Product Description
Fish and chips; roast chicken; spaghetti bolognese; steak and salad; pizza; sausages and mashed potatoes; black forest cake; and treacle tart and ice cream: all as good as they can possibly be. With this book, a tie-in to the BBC series of the same name, Michelin three-star winner Heston Blumenthal delivers the absolute last word in how to cook these timeless dishes. He looks at the origin of the dishes, how to find the best ingredients (in America as well as in the UK) and what to look for, and, of course, how to cook them to perfection. Along the way, readers are treated to priceless culinary lessons: everything from how to cut potatoes for flawless frying to where to find the choicest beef to the two secret ingredients in spaghetti Bolognese (nutmeg and cream!). Lavishly illustrated with gorgeous photos, and including “perfect” recipes for each dish, this unrivaled book deserves a place as a staple in every cook’s home.
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 Food preparation...above and beyond the call of duty ( ran5 )
An interesting read for the culinary inclined!
This book, by Heston Blumenthal is an in-depth discussion about the history, ingredients and food preparation of 8 different food dishes. The end result is a culinary offering that he'd be willing to describe as near 'perfection'. However, he's the first to admit that 'perfection' is obviously a very subjective matter.
The choices for this book include the following...
1.)Roast Chicken and Roast Potatoes
2.)Pizza
3.)Bangers and Mash (sausages and mashed potatoes)
4.)Steaks
5.)Spaghetti Bolognese
6.)Fish and Chips
7.)Black Forest Gateau
8.)Treacle Tart and Ice Cream
All recipes found in this book were developed after extensive research and travel. The best authorities of the region(s) involved were visited (on both sides of the Atlantic) and consulted to learn special cooking techniques and to obtain the best ingredients. Then further research and testing was done back home (England) in an attempt to create the 'perfect' dish.
Blumenthal freely admits in the 'Introduction' that this effort was not intended to be a 'cookbook' as such, more rather a personal attempt to do something he's always wanted to do, now that he has the resources to do so. An with this in mind, the book has accomplished its goals.
Anyone contemplating making any of these intriguing and beautiful meals, be forewarned, there is a huge degree of impracticality about all of these recipes. For Example, the chicken in 'Roast Chicken and Roast Potatoes' comes only from Bresse area of France, the potato from England. The 'Steak' recipe uses a specific type of beef that is browned with a blow torch and then the meat must be slowly heated to 120F (using a digital thermometer to make sure it doesn't exceed 120F) in an oven (this takes 4-8 hrs) before finally being cooked in a pan. The 'Treacle Tart and Ice Cream' recipe requires 'dry ice' to make the ice cream, etc. All recipes are unique and use items, ingredients and techniques that most of us would never have access to, nor the time to prepare such extravagant meals. Although, having said that, there is a photograph at the end of each section showing the final creation. WOW, simply mouth watering!
In the back of the book there is a 'Directory', listing Restaurants, suppliers and addresses of places where you can eat or get ingredients; places that Mr. Blumenthal visited on his travels to make this book.
Conclusion: A fun and informative culinary read. A look at the art of food preparation that has been taken to the next level. 5 Stars
Ray Nicholson
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A glorious culinary romp through one man's obsessive compulsive disorder ( kevin1084 )
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!
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IN SEARCH OF PERFECTION ladles out a wealth of fun, enlightening culinary detail. ( mwbookrevw )
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
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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.
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 intense ( fclark79 )
not quite a cook book.. more an exploration of certain kitchen classics and how to molecularly gastronimize them. or at least use a ton of steps and special equipment to make them. treacle tart with an ice cream made with dry ice? Just try to make the black forest choco cake he has in here.
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