Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #52998 in Books
• Published on: 2006-10-31
• Released on: 2006-10-31
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 304 pages

About the Author
Chef Heston Blumenthal has been described as a culinary alchemist for his innovative style of cuisine. His work researches the molecular compounds of dishes so as to enable a greater understanding of taste and flavor. His restaurant The Fat Duck, in Bray, Berkshire, was awarded three Michelin stars in 2004, and voted the Best Restaurant in the World by an international panel of 500 culinary experts in Restaurant Magazine’s list of the World’s Best Restaurants 2005. Heston Blumenthal lives in Berkshire with his wife and three children.

Customer Reviews

A glorious culinary romp through one man's obsessive compulsive disorder
Yep, it's Alton Brown on steroids.

I am a big fan of Alton Brown, and now I have found an even greater hero: Heston!

Just one thing though - he scares the living daylights out of me - if he weren't in a kitchen the only safe place for him is a padded lockdown.

I've made about two of the recipes so far, and I am looking forward to doing more. I have already ordered Further Adventures in Search of Perfection and pre-ordered his (very expensive) The Big Fat Duck Cookbook.

On his Fish and Chips:
Alas, no turbot on the US West Coast. Maybe no-one understands me because I use the English pronunciation (like fillet) - pronouncing both t's, unlike the American/French with a silent 2nd t.

I used halibut - love halibut.
His batter method is unnecessarily long-winded. I used a 5lb CO2 bottle with a special adapter for a standard plastic soda bottle instead of a soda siphon, With this exception completed his recipe and found where the book's true value is:

It didn't work for me, but it allowed me to see where to improve my beer batter recipe that I have used for years.
I now use 2/3 beer, 1/3 vodka, (plus a large splash of lemon juice and paprika).

And now I make very small batter batches, don't wait for the every last lump to disappear, batter immediately, and straight in the fryer - all as fast as possible. It is a tangible improvement - thanks Heston!

His chips (french fries) again has what to my unrefined palette is an unnecessary step - the initial boil.
Instead I now extend my initial low temp (300F) fry to 10 mins, and cool completely in the 'fridge.
But I found an improvement - I use a little portable fan to blow over the fries to hurry along the dehydration process - all thanks to Heston!

I also tried the entire steak recipe which was 100% great, and the mushroom ketchup is to die for!

Now I have a few words to say about our little naysayer J. Alt, who mysteriously has but one review.
Little disgruntled are we J?

The reason that Heston sears the meat before the long 120F slow cook (and I know because I did it) is that the Maillard reaction flavors from the sear spend that time permeating through the meat.
Do I care that his reasoning is off at a tangent? NO.
You know why? Because it is the best damn tasting steak I have ever made. Good enough?

And if he tests 5 varieties of potatoes to get the best roast potato, yet doesn't draw a sufficiently tight logical line to satisfy Mr J. Alt, I don't care either. The man has sufficient bone fides for me to trust his judgement and conclusions.
And you know why I doubly don't care? I can't get Maris Pipers in the U.S. anyway!

I used his method of trying every potato I could get my hands on and made my own judgement. *

Which is what any reader of these reviews should also do.

I recommend this book.

Kevin
* I decided on White Rose. Thanks yet again, Heston!

IN SEARCH OF PERFECTION ladles out a wealth of fun, enlightening culinary detail.
IN SEARCH OF PERFECTION: REINVENTING KITCHEN CLASSICS comes packed with color photos by Simon Wheeler and presents reflections by one of the world's most renowned chefs: as such, it will find its place not in the casual cook's collection, but in any library catering to neo-professionals fascinated by American regional culinary history in general and Blumenthal in particular. His scientific research into the origins and influences of dishes explores ways of cooking them to perfection and features a focus on what makes recipes stand out from the crowd. From sausage history to chicken packaging, IN SEARCH OF PERFECTION ladles out a wealth of fun, enlightening culinary detail.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

In Search Of Perfection
This was a great book. It reads like a book instead of a cookbook. The stories are excellent. It should serve as a guide to any Chef. The way that Heston goes about researching ingredients can be used by anyone. I am not saying that we need to travel the world trying different components of a recipe but trying the best of our local ingredients would suffice. Heston is at the cutting edge of the Culinary world and it was great to see his thinking process put down on paper.