8/12/2019 Heston Blumental - The Creative Culinary Genius

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/heston-blumental-the-creative-culinary-genius 1/1

Life Inspired  l  M A R 9—M A R 1 5 2 0 1 4   the interview14

CREATING A SENSORY

WONDERLANDA chat with chef extraordinaire Heston Blumenthal of The Fat Duck, one of the world’s very best restaurants.

BY DEBORAH CHAN

One would havethought thatBritish chef Heston Blumenthalwould have aced science inschool. Afterall, thisgenius

chef hasbeen described as a culinaryalchemist and food scientist whosekitchen experimentations have won

himthree Michelin stars, On thecon-trary, Blumenthal had regularly failedthesubject although he did get an A inArt so there had“to be some creativitythere!”he says with a hearty laugh at amedia session during the Margaret RiverGourmet Escape, the premier annual foodand wine event in SouthWest Australia,where Blumenthal is among theVIP guestchefs.

Casually cladin jeans and a darkblueshirt with his recognisable thick-framedglasses, Blumenthal, 47,still exudesacontagious childlike enthusiasm whenit comes to conversations about food.Despite theMichelin stars he hasreceivedbesides an endless stream of accolades,Blumenthalis just as excited in discussingsomething as mundane as…. Spaghetti

Bolognese.“Did you know that whenever you’re

makinga meat-sauce using onions, youshould adda hint of star anise?It reactswiththe sulphur compoundsand increas-es theflavourof meatiness,”he says.

Naturally someone wantsto knowabout the oddest food he hastasted– after all, hehas dished out plenty ofoddlooking ones that often cause a gasp anda sense of wonderment!

“Reindeer kneecap in Siberia, leechesfedon goose blood sautéed with parsleyandgarlic, andfreshly milkedcamelmilkwhereyou haveto pick the hairsout of my mouth,”he says cringing.

Blumenthal’s enthusiasmand passionforfood coupled with creativity andhardwork is what hadelevatedhim into culi-

nary stardom.A young Blumenthal haddecided at 16that he wasgoingto becomea chef afterhis family hadtheir first Michelin starredmeal in Provence,France,where theexpe-rience of enjoying food combiningtaste,sight andsmell made a strongimpressionon him.

Aside from three weeks of experiencein professional kitchens, Blumenthal isentirely self-taught. He’d worked as adebt collector and photocopier salesmanamong other jobs to support his experi-mentations with food. After four years,hediscovered Harold McGee’s book On Food and Cooking, that made Blumenthal takeon a scientific approach towards cooking.

Blumenthal made hisname when hebought overa 450-year-old dilapidated

pub in thesmalltown of Bray,Berkshireand transformed it into a restaurant ini-tially serving French bistrotype dishes.

Within five years, Blumenthal hadelevatedThe Fat Duck into a three-starMichelin restaurant that requires twomonths advanced reservations.His televi-sion series In Search of Perfection hasalsowonacclaim forits simpleyet inspiring

takeon experimenting with commonfoodpreparations. Poaching eggs androasting potatoes are approached froma scientific angle that entails specifictemperatures and precise techniques tocreatea perfect dish that hasbeen tried,testedand approved by theperfectionist

himself.It’s a tall order tobe hailed asthe

UnitedKingdom’s “most original andremarkable chef that this country haseverproduced”but Blumenthal continuestoliveup tothe title by dishing out everinnovative meals.

“We eat with oureyes andour ears andournoses. Eating is theonly thing youdo that involves all senses that alter andinfluence our perception of flavours,” heexplains.

Convinced that dining is a multi-sen-sory experience,Blumenthaltoiled withtheidea of creatingfood that will remainin ourmemoriesthta are servedwith atheatrical flourish.

“For example, we have dinerslisteningtoan iPodplacedin a shellthat plays the

sound of thewaves lapping up againsttheshore, along withthe occasionalcall of gulls,whileeating edible sand,foam,and various food from thesea,”heexplains, pointing out Sound of the Sea, adelightful experiential treat on the tastingmenu at TheFat Duck that truly engagesallthe senses.

Blumenthal hasto date authored sevencookbooksand opened other equallysuccessful outlets TheHinds Head andTheCrownboth in Bray,while hisnewestrestaurant Dinner opened in 2011 at theswanky Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park inLondon catering to a thousand custom-ersa week. Themenu mines traditionalBritish recipesdating back as far as the14th century which aregiven a freshtwist through contemporary cooking

techniques.A typical tasting menu at Blumenthal’srestaurants is a delectable journey takingup to four hours priced around £200.

“Naivety is oneof thebest friends of creativity,”he says thoughfully.

“The first timeyou seeanythinghap-pening,you get incredibly excited. I’m stillpretty excited about food!When I firstopened the Duck, I had noideahow hardit was goingto be.The naivety meantthat I could question everything.Thedownside was that my organisationalknowledge was rubbish.

“I was working 120hours a week for thefirst eight years. Youget tolevels ofdeliri-um that you never thought waspossible.”

For all the idea that Blumenthal’s gas-tronomical innovations are ‘modern’or

‘magical’, he is firmlyrooted in tradition.“You’ve seen all thecrazystuffthatwe have done but they arereally heavilygrounded in a technical foundation whichstarts off with classical French cooking,which,from there youneed a very deepunderstandingof classical French cookingin order to question it.

“And when you start questioning, that

forms thebuilding blocksfor somethingnew.

“I’mbasically a bigkidand I ask lotsof questions. I’mnot a scientist, but I am

endlesslycurious.The best adviceI cangive to anyoneis to question everything.You haveto respect tradition but preparedto question it anyhow,”he says.

Fame andsuccess does have itsprice.In 2011, Blumenthalwent through arough patch,having separatedfrom hiswifeof 20years,withwhom he has threegrown up children.Around thesametimehe’d alsohad tocopewith losinghisfather andjuggle between theopeningof Dinner.

“Whenthings like that happen, youreally haveto dealwithit in a deepway.It has becomeeasier now, but of course,anything like that is goingto affect focus,”Blumenthal hadsaid in an interview withGood Food .

Nevertheless, dinersand criticsalike

havenot wavered in their appreciationfor this inventive chef. The influentialThe Guardian had recently awardedBlumenthal ‘Chefof a Decade’ObserverFood Monthly2013 Award.

Blumenthal reflects on thelast 10 yearsof his career and says, “With all theknowledgeI have now, honestly, I still feelI’m just scratching the surface.”

Heston Blumenthalholding his audiencespellbound duringthe Margaret River

Gourmet Escapecelebrity chefsprogramme.

Nothing is what itseems at The FatDuck!

The celebrity chef atwork.

One of the books heauthored.

Blumenthal was thetoast of the MargaretRiver GourmetEscape celebritychefs programme.

1

1

2

3

 4 5

2

3

 4

5