Heston Blumenthal facts for kids
Blumenthal in 2010
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| Born | Heston Marc Blumenthal 27 May 1966 Shepherd's Bush, London, England |
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| Education | John Hampden Grammar School Latymer Upper School |
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Rating(s)
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Current restaurant(s)
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Previous restaurant(s)
The Crown at Bray
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Television show(s)
Heston's Great British Food
Kitchen Chemistry In Search of Perfection Crazy Delicious Big Chef Takes on Little Chef Heston's Feasts How To Cook Like Heston Heston's Fantastical Food Heston's Mission Impossible Inside Heston's World |
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Heston Marc Blumenthal OBE (born 27 May 1966) is a famous English celebrity chef, TV star, and food writer. He is known for his unique and scientific approach to cooking. His most famous restaurant is the Fat Duck in Bray, Berkshire. This restaurant has three Michelin stars, which is one of the highest awards a restaurant can get. In 2005, it was even named the world's best restaurant!
Blumenthal is a leader in "multi-sensory cooking," which means he thinks about how all your senses (sight, sound, smell, taste, touch) affect how you enjoy food. He also explores "food pairing," finding new combinations of ingredients that work well together. He became famous for unusual dishes like bacon-and-egg ice cream and snail porridge. His recipes for triple-cooked chips and soft-centred Scotch eggs have been copied by many other chefs. He believes in using science in the kitchen. Because of this, he has received special awards from universities and the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Heston Blumenthal became even more well-known through his TV shows, especially on Channel 4. He also created a range of food products for the Waitrose supermarket. Besides The Fat Duck, he owns Dinner, a two-Michelin-star restaurant in London. He also has a pub in Bray called the Hind's Head, which has one Michelin star.
Contents
Early Life and Cooking Inspiration
Heston Marc Blumenthal was born in Shepherd's Bush, London, on 27 May 1966. He grew up in a Jewish family. His last name, Blumenthal, means 'flowered valley' in German.
He went to several schools, including Latymer Upper School and John Hampden Grammar School. His love for cooking started when he was 16. On a family trip to France, he visited a restaurant with three Michelin stars. He was amazed by the food and the whole experience. He loved the sounds of fountains, the smell of lavender, and watching the waiters serve food.
After school, Heston tried an apprenticeship at a famous restaurant but left quickly. For the next ten years, he worked in different jobs during the day. But in the evenings, he taught himself French cooking. A big moment for him was reading a book called On Food and Cooking: the Science and Lore of the Kitchen by Harold McGee. This book made him question traditional cooking rules. It encouraged him to think differently about food and to "question everything."
Heston's Culinary Journey
In 1995, Heston Blumenthal bought an old pub in Bray, Berkshire, and turned it into the Fat Duck. At first, it was just him and a dishwasher! They served French-style dishes like steak and chips. Even then, science was part of his cooking. He created his famous triple-cooked chips to keep them from getting soft. The restaurant almost went out of business, and Heston had to sell his house and car to keep it open.
The Fat Duck's Success
The Fat Duck earned its first Michelin star in 1999. In 2001, it got a second star and was named restaurant of the year. In 2004, it received its third Michelin star, making it one of only a few restaurants in the UK with this top honor. At that time, Heston said he was still very close to going bankrupt.
Other Restaurants
In 2004, Heston also bought the Hind's Head in Bray. This old 15th-century pub now serves traditional British dishes. In 2011, it was named the Michelin Pub Guide's Pub of the Year.
In 2011, Heston opened his first restaurant outside Bray, called Dinner. It is located in London. For this restaurant, historians helped him create dishes based on old British recipes. Dinner quickly earned its first Michelin star in 2012 and a second in 2014. In 2013, it was voted the 7th best restaurant in the world.
In 2014, he opened the Perfectionists' Cafe at Heathrow Airport. In 2015, The Fat Duck moved temporarily to Australia while its original location was being updated.
Television Appearances
Heston Blumenthal has starred in many TV shows, sharing his unique cooking ideas with a wider audience.
Early TV Shows
In 2002, he made a show called Kitchen Chemistry with Heston Blumenthal. It was about the science behind cooking. From 2004 to 2007, he presented two BBC series: Heston Blumenthal: In Search of Perfection and Heston Blumenthal: Further Adventures In Search of Perfection. These shows explored how to make classic dishes perfect.
Channel 4 and Beyond
In 2008, Heston moved to Channel 4. In 2009, he tried to improve the food at a roadside restaurant chain called Little Chef. He also presented Heston's Feasts, where he created amazing themed dinner parties. A second series followed in 2010.
From 2011, Heston's Mission Impossible aired. In this show, he tried to make food better in places like schools and hospitals. In 2012, How To Cook Like Heston taught home cooks some of his easier techniques. He also presented Heston's Fantastical Food (2012) and Heston's Great British Food (2014). More recently, he has appeared as a judge on cooking shows like Crazy Delicious (2020), the French Top Chef (2021), and the Australian Masterchef (2022).
Partnership with Waitrose
In 2010, Heston Blumenthal started working with the supermarket chain Waitrose to create special food products. His most famous product was a Christmas pudding with a whole orange inside, which sold out very quickly in 2010. People even sold them online for high prices! He also created other unusual items like a bloody Mary prawn cocktail. This partnership inspired other supermarkets to create their own unique products. Waitrose ended their contract with Heston in 2023.
Heston's Cooking Methods
Heston Blumenthal is famous for his experimental and scientific approach to cooking.
Food Pairing
He has explored "food pairing," which means finding ingredients that have similar molecules and putting them together in a dish. One example was his white chocolate with caviar. He also created combinations like Roast Foie Gras with Benzaldehyde (an almond flavor) and salmon in liquorice gel. While these combinations can be surprising, Heston believes that a chef's creativity is still most important.
The "New Cookery"
Since the late 1990s, Heston has been a leader in "molecular gastronomy." This style of cooking uses science, precision, and technology. In 2006, Heston and food scientist Harold McGee wrote a statement about this "New Cookery." They said that new techniques and ingredients should only be used if they make a dish better. For example, using liquid nitrogen just to be fancy isn't enough. They also believe that working with scientists and psychologists can help cooking improve.
Multi-Sensory Cooking
Heston calls his scientific approach "multi-sensory cooking." He believes that eating uses all our senses at once. His visit to that French restaurant at 16 showed him how sounds, smells, and sights can make food taste even better. He realized that his small restaurant, The Fat Duck, couldn't offer grand views, so it had to capture people's imaginations in other ways.
An important moment for him was creating a crab ice cream. People found it strange until he called it "Frozen Crab Bisque." This showed him that even the name of a dish can change how people taste it.
Since then, Heston has explored how all our senses affect taste. For example, he created a chocolate dessert with popping candy. Diners would listen to the popping sounds through headphones as they ate it. He also worked with Professor Charles Spence from Oxford University to study how sound affects flavor. In one experiment, people ate oysters while listening to either ocean sounds or farm sounds. They found the oysters tasted better with ocean sounds. Another experiment showed that the sound of sizzling bacon made bacon-and-egg ice cream taste more like bacon.
Heston believes that our enjoyment of food depends on our memories and how our brain processes information from all our senses. So, his dishes are designed to appeal to all senses and bring back memories or feelings. For example, his Nitro-poached Green Tea and Lime Mousse is served with a spray of "lime grove" scent. His Jelly of Quail dish is served on oak moss with a special oak moss scent.
His most famous multi-sensory dish is "Sound of the Sea." It looks like a beach with edible sand and sea foam. It's served on a glass box with real sand. Diners wear headphones to listen to the sounds of seagulls and the sea while they eat. Heston wanted to "transport the diner... to another place."
Signature Dishes
Some of Heston Blumenthal's most famous dishes include his triple-cooked chips, snail porridge, bacon-and-egg ice cream, and parsnip cereal. He also created "Meat Fruit," which looks like a mandarin orange but is actually a chicken liver mousse. His "Sweet Shop" petit fours are also very popular.
He is known for using sound in his dishes, like with "Sound of the Sea." He also uses scented dry ice to add to the experience. Heston and The Fat Duck are also credited with starting the trend of bacon desserts.
Historic Influences
Heston is very interested in British history and uses it in his cooking. He became interested in old recipes after finding a 15th-century cookbook with unusual ideas. He realized that cooking from the past could be "playful, audacious and creative."
He worked with food historians to develop dishes inspired by old British recipes. His first historical dish was Quaking Pudding, which is now on the menu at the Hinds Head. The menu at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal is entirely made up of dishes inspired by the past. His 2013 book, Historic Heston, shares many of these historical recipes.
Royal Connections
In 2009, Heston Blumenthal was invited to cook a private meal for Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle. The menu included baked salmon and strawberry gateau. He was also chosen to provide the picnic meal for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations in 2012. He was a special guest in the Royal Box at the Queen's Diamond Jubilee concert.
Awards and Recognition
Heston Blumenthal has received many awards for his cooking and his scientific approach to food.
Personal Awards
In 2004, he won the Chef Award at the Catey Awards. In 2006, he was made an OBE for his contributions to British cooking.
He has also received special degrees from universities for his scientific work. In 2006, Reading University gave him an honorary Doctor of Science degree. The Royal Society of Chemistry also made him an honorary fellow. He received honorary degrees from Bristol University in 2007 and the University of London in 2013.
In 2013, Heston Blumenthal was given his own special coat of arms.
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Chef's Awards
- Best Restaurant of the Year Award – Decanter Magazine, 1998
- Chef of the Year – Good Food Guide, 2001
- AA Guide chef's chef of the year Award – AA Guide Publications 2002
- Catey Awards Restaurateur of the year Award – Caterer & Hotelkeeper Magazine 2003
- Food & Wine Personality of the Year Award – GQ Magazine, Glenfiddich Awards 2004
- GQ Magazine Chef of the Year – GQ Magazine Man of the Year awards 2004
- GQ Personality of the year – GQ Glenfiddich Awards 2007
- Chef's choice award – San Pellegrino Worlds 50 Best Restaurant Awards April 2007
- Trophy Gourmand – Austria 2010
- GQ Chef of the Year – GQ Man of the Year Awards 2010/2011
- The Diners Club® Lifetime Achievement Award 2017 at The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2017.
Television and Book Awards
- Best Cookbook for "Family Food: A New Approach to Cooking" – Gourmand World Cookbook Awards 2003
- Best Children Cookbook for "Family Food: A New Approach to Cooking" – Gourmand World Cookbook Awards 2004
- Best Production "Heston Blumenthal – In Search of Perfection" BBC2 – GQ Glenfiddich Awards 2007
- The Guild of Food Writers Awards 2014 – Historic Heston book, Heston and his ghost writer, Pascal Cariss won the prestigious award for on British Food.
- BAFTA nomination in the Features category for "Heston Blumenthal: In Search of Perfection"- British Academy Television Awards 2008
- The Features and Lifestyle Award for Heston's Victorian Feast – The Royal Television Society Awards 2009
- Food Book of the Year for The Big Fat Duck Cookbook – Guild of Food Writers Awards 2009
- Winner of Design and Production Award for The Big Fat Duck Cookbook – British Book Industry Awards 2009
- Winner of Photography Award for The Big Fat Duck Cookbook – James Beard Foundation Awards 2009
- Winner of Design Award for The Big Fat Duck Cookbook – International Association of Culinary Professionals Awards 2009
- BAFTA nomination in the Features category for "FEAST" – British Academy Television Awards 2010
Restaurant Awards
Heston's restaurants have won many awards, including "Best Restaurant in the World."
Personal Life
Heston Blumenthal has three children from his first marriage to Zanna. He has said that Zanna played a big part in the success of The Fat Duck because she took care of their family while he worked. He later had another daughter with Stephanie Gouveia. In 2023, he married Melanie Ceysson.
In 2017, Heston was diagnosed with Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Images for kids
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Heston Blumenthal in 2010
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Meat fruit, a chicken liver mousse created to look like a mandarin orange, served in Blumenthal's Dinner restaurant in London
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Heston Blumenthal's personal coat of arms
See also
In Spanish: Heston Blumenthal para niños
