Chef who created snail porridge cooks up bangers and mash for his television debut | The Independent Chef who created snail porridge cooks up bangers and mash for his television debut Thursday 16 February 2006 00:00 BST Click to follow The Independent Online Heston Blumenthal, the culinary pioneer whose most famous dish is snail porridge, is to join the ranks of the celebrity chefs Gordon Ramsay and Delia Smith by fronting a prime-time television series. Rather than teach the public how to make his signature experimental dishes, such as green tea and lime mousse in liquid nitrogen, the chef will opt for more popular fare for a BBC2 show this summer. He will apply his scientific approach, known as "molecular gastronomy" (a term he dislikes), to well-known dishes such as fish and chips and bangers and mash. A recipe at the end of each show of the series - Perfection: Heston Blumenthal - will explain how to cook the dish at home. Blumenthal, who runs the Fat Duck in Bray, Oxfordshire, said: "It's the Fat Duck approach but adapted to everyday dishes.

We haven't necessarily gone for the most expensive ingredients but expense is not a consideration. If people can't get part of the equipment then we have found an alternative." Blumenthal, one of a trio of British chefs with three Michelin stars, believes the series will spread his scientific approach and safeguard his financial future. A book accompanying the series is likely to sell well. Like Jamie Oliver's Italy series for Channel 4, Blumenthal travelled with a film crew to France, Germany, Italy and the United States. But he had to do so before he had a risky "spinal fusion" operation in November that was to end decades of crippling back pain. After months recuperating, the 39-year-old chef is scheduled to finish the eight-part series in the studio by the end of next month. Due for broadcast in August, the show features six savoury dishes: fish and chips, bangers and mash, spaghetti bolognese, pizza, steak and salad, and roast chicken and potato; and two desserts: treacle tart and Black Forest gateau. For each dish, Blumenthal examined the properties of the individual ingredients, and investigated how to prepare and cook them.

His research on pizza took him to Naples, where he saw how the pizza flour was made in a flourmill, tested the gluten in the dough, checked levels of pectin in the tomatoes and the temperature of the ovens. For the perfect pizza, his search took him to a New York strip joint, the Penthouse Executive Club, reputed to serve the best steak in the world. He said: "We had this bizarre evening where we were eating steak with women taking their clothes off in the background. It was the best steak I have had." For the Black Forest gateau, the chef went to Germany and had a perfumer recreate the smell of kirsch. To create the best fish and chips, he tested 25 varieties of potato. The bangers and mash programme involved a trip to a pig farm in Northumberland. Although well known to foodies, the show will raise the public profile of Blumenthal, whose most high-profile television work was a five-minute slot on BBC2's Full On Food last year. He filmed a series, Kitchen Chemistry, for the Discovery satellite channel five years ago but said he considered Perfection to be his first proper television series.

He said he wanted to share his "child-like inquisitiveness" about food to a wider audience, and to make some money. "Margins at the Fat Duck are so tight," he said. "After the third Michelin star and Restaurant of the Year I thought I wanted to get some financial security for my family without losing my integrity and hopefully this will achieve that." Recipes for television success Delia Smith A shy cookery writer, this matronly brunette taught the nation to cook with a series of easy-to-understand shows with such names as How To Cook. Jamie Oliver Essex boy Oliver's laddish approach to food on his show The Naked Chef led to greater fame and a TV campaign to make children eat healthily - Jamie's School Dinners. Rick Stein Stein's passion for fish is reflected in the success of his foodie empire in Padstow and in the fishy theme of his shows, which have included A Taste of the Sea . Gordon Ramsay The foul-mouthed Scot has become arguably Britain's most famous culinary TV presence, perhaps best known for the ITV reality show Hell's Kitchen.

You've made a right snail porridge of our village: Heston Blumenthal takes over THIRD pub | Daily Mail Online You've made a right snail porridge of our village: Heston Blumenthal takes over THIRD pub comments Heston Blumenthal's arrival in Bray in 1995 was not marked with a great show of enthusiasm. A young wannabe chef - at that point, he'd never cooked professionally - with two tiny children at home, Blumenthal was standing outside a pub in the pretty Berkshire village, loading a skip with rubble, when an old lady strolled past. 'She had a walking stick and must have been nearly 90,' recalls Blumenthal. 'She said: "What are you doing here?" Expanding empire: Heston Blumenthal has taken over his third pub in the picturesque village of Bray 'I said: "I've just bought the pub. We're going to turn it into a little restaurant." 'Her reply? "We've had three owners in five years in this place. We've closed them all down, and we're going to close you down".' A few days later, Blumenthal received a letter from the parish council.

It began: Welcome to Bray. We wish you every success in your new venture. However, we feel that the name isn't suitable for the village... So, not really a welcome at all. The unsuitably named restaurant was, of course, The Fat Duck, now famed around the world for its bacon-and-egg flavoured ice cream and where a meal will cost you £150 before you've ordered a glass of wine. Blumenthal's empire has prospered beyond all recognition since those early uneasy days. Today, The Fat Duck boasts three Michelin stars and has been acclaimed the best restaurant in the world. It employs 57 chefs to look after 42 diners at a time and has made Blumenthal a millionaire, many times over. Millionaire: The Hinds Head pub in the Berkshire town was the second eatery Blumenthal snapped up Little wonder, then, that Britain's most creative chef has sought to expand. Five years ago, he bought the Hind's Head, one of only two pubs in the village, turning it from a local boozer into an establishment where a pub lunch can cost £60.

Then, just a few weeks ago, he snapped up Bray's last independent pub, The Crown Inn. Blumenthal has now became the owner of all the pubs in the village. Not everyone is delighted. Letters of complaint have started to appear in the local paper. For the Crown was an ordinary boozer. Nothing flash or fancy, but loved by many for that very reason. Just a quick look at online reviews for the pub reveals a sharp decline in opinion since Blumenthal took charge. The reaction is almost totally critical. Award winner: The chef stands outside the three Michelin-starred Fat Duck, also in Bray One correspondent writes: 'Being taken over by Blumenthal seems to have ruined this great pub. The place was empty and the locals who used to drink in there were absent.' Another, called 'Melanie', agrees: 'I used to go to The Crown before it was taken over by Heston - it was fantastic, with superb food. 'Now, sadly, it has a limited and uninspiring menu. It has undergone a refurb which has ripped the character out of it.' While locals are concerned that The Crown has become just another over-expensive dining room, there is more to their unease than that.

Is Blumenthal turning this once-anonymous village into 'Hestonworld', a shrine in honour of the brilliance of Britain's wackiest chef? Just look at what happened to the pretty Cornish town of Padstow after celebrity chef Rick Stein opened a restaurant there. Within months, it was heaving with foodie tourists, and Stein soon followed up his success with three shops and three more restaurants. Before long, the seaside village was known as 'Padstein'. Of course, let's not get carried away. Bray wasn't some innocent, unsophisticated backwater before Heston arrived. This is how posh Bray is. Shortly after Blumenthal moved in, the village post office (now, alas, closed) was the victim of an armed robbery. 'I remember the police coming round to see me, saying they were looking for a man wearing a straw boater and a blue blazer,' recalls Blumenthal. 'I thought: "Only in Bray!'" Bray is also home to the Roux brothers' Waterside Inn, another three-starred Michelin establishment. So this tiny village, with a population of 7,000, plays host to precisely half the three-starred restaurants in Britain.

Concoction: Mango and Douglas Fir puree at the Fat Duck. But villagers are divided over Blumenthal's third acquisition of a restaurant No post office and no village shop - but two very exclusive eateries. You can buy a bowl of snail porridge, but you can't get a first class stamp or a carton of milk. The day I visit, the sun is shining. This is English village life at its most uplifting. And upmarket. Many of the black and white timbered buildings on the High Street date from the 16th century - and a beautiful red-brick Victorian house is up for rent at £3,950 a month. The Fat Duck, a beige brick and timber building, is so self-confident that it does not even have a nameplate on the front. But even in a place like this, people want somewhere they can grab a pint and a plate of grub without breaking the bank.

Blumenthal says he knows the locals have their doubts about him taking over The Crown: 'They thought: "He'll bring all his funny stuff in there, it's going to be really expensive, like the Fat Duck." 'That's why I've made such a conscious effort to keep it as a village pub. 'All we've done is pull everything out and then put it all back in again - but cleaner. 'So we've replaced the curtains and the carpets, reupholstered the chairs, cleaned up all the wood panelling, sanded down the tables. And we've spruced up the loos.' He pulls a face. 'They looked like real old pub toilets. But the loos are the single most important thing when it comes to making a good first impression.' What about the menu? At first glance, you'd have little idea that Heston and his Fat Duck head chef drew it up at all. It's stuffed with classics - ploughman's lunch, sausage and mash, a ham-and-mustard sandwich. 'We wanted to make it feel like it's a pub,' Blumenthal explains. But look a little closer and the Heston touches are there.

For instance, there aren't many pubs that serve steak and chips with a marrowbone sauce. Or dish up a trug (basket) of baby vegetables with 'bagna cauda' (Italian for 'hot bath') - a warm dip made with anchovies, bread, olive oil and garlic. He also offers potted duck, the like of which I have never seen on a pub menu. And the prices? Blumenthal says he has cut the cost of many of the dishes. So, for example, a main course of mussels was £14.25 under the ancien regime. Heston charges £13.95. Hmm. Well, Heston's argument is true up to a point. But he fails to mention that his dishes come without vegetables. Once you factor these in, his food is more expensive than his predecessors. Oh, and a pint of beer comes to £3.30. Two of us eat two courses each, with soft drinks and coffee. I also have a half pint of beer. The bill? A rather surprising £70. Yes, it's good food, but I don't feel I've had value for money. But it doesn't matter what I think.

It's what the locals reckon that really matters. And Blumenthal's latest purchase has split the village right down the middle. At the next table, I hear grumbling. Keith Bryant, 50, a photographer from Maidenhead, is dining with his wife, Cathy. They've been coming here for eight years and have just paid £22 for a bottle of the house white. 'It used to be £13,' Keith opines. 'And £2.50 for bread and butter? That used to be free with your lunch.' Retired school mistress Jackie Phillips, 65, has popped in for a drink with a friend. She misses the old staff and the unpretentious feel the place once had. 'We used to eat and drink here a lot, but we're a bit sad that he's bought it. It's more expensive and it's been smartened up.' Omiminously, she adds: 'This place used to be jolly busy. N Now it's half-deserted most of the time. I think a lot of villagers are migrating to Holyport, the next village.' Holly Flynn, who runs the Story in Bray - a gift shop directly opposite The Fat Duck - feels differently.

'I was delighted when I heard he had bought The Crown. They've scrubbed it up quite a lot. 'Obviously, the prices have increased, but I went with six girls for a birthday dinner last week and we were surprised at how inexpensive it was.' IT consultant John Fraser, walking his Jack Russell in the sunshine, agrees: 'He's a character and a half. He brings people here and they spend money. That's got to be good.' So why, exactly, has Blumenthal decided to buy the place? Is he, as many of his neighbours fear, merely empire building? Blumenthal tells me that he's simply a huge fan of village pubs and wants to preserve this one. But, I have to say, I don't find his argument compelling. It all sounds a little rehearsed. And, I wonder, is a man who has made his career catering for expensive tastes, really all that motivated to bring bangers and mash to the ordinary punter? But then he reveals another motive. Blumenthal's other businesses in Bray bring in huge numbers of visitors - and he is having trouble fitting them all in. Or, more precisely, fitting in their cars.

'The Fat Duck does 84 covers a day, I don't know how many cars that produces. 'And the Hind's Head has 250 covers for Sunday lunch. So there is a car-parking issue,' he admits. Essentially, there isn't room for all of Heston's visitors to park in a tiny village built for the horse and cart. Except that - you guessed it - The Crown has a large car park. 'Though it sounds silly, the car park is really important for us,' Blumenthal says. As is the large garden at the back of the Crown - which would make a good spot for a marquee for a couple celebrating their wedding at the Hind's Head. The truth is The Crown looks like a lovely pub to me, but whatever Blumenthal does with his new place, the very fact that it's his name above the door means some people will always doubt his motives. So is there anything he can do to persuade them that The Crown is just an ordinary boozer? 'I've said that if the people who come in here want to have a quiz night, they can have a quiz night.

'That's not what we'd do at The Fat Duck, but if that's what the village community wants, they can have it.' Right-ho. Question One: is there anywhere to park my car around here? BBC NEWS | UK | England | Berkshire | 'Snail porridge' chef's top award 'Snail porridge' chef's top award Heston Blumenthal is celebrated for creating increasingly unusual dishes A restaurant serving dishes including snail porridge and smoked bacon and egg ice cream has been named the second best in the world. The Fat Duck in Bray, Berkshire, is surpassed only by California's French Laundry, according to 300 judges. Chef Heston Blumenthal's bistro was also crowned best newcomer at the Restaurant Magazine awards in London on Tuesday. The 37-year-old opened his pioneering eatery in a 450-year-old pub in 1995. An international panel of chefs, food critics and restaurateurs voted for the top 50 best places to eat in the world - with the UK scooping three of the top 10 spots. The top 10 eateries in the world according to Restaurant Magazine 1.

French Laundry, Yountville, California 2. The Fat Duck, Bray, Berkshire 3. El Bulli, Montjoi, Spain 4. L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon, Paris 5. Pierre Gagnaire, Paris 8. Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, London 9. Michel Bras, Laguiole, France 10. Louis XV, Monaco The award is the latest in a career that has risen as quickly as a sponge cake in a fan-assisted oven. Blumenthal began at Raymond Blanc's Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons restaurant, but quit after just a week and decided to go it alone. He converted a pub in his home village, near Maidenhead, and originally opened it as a bistro, serving what he now describes as "bourgeois French" cooking. But the chef soon began pushing back gastronomic boundaries and became celebrated for his increasingly unusual dishes. For ï¿½85, guests at the Fat Duck can now enjoy a menu featuring eight small courses, including sweetbread cooked in a salt crust with hay and sardine on toast sorbet for pudding.

Alternatively, for ï¿½60 they can choose from a three-course a la carte menu, with highlights such as pig's trotter truffle and mango and Douglas fir puree. For ï¿½85 diners at the Fat Duck can enjoy an eight-course tasting menu In January, Blumenthal won three Michelin stars faster than any other chef, when the Fat Duck became one of just three restaurants in the country to win the coveted top rating. One of the others, the Waterside Inn run by Michel Roux, is just a stone's throw away in the same Berkshire village and was voted 15th in the Restaurant Magazine poll. The third is Gordon Ramsay's flagship restaurant in Chelsea, London, which was voted eighth. Other Blumenthal triumphs include five AA rosettes, The AA Chefs' Chef of the Year award 2002 and The Good Food Guide Chef of the Year award 2001. On his website, Blumenthal says he is "part of a growing group of chefs, scientists and psychologists that are looking at food and the way that we eat from a different angle".

He adds: "Eat sardine on toast sorbet for the first time, confusion will reign as the brain will be trying to tell the palate to expect a dessert and you will therefore be tasting more sweetness than actually exists." 'Vomit ice cream' But not everyone is a fan of his taste-clashing style. Rival chef Nico Ladenis once said: "Someone who makes egg and bacon ice cream is hailed a genius. If you vomit and make ice cream out of it, are you a star?" Thom Hetherington, marketing director for Restaurant Magazine, said: "This has been the year of the big boys, with the world's recognised super-chefs major dining cities like London, New York and Paris all reasserting themselves.

"That said, it is great to see that such a variety of British restaurants made the list." Other UK restaurants in the top 50 are: Hakkasan, London (14), St John, London (16); Le Gavroche, London (19); The Merchant House, Ludlow, Shropshire (21); The Ivy, London (24); Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons, Oxfordshire (30); River Cafe, London (41); and The Wolseley, London (49). Was it the snail porridge? Diners' mystery illness forces Fat Duck to close | The Independent Was it the snail porridge? Diners' mystery illness forces Fat Duck to close Saturday 28 February 2009 00:00 BST Click to follow Indy Lifestyle Online One of Britain's most famous restaurants has closed its doors after up to 40 diners fell ill after eating there, it emerged yesterday.

Heston Blumenthal took the decision to shut the Michelin-starred Fat Duck at Bray on Tuesday after dozens of customers rang the restaurant to say they had been struck down by a vicious illness which left them with flu-like symptoms, vomiting or diarrhoea. The wunderkind of British cooking and Channel 4 TV presenter told The Independent he will keep his £130-a-head eaterie closed until further notice, or at least until he can trace the source of the mystery illness or eliminate his premises as its source. Staff have called hundreds of guests to cancel their reservations. Tests on ingredients for potential food poisoning bugs are due within the next few days, along with virology tests on his 60-strong staff. An environmental health officer from Maidenhead and Windsor Council has been conducting tests on samples of food, along with a company which Blumenthal took on six weeks ago to routinely test ingredients, Food Alert. Last night Blumenthal said he had taken the decision to close because he could not bear the thought that his passion, the Fat Duck, had been responsible for making people ill. "Wherever this has come from it's extremely upsetting. It's deeply upsetting," the 42-year-old chef admitted.

"We are going to completely exhaust every avenue we can go down. I don't want another person phoning up the restaurant. It's horrible to hear one person phoning." He said: "We called in the local council, Maidenhead and Windsor, and an environmental health officer was here on Tuesday and they are very satisfied with all the steps we are taking but we haven't found anything. "All the tests have come up negative. So it's a complete mystery. I'm not prepared [for the restaurant] to operate until this is done and dusted." The problems began three weeks ago when customers began phoning to say they had fallen ill after visiting the Fat Duck in the affluent commuter village in Berkshire. The restaurant, famous for dishes such as snail porridge and sardine on toast sorbet, is one of only three in the country with three Michelin stars. "A few weeks ago, we had calls about people who had fallen ill and you take it very seriously. Also my wife and daughter had a virus and there was something going around. And then we got a few more [phone calls] in and then we stepped up the testing and doing everything in more detail.

And then last week we got some more calls and at the weekend we thought, 'We've got to close the restaurant'. " Blumenthal, whose most recent TV show involved creating a new menu for Little Chef, estimated that between 30 and 40 people had fallen ill. Closing the restaurant for a week has cost him "tens of thousands of pounds" since the last meals were served at Sunday lunch; the restaurant is closed on Mondays. Blumenthal said that one theory was that a member of staff may be carrying a virus but showing no symptoms. Test results that have come back so far for up to 14 staff have been negative. Separately, further tests are being done on the restaurant's food but they are a logistical challenge because dozens of different ingredients can go into a single dish and the Fat Duck receives "thousands" of ingredients from around 30 suppliers. The restaurant serves several dishes with seafood – a common cause of food poisoning – such as jelly of quail with langoustine and oyster, passion fruit jelly and lavender, but Blumenthal said: "There's no evidence to suggest it's food poisoning.

"I made the decision to make people aware of this because everything has been done completely from the heart and all we want to do is to give pleasure to the customer. We never cut corners on anything and this is the same." More about: BBC NEWS | UK | England | Berkshire | Snail porridge restaurant's award Snail porridge restaurant's award The Fat Duck was voted the second best in the world in 2004 A restaurant which serves quail jelly and snail porridge has been named the best restaurant in the world. The Fat Duck in Bray, Berkshire, was one of 14 UK eateries competing in The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2005 awards, hosted by Restaurant magazine. Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay's restaurant in Royal Hospital Road, Chelsea, London, came in fifth. The Waterside Inn, also in Bray, was 19th, while Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons in Great Milton, Oxfordshire, was 28th.

Three menus Ella Johnston, editor of Restaurant, said: "I am very pleased with the 2005 list as it shows just how far Britain has come in terms of culinary output and the range of experiences we offer." WORLD'S 'TOP 10 RESTAURANTS' 1 The Fat Duck Bray, Berkshire, UK 2 El Bulli Montjoi Spain 3 The French Laundry Yountville California, US 4 Tetsuya's Sydney, Australia 5 Gordon Ramsay London, UK 6 Pierre Gagnaire Paris, France 7 Per Se New York, US 8 Tom Aikens London, UK 9 Jean Georges New York, US 10 St John London, UK The Fat Duck, owned by Michelin-starred chef Heston Blumenthal, also won the Best Restaurant in Europe category. The eatery offers three menus including a ï¿½37.50 lunch menu boasting fig purï¿½e with red wine, pumpkin risotto with hazelnut and rosemary, braised belly of pork and poached halibut.

A three-course a la carte menu costs ï¿½67.50 and offers customers crab with roast foie gras, oyster ravioli with goats cheese and truffle, saddle of venison and best end of lamb. But for ï¿½97.50, guests can enjoy snail porridge, sardine on toast sorbet and smoked bacon and egg ice-cream. The winner was announced at The Royal Exchange on Monday night. Chef Heston Blumenthal Says Snail Porridge Is Off The Menu at Fat Duck - Eater Chef Heston Blumenthal Says Snail Porridge Is Off The Menu at Fat Duck Writers, font makers, and even a mentalist are helping reinvent the dining experience at Fat Duck. pin Graham Denholm/Getty Images Chef Heston Blumenthal's Bray, England restaurant Fat Duck will tell a whole new dining story when it reopens in October. Last winter, Blumenthal relocated his 20-year-old restaurant to Melbourne, Australia for a wildly popular , six month pop-up . Fat Duck served 14,966 covers before wrapping up on August 15.

In an exclusive interview with Observer Food Monthly , Blumenthal says he's allowing the Duck to mature by retiring longtime dishes to a "Hall of Fame" menu. Snail porridge, orange and beetroot jelly, egg and bacon ice cream, mustard ice cream with red cabbage gazpacho, quail jelly, and salmon with licorice will go. "Sound of the Sea" — a shellfish dish served with a headphone soundtrack of waves — and the savory ice lollies will stay. "I'm morphing into my food. My food is morphing into me." Blumenthal is working with an illustrator, a coaching psychologist, a font designer, and Lee Hall, the writer of Billy Elliot, to reimagine Fat Duck's tasting menu into a story "from childhood holidays in Cornwall between the ages of five and seven." He adds: "I'm using myself. I'm morphing into my food. My food is morphing into me." The menu will start with breakfast and unfold like a chapter.

The eccentric vision is all apparently laid out on a drawing board that the writer describes as "16 or so images, is simply called ‘The Story'" that include cereal boxes, a wafer that looks like a log, and a sheep representing sleep. Among Blumenthal's strange innovations is a $235,000 USD doll house-shaped automated trolley that delivers sweets to guests at the end of the meal while puffing smoke rings out of its chimney. The chef also plans to use "auto-suggestion techniques" gleaned from British mentalist Derren Brown to elicit personal details from guests for improved service. Fat Duck will also introduce a new online ticketing system to manage demand and prevent bills from detracting from the dining experience. Fans can expect prices at the restaurant to rise too. The tasting menu was already $350 USD in Bray and received an even bigger hike in Melbourne that instantly made Fat Duck one of Australia's most expensive restaurants.

To critics of the exorbitant price tag Blumenthal states: "Something can still be expensive but value for money." In the meantime, Blumenthal notes that he's working on a new television show about astronaut food and is trying to get a British astronaut to drink the first cup of tea in space. "We were sending some samples up to the space station recently but the rocket exploded on takeoff." When the Fat Duck exits the the Crowne Melbourne hotel, Blumenthal will replace it will a new outpost of his London restaurant, Dinner. World Chefs: Blumenthal shuns New York for Melbourne World Chefs: Blumenthal shuns New York for Melbourne Sonali Paul Pin it Share British three Michelin-starred chef Heston Blumenthal attends a photocall to launch his new show "How to Cook Like Heston" as part of the MIPTV, the International Television Programs Market, event in Cannes in this April 2, 2012 file photo.

REUTERS/Eric Gaillard/Files More By Sonali Paul MELBOURNE (Reuters) - British chef Heston Blumenthal, famed for his bacon and egg ice cream, credits fans, friends and the "food explosion" in Australia for his decision to move The Fat Duck to Melbourne for six months while the Michelin-starred restaurant is being renovated. From February 2015, the Fat Duck menu, staff and high-tech equipment will be all set to recreate Blumenthal's 3-1/2-hour dining experience in Australia, featuring the likes of grain mustard ice cream, snail porridge and his Alice in Wonderland-inspired mock turtle soup. The entertainment goes beyond smell, taste, touch and sight, as his Sound of the Sea dish transports diners to the beach with an iPod Shuffle tucked in a conch shell playing the sounds of splashing waves and seagulls. The Fat Duck's move is Blumenthal's first opening outside Britain, where the 47-year-old has Dinner by Heston at the Mandarin Oriental in London and two pubs in the village of Bray.

The restaurant at Melbourne's Crown casino will turn into Dinner by Heston Blumenthal when The Fat Duck returns home after renovations to the 375-year-old building near Windsor, England are done. Blumenthal spoke to Reuters about Australia's appeal, the disincentives to running a restaurant in New York and toying with the senses of his diners. Q: Why have you chosen Australia to open your first restaurant outside the UK? A: I've actually got some really good friends over here. The TV shows ("Heston's Feasts" and "How to Cook Like Heston") have done really well over here from the UK. I've signed up for this relationship with Brevilles (appliances). I've just started a relationship with Coles (supermarkets). For me, it was looking at the location and the market. If I was coming over just to do a restaurant, it would be one thing. But I'm over here anyway for the other things as well. We have massive Australian interest in the Duck. So many Australians come to the Duck in the UK. What I love about the approach is Australia is much more open-minded through the food explosion that's happened over here.

I'd put Melbourne and Sydney in the top half dozen cities in the world to eat in, in terms of that kind of diversity of cuisine, quality, just the general food culture. Melbourne is incredibly multicultural and there's just an excitement and interest to try new things. Q: Do you feel like you're being a traitor to the Mandarin? A: No, because The Mandarin (hotels) aren't in Australia and I know for the moment they have absolutely no plans to be in Australia. We had a really serious look at New York. They (The Mandarin) wanted to do it. We wanted to do it. But the biggest problem there is the unions. I've got really good friends at top restaurants in New York who said to me, "If you get under the control of the unions, it's just never going to work. Don't touch it with a barge pole." (Alain) Ducasse and (Joel) Robuchon both left New York because of that. The costs are completely prohibitive.

You can go into the kitchen and the kitchen porter who's washing dishes has pots and pans stacked up to here and says the person whose job spec is to put the pots and pans away doesn't arrive for another 10 minutes. Literally, if someone drops something on the floor and you say "Can you pick that up?", they say "That's not my job." Q: Are you going to be looking at Australian ingredients for The Fat Duck menu in Melbourne? A: We'll be using all Australian ingredients. Instead of using langoustines, we might use yabbies (crayfish). We actually bought more Australian truffles this year than we did from France. They're really good. Q: Are there any unusual Australian ingredients you'll be looking at? A: I've never eaten witchety grubs (larvae of moths) and I really want to. Some of the stuff like lemon myrtle (a native plant) that we don't really see. Saltbush, like a spruce rosemary branch. But this is to bring most of the Fat Duck classics over here and to make sure that they're exactly the same quality that we serve in Bray. That's why we're picking up everything.

We're picking the whole team up, all of the kit, the centrifuges, the rocket machine and the rotary evaporator. Q: What does the rotary evaporator do? A: It's a flavor enhancer. The rotary evaporator can extract flavor from things at low temperature. For example, if you put chocolate in it, the chocolate and the water boils at 25 degrees (Celsius) (77 degrees Fahrenheit) and then you collect the vapor, so you end up with chocolate water. Q: Where do you get the inspiration for a creation like Sound of the Sea and what's the process you follow from idea to table? A: The process can take a long time. In 1997, I put a dish on the menu which was crab ice cream with crab risotto. I just found it fascinating that if you said "Taste this, it's crab ice cream," some people would go 'Wow, love it!' and some would go 'Yuck, how can you have crab ice cream? It's an oxymoron.'" I started to realize that even the name of a dish can change your perception of that dish. From there I started to realize how complex flavor sensation is.

It's the most complicated thing the human body does. There are more chromosomes involved in that than anything else, including reproduction. I then found myself at this amazing junction between the senses, being a chef, because eating is the only thing we do on a regular basis that involves all the senses. The effect of sight, sound, touch, taste and smell on flavor perception is quite incredible. That's when I started experimenting with psychologists, parfumiers, magicians, musicians, that sort of thing. When you start asking questions, a door opens, like falling down a rabbit hole into a wonderland, which is amazing. Roast leg of lamb with anchovy, rosemary and garlic 1 leg of lamb weighing about 2 kg (4.4 pounds) Salt 1/2 tsp of Dijon mustard 500 grams (16 oz) of lamb stock 1. Pre-heat the oven to 80 Celsius (175 Fahrenheit). 2. Season the lamb with salt. 3. Heat the oil in a heavy frying pan over a high heat. When the oil is smoking hot, add the lamb and sear until golden brown on all sides. Remove the lamb from the pan and place in a roasting tray.

4. Blanch the garlic in 100 grams of milk four times, using a fresh 100 grams of milk each time. 5. Cut the garlic into slivers. Using a sharp knife, cut slits in the surface of the lamb at regular intervals. Use a small spoon to enlarge the holes and stuff them with an anchovy slice, a garlic sliver and a few rosemary leaves. 6. Place the lamb in the pre-heated oven for about three to four hours until the internal temperature of the meat reaches 55 Celsius (130 Fahrenheit). 7. When cooked, remove the lamb from the oven, wrap it in foil and allow to rest for at least 30 minutes. 8. While the lamb is resting, place the roasting pan over a medium heat. Add a splash of white wine to deglaze, then add the mustard and stock and reduce to a sauce consistency.

(Editing by John O'Callaghan and Jonathan Oatis) Reblog Heston Blumenthal voted 'Chef of the Decade' - Food - JamaicaObserver.com Heston Blumenthal voted 'Chef of the Decade' Foodie News Tweet The chef who brought snail porridge and bacon and egg ice cream to British cuisine has been named Chef of the Decade. Heston Blumenthal, who owns three-Michelin-starred restaurant The Fat Duck in Bray, Berkshire, claimed the number one spot after topping a poll of magazine readers. The quirky chef beat fellow television chefs Gordon Ramsay and Raymond Blanc, who were runners-up. But in the poll of more than 800 Sainsbury's Magazine readers, Delia Smith won two awards - recipe writer of the decade and cookbook of the decade with How To Cheat At Cooking. Blumenthal is renowned for his unusual gastronomic creations, which include his infamous snail porridge and nitro-scrambled egg and bacon ice cream. In his Channel 4 series, Heston's Feasts, the chef produced banquets based on historic periods such as Roman, medieval and Victorian.

The award comes almost a year after The Fat Duck was closed for two weeks after hundreds of customers fell ill with vomiting and diarrhoea. In the poll of more than 800 Sainsbury's Magazine readers, Delia Smith won two awards - recipe writer of the decade and cookbook of the decade with How To Cheat At Cooking. Helena Lang, editor of Sainsbury's Magazine told The Telegraph: 'As we say goodbye to 2009 we wanted to find out who and what had really influenced the shopping baskets and culinary skills of the nations' home cooks. 'Hot new chefs may come and go but Delia still rules the waves - both on my cookery book shelf and, it seems, in kitchens up and down the land, whilst forgotten cuts and dishes such as lamb shanks have re-emerged from the gloom of the post-war years to become once more supper party staples in these lean times.' Jamie Oliver won Food Campaign of the Decade for his television programme, Jamie's School Dinners, in which he campaigned to get healthier school meals. Chocolate manufacturer Green & Black was voted Brand of the Decade and Innocent, which makes smoothies, was rewarded with Food Product of the Decade.

Other winners included Masterchef, which was named TV Food Show of the Decade and braised lamb shank was voted Dish of the Decade. -- Daily Mail Heston Blumenthal’s Biggest Headache in Australia: Finding Snails for Porridge - Bloomberg Bloomberg the Company & Its Products Bloomberg Anywhere Remote LoginBloomberg Anywhere Login Bloomberg Terminal Demo Request Bloomberg Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas, Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information, news and insight around the world. Customer Support Advertising Bloomberg Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas, Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information, news and insight around the world. Customer Support Heston Blumenthal’s Biggest Headache in Australia: Finding Snails for Porridge Britain's brainest chef discusses his Fat Duck migration to Melbourne by Heston Blumenthal looks out at Melbourne from the dining room of the Fat Duck. Photographer: Mia Mala McDonald/Bloomberg Business Heston Blumenthal tells a story of walking through Sydney and being stopped several times by fans wanting their photograph taken with him. Finally, a family approached with the request for a picture.

He passed the camera to his publicist and posed with them, only realizing from their surprised reaction they had no idea who he was and just wanted him to take their picture. For all that, the British chef is a celebrity in Australia. He is best-known for his appearances on the hit TV show MasterChef Australia—including "Heston Week"—and his Heston for Coles food range. Now, he is in the news for his restaurant the Fat Duck , which has opened for a six-month residency at the Crown Towers in Melbourne, and I reviewed last week . Given that's a straight import, nothing translated or invented, my first question is ... why Australia, and specifically why Melbourne? ‘‘Australia has had the biggest food explosion I’ve ever seen in the world," he says in an interview over lunch. "Look at what happened in Spain, say 15 years ago. That was a couple of handfuls of restaurants. But here they have just gone food crazy. Effectively, it was MasterChef that kicked that off five or six years ago. A lot of Australian chefs have done their time in some of the top restaurants in Europe and they are coming back, too. You see the benefits of that.

"Melbourne is a great city. I get here, and I feel I can breathe." He says that for food, he considers Melbourne one of the world's top five or six cities. The others on the list are New York, London, Paris, and Tokyo/Kyoto. Blumenthal in the kitchen of the Fat Duck Melbourne, where his team will work for the next six months. Photographer: Mia Mala McDonald/Bloomberg Business Earnest Experimentation Blumenthal's public image is of a boffin of food, developing dishes in his laboratory that owe as much to science as gastronomy. This isn't so far from the truth. Take a single example on his Fat Duck menu, the Red Cabbage Gazpacho with Pommery Grain Mustard Ice Cream. He created the dish on the strength of the molecular similarities of diverse ingredients after discovering that mustard oil gives cabbage its peppery flavor, hence the mustard ice cream. Just don't go calling his style "molecular gastronomy," a term he finds irritating . If Blumenthal sometimes appears rather earnest on television, that's how he is when you meet him.

I've interviewed him about a dozen times over the years, and he is good company, as happy to chat about sport and his love of table tennis as about restaurants and developments in cooking. This time, the interview starts out over coffee at the Crown Towers and after an hour or so we decide to head out for lunch at Cumulus Inc. , a fashionable eating house and bar on Flinders Lane in an old rag-trade building in Melbourne's art and fashion district. We take a corner table and order small plates of oysters; sardine and pickled chili en croute; gazpacho, spanner crab and almond; wagyu bresaola; grilled ox tongue and mustard fruits; tuna tartare with crushed-green-pea salad; and baby iceberg, grapefruit, and dill. "This is the first time I've got out of the hotel in a week," Blumenthal says over a bottle of By Farr 2010 Australian Chardonnay from Geelong after going for a chat with the chefs in the open kitchen. Mass Migration The Fat Duck has come to Australia while the restaurant back home in Bray, west of London, is refurbished.

It is a tiny establishment that has changed little since winning three Michelin stars and, in 2005, being voted the world's best restaurant . In particular, he's extending the kitchen, one of the smallest I've ever seen in an established restaurant. Travel with us, drive with us, eat with us. Get our weekly Pursuits newsletter. Sign Up

Question: Which British television chef created snail porridge?
Answer: Heston Blumenthal