine. There was even talk of a meringue that made diners snort plumes of vapour, like a dragon. Word spread and reached the ears of the Executives who ran a television channel, and they summoned the Chef to their glass fortress. 'We command you to create six Fantastical Feasts', they said. 'These must be based on history, but you may draw on fairytales and legends. We should warn you that the Quest will involve journeys to Transylvania in search of the legendary Leech Recipe of Sibiu, and to the Black Forest to eat the eyes of the Wild Boar of Munstertal. You must resist the temptations of the Burlesque Girls, and you must turn chocolate cake into a raging fireball and chicken's testicles into jelly beans. There will be hunting for hallucinogenic mushrooms and cooking with Play-Doh. Out of this, you must create the most magical dishes imaginable'. 'Well, how about lickable wallpaper, a savoury Zoom lolly, a chocolate-covered iceberg, a golden egg and an edible graveyard?' offered the Chef. 'It's a start', said the Executives. 'Oh, and once you have achieved the Quest, you must bring us proof, in the form of a Book. But not just any Book. We want tales of extravagant ingredients, of revolutionary techniques, of familiar kitchen appliances put to unfamiliar uses. We want to see what you see. Taste what you taste. In short, we want complete and unparalleled access to your fantastical world'.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food, Nonfiction

320 pages, Hardcover

First published May 3, 2010

About the author

Heston Blumenthal is chef-patron of The Fat Duck in Bray, a three Michelin-starred restaurant known for its whimsical, scientific and creative style of cookery and famed for being named World’s Best Restaurant more than once.

At the age of 16, Heston travelled to France with his family for the first time and became fascinated with the world of food. He spent the next decade learning the basics of French cuisine from books and working as everything from a photocopier salesman to a debt collector to fund annual research trips to France. One of the books that most influenced him was On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee, which questioned the fundamental rules of the kitchen and explored the science of cooking.

Heston opened The Fat Duck in 1995 with no financial backing. On the second day of opening the oven exploded, and Heston spent the rest of service with a bag of frozen peas on his head. Gradually, the restaurant eventually moved from serving simple French bistro food to the innovative, rule-breaking, multi-sensory tasting menu it serves today. Perhaps what is most extraordinary about the success of The Fat Duck is that Heston is entirely self-taught, save for three weeks spent in a few professional kitchens.

Reviews

[Emmanuel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very interesting book. Its like a cookbook/biography? It was definitely like watching those travel channel shows/cooking channels, which I assume he was going for because it was a TV show to. I liked the photos and thought the concept and ideas for his feasts were pretty cool but it just wasn't my cup of tea overall.

[Joe Richardson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Primarily a companion book to his TV show. It's good, but a bit disappointing. Only 86 of the 320 pages are devoted to describing recipes. The rest of the book is a reformatted transcript of the narration of the show. It's written as direct paragraphs but references to the TV crew around him and such remain in the text.

This section of the book bothers me a bit because, although it's entertaining, being written for TV means it lacks the technical scientific detail usually found in these sorts of books, replacing it with jokes and other stunts from the show. The writing is kept at the surface level of explanation, in order not to bore the low attention span of the television audience.

As for the recipes, there are six chapters, one per episode, and 4 main dishes per episode. All of these recipes are beautiful displays of excess, with clear instructions and brilliant ideas. While they were designed to get an immediate reaction out of people, more effort was put into making sure they taste fantastic. This was an extremely entertaining read and I may just have to expend the stupid amount if effort to recreate some of these at home.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I haven't yet made anything from this book, it's an interesting insight into how he works, how he thinks and how to make the foods.

There are some ingredients that are far out there, that you probably can't buy for cheap or at your local shop so keep that in mind.

Still a good book to have in the kitchen for when you have time and fancy experimenting.

[Patrick Book · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved this, but there’s just no way it can be as effective as I’m sure the TV program is. Still...this guy is a goddamn mad scientist and I love it.

[DeAnna Knippling · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was both brilliant and frustrating.

It's a book collecting some of the recipes from a BBC TV show, Heston's Feasts. He does things like make an edible graveyard, lickable wallpaper, or floating desserts: wonderful stuff. If you're into how to play with your food, it's a good book. You get failed attempts and how they morphed into later dishes, too, which usually ends up being pretty entertaining.

However, there are drawbacks: you don't get all the recipes (you don't even get pictures of how all the final recipes turned out). The book is written like a TV show, with cuts back and forth between scenes and dialog - I could have missed out on that, thank you very much. I don't need culinary cliffhangers the way I do fictional ones. But those were minor miffs.

[Annette Nordheim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of course this, as most of Heston Blumenthal´s books, is almost unusable as an actual cookbook. Nevertheless it is enourmously entertaining to read about his fantastical, challenging and unlikely meals, and it might just give you an odd idea or two till next time you have some adventurous friends over for dinner. (I personally am planning to serve edible gravestones at next halloween party.)

[Peta · Rating 4 out of 5]

beautifully presented book. I bought it for the recipes but it also contains some narative which reads suspiciously like the actual conversations which you see on the tv series. none the less its a wonderful resource and enjoyable read.

[Angela Randall]

Bruce won this book for tweeting a bad pun. It seems to be a tribute to some of the strangest food there is.

[Renae · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heston's approach to cooking, as history, folklore, fantasy and art is simply amazing. Not sure I'd want to actually eat much of this food, but I really enjoyed in stories and creativity.

[Raivis Spalvēns · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bilžu grāmata ar prātam neaptveramiem Hestona izdomas augļiem. Nelietojama tāpat ka citas viņas grāmatas.