In Search of Total Perfection [Paperback]

Heston Blumenthal (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 6, 2010

Heston Blumenthal has made his name creating such original dishes as
Snail Porridge and Nitrogen Scrambled Egg & Bacon Ice Cream at his
internationally acclaimed restaurant, The Fat Duck. In this book,
a single-volume edition of the bestselling Perfection books, Heston focuses his creative talent on reinventing some of our most
well-known (and most abused) dishes.



He travels around the world in search of definitive versions of sixteen
classic dishes: Roast Chicken & Roast Potatoes, Pizza, Hamburger,
Bangers & Mash, Fish Pie, Steak, Spaghetti Bolognese, Risotto, Fish
& Chips, Chilli Con Carne, Chicken Tikka Masala, Peking duck, Black
Forest Gateau, Treacle Tart & Ice Cream, Trifle and Baked Alaska.



Among the many adventures on his quest, he travels to Delhi and makes
an MRI scan of the marinated chicken in his Tikki Masala; he discovers
the secret to the ultimate crispy duck in Peking and experiments at
home by inflating a Gressingham on a footpump; he walks the Dickensian
streets of Lambeth and learns how to capture the essence of a fish and
chip shop in a perfume bottle, and he explores the Willy Wonka-esque
Tate&Lyle factory and tastes some seventy-year-old syrup that
proves an inspiration for the flavour of his treacle tart.


Total Perfection is an original, inspiring and fascinating voyage around the culinary globe.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Chef Heston Blumenthal has
been described as a culinary alchemist for his innovative style of cuisine. His
work researches the molecular compounds of dishes to enable a greater
understanding of taste and flavor. His restaurant, the Fat Duck, in Bray,
Berkshire, England, was awarded three Michelin stars in 2004, and voted the Best
Restaurant in the World by an international panel of 500 culinary experts in
Restaurant magazine's list of the World's Best Restaurants 2005.
Blumenthal lives in Berkshire with his wife and three children.

Product Details

• Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA (July 6, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1408802449
• ISBN-13: 978-1408802441
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.6 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #290,950 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Chef Heston Blumenthal has been described as a culinary alchemist for his innovative style of cuisine. His work researches the molecular compounds of dishes so as to enable a greater understanding of taste and flavour. His restaurant The Fat Duck, in Bray, Berkshire, was awarded three Michelin stars in 2004, and voted the Best Restaurant in the World by an international panel of 500 culinary experts in Restaurant Magazine's The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2005. He also owns the Hinds Head Hotel, a village pub in Bray. Heston Blumenthal lives in Berkshire with his wife and three children.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Scientific approach to understanding a dish, great unless you already own Heston's other books in the series..., July 9, 2010

By 

A. Hsu - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: In Search of Total Perfection (Paperback)

Heston's is a chef that tirelessly, to a point of obsession, strives to bring out the essence of food to a predetermined idea of "perfection". Being a self-taught, literally (not going to culinary school/working in a professional kitchen for only a week!), Heston takes an unconventional approach not used by everyday chefs and uses the scientific method to hypothesize and determine experiments for the results he is looking for. What I really enjoyed about this book is that he dwells into the history and background of the dish; from the story of the farmers, to the use of ingredients and conventional techniques.

I guess some people may think that this book is not for the home cook. To a certain degree I can agree, due to the labor required in some of the recipes, but it is obvious that Heston had the home cook in mind while writing this book(just see his other books, Fat Duck Cookbook). Also this series was filmed for BBC as a television show. The recipes I have tried are sound and everything is written very clearly. But beyond the recipes, Heston is trying to give the home cook an idea of how to approach cooking, instilling somewhat of an intuition by having an understanding of what is going on in the food that you prepare. I find that having an understanding of why, is much more useful than a foundation of this is how.

Other books of interest would be On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen as well as Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking

Now all that being said, if you already own Heston Blumenthal's other books in the series In Search of Perfection and Further Adventures in Search of Perfection: Reinventing Kitchen Classics DO NOT GET THIS BOOK! It is simply a softcover copy of the two books put together!!! This is still a great book, but I much prefer the later two since they come hard bound, with more pictures and higher quality printing.

4.0 out of 5 stars he is genius, great content, paperback quality sucks, October 8, 2011

By 

Filippo (London, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: In Search of Total Perfection (Paperback)

amazing stories, wonderful recepies, eventho you will be able to cook probably only 4 or 5 of them. they are hard and require lots of preparation, attention etc... but he is a genius. the quality of the paperback leaves something to be desired.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Heston is err, umm beston.., February 10, 2011

By 

J. Cameron (Melbourne) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: In Search of Total Perfection (Paperback)

it's great even if you just want to read about how great food can be prepared or a small insight into Heston's mad genius.
On top of which, the recipe's have been made (somewhat) for home cooks.
Very good.