All the Dishes
Specialty Equipment: food dehydrator – water bath – vacuum machine – digital thermometer – thermomix – fine digital scale – ice cream machine – mandolin – pastry cutters – PacoJet – refractometer – pH meter – electric slicer – pressure cooker – freeze-drier – rotary evaporator – (range of) molds – steamer – centrifuge
Specialty Ingredients: acid, citric – acid, malic – acid, tartaric acid – cacao butter – calcium chloride – carbonized vegetable powder, brown – crystallised violet petals – essence, leather – essential oil, almond – essential oil, Douglas Fir – essential oil, Frankincense – essential oil, grapefruit – essential oil, lychee – essential oil, mandarin – essential oil, rose – flojel 60 – gelatine (170 Bloom) – gelatine (200 Bloom), powdered – gellan f – gellan LT100 – glycerine – gold leaves – gold powder – golden Frankincense tears – gum arabic – liquid nitrogen – liquorice root, dried – liquorice root, sticks of concentrated – maltodextrin DE8 – maltodextrin DE19 – milk powder, skimmed – N-Zorbit M maltodextrin – nitrite salt – oak extract – oak moss extract – pectin, high methoxyl – pectin, nappage – pectin, yellow – popping candy – shimmer powder, blue – sodium caseinate – sodium citrate – sodium tripolyphosphate – soy lecithin – spray-dried apple granules – spray-dried carrot powder – sugar, fructose – sugar, invert – sugar, isomalt – TIC gums alginate 488T – tobacco, cavendish – transglutaminase – vitamin C – water, deionised – whey powder (- patience)
Days: 98
——————————————————————————————————————————————-
Feel weird seeing all the work of 1 year and 2 months on 1 page. The funny thing is that I can remember a lot from every dish: preparation methods, what went wrong, what was difficult to make, stuff like that. I’m sure the information will be replaced by other pieces of info over time, but hell, I’ve got photos and accompanying texts to help me remember.
As far as the photos go I can clearly see I had no clue until the Orange and Beetroot Jelly, which I made during a photography course. From then on I tried to take better photographs, but didn’t have a tripod and lighting was a word I had not yet linked to taking pictures. The Roast Foie Gras ‘Benzaldehyde’ was the first plate I lid (with LED flashlights) with an end result in mind: replicating the shadow rich, dynamic quality of the photos in the book. I still wasn’t the proud owner of a tripod, so when taking the picture I juggled two flashlights and a camera, which would make every photographer chuckle. With the Beef Royal (1723), First Course recipe I owned a tripod and started to think more and more on the photos I was taking, leading in the end to makeshift setups with lights and boards that were lying around the house. I’ve never bought proper lights, or a proper (digital) camera for that matter, so am looking forward to buying some and see how the photos will turn out.
The purchase of a tripod went hand in hand with a change in my cooking. At a certain point you start to notice little details in the recipes and the presentations and this sneaks up in your cooking. The book will slowly and unnoticeably (to a certain point) turn you in a Fat Duck intern, afraid of a big bad chef who’s looking over your shoulder. The cubes of butter from the Flaming Sorbet are a prime example (forgive my ass for quoting myself): ‘During the crumble preparations I knew the cookbook had gotten to me. I’m at a point of no return. Precision is imprinted in my brain. My fingers act like somebody could strike them at any moment if I’m not precise. I was preparing cubes of butter for the crumble and noticed I was cutting them all in the same size and discarding the ones that weren’t. It’s only a freaking butter for a crumble mixture! In the end I got some control of myself and kept the ‘deformed’ cubes and chopped the rest of the butter with a slightly less rigorous regiment.’
I still feel very far removed from the level of the Fat Duck kitchens, but have definitely gotten a better understanding of the strict nature of translating these recipes to actual plates of food for paying customers (and a watchful world for that matter). I almost feel like making every recipe a second time to try and get better at this level of cooking (and do a better job on some earlier dishes), though I can safely say that feeling is squashed by the sheer fear of making the dishes again.
So, this is the end result that will have to make due. By the way I didn’t make the Eel Nichi recipe. Reading the introduction I get the feeling it was more of an experiment and going through the ingredients it probably was. I also found almost no information on this dish and wonder if it was ever served at The Fat Duck. I’ll consider making it if someone sends me all the specialty ingredients, but good luck finding them!
1. Cauliflower Risotto, Carpaccio of Cauliflower, Chocolate Jelly
2. Red Cabbage Gazpacho, Pommery Grain Mustard Ice Cream
3. Sardine on Toast Sorbet, Ballottine of Mackerel ‘Invertebrate’
4. Candied Beetroot and Grapefruit Lolly, ‘Edible Wrapper’
5. Radish Ravioli of Oyster, Goats’ Cheese and Truffle, Brawn Rissole
6. Délice of Chocolate, Chocolate Sorbet, Cumin Caramel
7. Macerated Strawberries, Black Olive and Leather Purée, Pistachio Scrambled Egg
8. Crab Biscuit, Roast Foie Gras, Crystallised Seaweed, Oyster Vinaigrette
9. Salmon Poached in a Liqourice Gel, Black Truffle, Asparagus, Vanilla Mayonnaise, Manni Olive Oil
10. Ballotine of Anjou Pigeon, Black Pudding, Pickling Brine, Spiced Roasting Juices
11. Mandarin Aerated Chocolate
12. Galette of Rhubarb, Crystallised Coconut, Rhubarb Sorbet
13. Lasagne of Langoustine, Pig’s Trotter, Truffle
14. Sole Veronique, Champagne Fluid Gel, Triple-Cooked Chips
17. Jelly of Quail, Langoustine Cream, Parfait of Foie Gras, Truffle and Oak Toast, Scented Moss
19. Pine Sherbet Fountain & Mango and Douglas Fir Puree
20. Jelly of Oyster and Passion Fruit with Lavender
22. Pot-Roast Loin of Pork, Braised Belly, Gratin of Truffled Macaroni
24. Roast Foie Gras ‘Benzaldehyde’ Almond Fluid Gel, Cherry, Chamomile
26. Roast Scallop, Scallop Tartare, Caviar, White Chocolate Velouté
28. Cox’s Apple, Fromage Blanc, Apple Milk Caramel, Vanilla Ice Cream
30. Beef Royal (1723), First Course
31. Beef Royal (1723), Third Course
32. Mrs. Marshall’s Margaret Cornet
33. Apple Pie Caramel, ‘Edible Wrapper’
34. Beef Royal (1723), Second Course
38. Chocolate Wine, Millionaire Shortbread
39. Nitro-Poached Green Tea and Lime Mousse, ‘Lime Grove’
40. Nitro-Scrambled Egg and Bacon Ice Cream, Pain Perdu, Tea Jelly
41. Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh
42. Vegetarian Pot au Feu, Heart of Palm Marrowbone
Just to say thanks, this blog provided me with hours of entertainment reading through the sucesses and failures and everything in between.
Ive tried the drinks (chocolate wine and Hot and Iced Tea) and im not quite sure whether reading this blog has encouraged me to try other things or put me off completely lol, thanks all the same 😀
Well done, a truly heroic undertaking! The final summary of all the dishes looks excellent, and inspires me to try cooking a few more myself.
The question is; what are you going to do now?!
He Lakie and Lee, thanks for the comments, appreciate it. Lakie I understand the conundrum. I would say go for it, but I also remember how I felt when I just started. I would tackle the Crab Biscuit (maybe use a foie gras pate), the Red Cabbage Gazpacho, or the pain perdu with the ice cream made in an ice cream machine.
Lee I’ll upload one final post and will answer your question.
I’ve really enjoyed reading your blog, always looked forward to updates. Thanks for sharing your insights on the Fat Duck dishes.
Hey,
Firstly, thank you for this blog, it is highly entertaining and a goldmine of information.
I am hoping to do a couple of the dishes: Flaming Sorbet, Hot and Iced Tea and Apple Pie Caramels. However, particularly for the tea recipe the levels of some ingredients are almost laughable, like half a gram of calcium chloride. Whilst in a normal recipe you could probably get away with leaving them out this clearly isn’t an option here. Is there anyway to get around buying faaaar too much, I know msk sells the products, but I hardly want 200g when the recipe asks for 1.6g… Or did you just bite the bullet and buy massive amounts? Also, did you find bloom levels critical for a recipes success, and if so, where can I find 200 bloom gelatine?
Thanks
He David, thanks for the compliment.
I got calcium chloride (calcic) (and some others like sodium citrate (citras)) from the Texturas line. After looking around on the internet I found a Dutch website that buys every Texturas product and resells it in smaller quantities. Maybe you can find a similar website, because you indeed don’t need a lot. With the blog I sometimes had to bite the bullet, but avoided having to whenever possible.
Regarding the gelatine I’ve used 200 Bloom and 230 Bloom and both worked out fine. I know some countries sell gelatine graded as bronze, silver and gold and if you can find it one would probably be in the range of 200. Just don’t be too far off and all will be good (don’t forget to change the amounts when using a different Bloom level).
Great compilation! (And your edit after the initial article is a nice touch too!)
Of course there still are some Heston recipes out there that aren’t in the book but that are/were served in The Fat Duck – tastingmenu.com, for example, shows a Bavarois of basil, Pralines rose tartlet, white chocolate and caviar, foam on cabbage, and “shell with sweetbread” (cooked in salt crust with hay).
My next red cabbage is already waiting to be juiced for another gazpacho. If you ever make it again, I recommend saving some red wine mayo and trying it in a Waldorf salad – I did this last time and I think it worked really well. I think I might give the flaming sorbet a shot next.
By the way, Auldo, you’re probably the right person to ask for a bit of advice. I’d like to start doing some spherification experiments, but I find the calcium chloride flakes that I have to taste absolutely disgusting (not exactly salty but a really foul taste). Even if I mix only a teaspoon in a litre of water, the result will have such a bad flavour that I wouldn’t think of swallowing it. Although I can still imagine rinsing it off any apple caviar pearls, I don’t think I’d risk using something with such a strong bad taste in cheese or beer where it appears to be a common additive. Do you know if this bad flavour is normal and to be expected, or should I just replace my current batch of CaCl2?
He Marc, good spot.
I thought of making Fat Duck recipes that aren’t in the book, like the Muck Turtle Soup (can be found online) and the Taffety Tart (has similarities with the Cox’s Apple recipe), but in the end had no trouble letting go of this idea.
As for spherification I’m no expert, I know some things about it. Calcium tastes indeed foul, really bitter and I always make spheres without it. I go for inverse spherification with gluco in the spheres and algin in the ‘bath’, eliminating the need for calcic (although a lot of el bulli recipes use calcic).
It could also be, like you said, that your calcic has gone bad. Is the calcic you have food safe? I think there is a range of calcium available for different purposes with different flavors.
Don’t forget to use bottled water.
Don’t normally comment on blogs, but I’ve got to with yours. I’m really sad this one has sort of finished, it’s been great reading, particularly due to the regular updates.
Couple of questions, which was the best recipe and what are you going to do with the huge amounts of free time you’ll have now 🙂
He Phill, I’m honored, hehe. I tried to plan my way through the book so I could update about every week.
I have a top 5 of favorite dishes on the top of the page. What’s next will be a topic of my final post.
McDonalds at home 🙂
How did you know?
Hi Auldo, thanks for the reply. By your description I’m confident the taste of the calcium chloride is as should be expected. It’s definitely food grade and tastes the way it always did. I’ll make sure to use bottled water and/or inverse spherification.
Lots going on in food world at the moment. Tried making a sloeberry agar desert with the berries I found growing around here. Guess what – utter failure, because tannic acid is an agar inhibitor (I’ll never forget now!). Good flavour though.
Wow, congratulations! And thanks for the entertainment!
Thanks man.
you should try his other book, “Historic Heston” if you really fancy another challenge 😛
How to make a false blog on a character expressing his feelings?