The Untold Truth Of Heston Blumenthal

He can count both Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver as both peers and competitors. Heston Blumenthal belongs to a select group of successful British chefs who can count, among other things, a three-Michelin star restaurant — The Fat Duck, which was named World's Best Restaurant in 2005, according to 50 Best. He's also written weekly columns for The Sunday Times, appeared in a television program (Heston's Feasts), and authored several cookbooks, one of which was awarded Food Book of the Year for 2009 from the Guild of Food Writers (via Star Chefs). 

As Esquire reports, Blumenthal made his name in the 1990s for his work in "food pairing," where different ingredients would be paired together due to their similarities on the molecular level, in order to create a new dish. As a result, Blumenthal became known for his unorthodox dishes including snail porridge and crab ice cream. When molecular gastronomy became popular, the chef was photographed with test tubes and beakers. Esquire called him the mad scientist of British cooking and the Willy Wonka of the food world; and his work must have had some scientific basis because he is the only chef to be named Honorary Fellow of the UK's Royal Society of Chemistry.

Heston Blumenthal's willingness to think outside the box when it came to cooking led to his pioneering use of liquid nitrogen in the kitchen. He's doused green beans in the substance to keep the legume's vibrant color, and he uses liquid nitrogen to make ice cream tableside at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, restaurants that carry his name in both London and Melbourne. 

Because he has discovered that our senses have a huge impact on how much we enjoy our meals, he's employed a sensory approach to eating. His Sound of the Sea recipe, for instance, serves up a dish with seafood, kelp, seaweed, and edible sand alongside an iPod in a conch shell, with plays the sounds you might associate with the ocean, like seagulls and ocean waves. Thanks to his ability to dream, 50 Best credits Blumenthal with being able to redefine historic British Food. One of his offers is "Meat Fruit," which looks like a dessert but actually contains a savory component; Eater describes the making of meat fruit, which is filled with a chicken liver and foie gras parfait. 

Heston Blumenthal has had his share of controversy. In late 2019, he addressed the issue of a lack of gender diversity in the kitchen by saying he didn't have a straightforward answer that could explain why the culinary industry had a problem with gender diversity. According to Today, women make up about half of the graduating cohorts at culinary school every year, but they make up fewer than 7 percent of executive chefs at large organizations. 

Blumenthal told the Economic Times of India, "I think it depends on a lot of factors, including the culture in the country. I have always employed female chefs, but historically and ultimately, the body clock starts working. It's evolution, and it is one thing to have a 9 to 5 job and quite another to be a chef with kids. So, that makes it difficult." He also went on to say lifting heavy kitchen tools would be a challenge for women. 

Suffice it to say Blumenthal came in for plenty of criticism over social media — and we're not sure if women chefs have since forgiven him, because he seems to have refused to comment on the matter since that time.