The British chef’s recent collaboration with Black & White has inspired him to work whiskey into new recipes and launch an online resource for sharing recipes.
The British chef’s recent collaboration with Black & White has inspired him to work whiskey into new recipes and launch an online resource for sharing recipes.
Late last year, the packaging of black and white whiskey changed. The familiar monochrome terrier remained, but the limited-edition box from the house of Diageo was repurposed as a recipe book—with input from Heston Blumenthal. The British chef is best known for his three Michelin-starred restaurant The Fat Duck (in Bray, outside London) but also, as he often puts it, “playing with people’s expectations at the dining table”. For” [think ‘Meat Fruit’, a chicken liver and foie gras parfait encased inside a ‘peel’ of mandarin orange jelly]And he doesn’t disappoint with this collaboration either.
“The versatility of Black and White meant this was a whiskey that would inspire me creatively,” he explains, how, unlike other recent collabs – such as with Australian burger chain Griddle, the mushroom-based fable To make Burgers – he met with the team in India to develop and launch an online resource.
Heston Blumenthal
, photo credit: instagram.com/thehestonblumenthalteam
The ‘Journal of Sharing’ features contributions from Indian chefs such as Chefs Kunal Kapoor and Amaninder Sadhu, and MasterChef India winner Shipra Khanna, along with some of their exclusive cuisine and cocktail ideas. “The black cumin and old fashioned honey we made, for example, is a wonderful reimagining of the classic whiskey cocktail, which we pair with mushroom cashews. [cashew nuts roasted with porcini powder], Delicious!” The magazine has now opened up to all with a dish to share.
Coping with Science and Fear of the Stove
The timing is ideal – you can add to the cache of kitchen and bar experiments that the pandemic encouraged Homebound to start. “By cooking and eating you can take down so many rabbits of discovery,” says the 55-year-old. “I’ve been lucky to discover so many wonderful things through food and following my senses.”
Meat of Heston in Verjuice Fruits and Eggs | photo credit: @thehestonblumenthalteam
How does one hone that skill? “It’s something that I developed as a technique for myself and my teams of chefs. It requires attention and awareness. Of course you must train yourself, and it requires practice, But it’s a lot like meditating and breathing. By focusing on each of the senses when they are engaged, you can listen to them without distraction and learn from them when you’re about to eat or drink. process.” This comes via Blumenthal’s dishes like Sound of the Sea, which integrate a hidden iPod to enhance the Dish experience.
India Focus
Blumenthal last visited India in 2019, when he hosted a pop-up dinner in Mumbai and New Delhi. “On that journey, I joined yoga Master, Sadhguru. I have read a lot of his articles and I am very interested in his thoughts on diet and water. Water is the focus of my research in my lab, so I look forward to meeting and sharing ideas with him and his team,” he says. Meanwhile, for those who missed out on the pop-up, Blumenthal says he’ll be opening a restaurant this year at Atlantis, The Palm, in Dubai.
Given his repertoire of recipes, each inventor, how does he develop his own recipes? “My approach is to explore multiple avenues and surround myself with people from different places and experiences. Fear is often a hindrance to creativity, but when you’re doing your research with a team it can lead to a fear of failure. Might help get out.”
A limited edition Chef Heston Blumenthal’s Secret Recipe Journal pack (₹2,500) comes with a bottle of Black & White Scotch and special cocktails and food recipes. A QR code will also take the users to the website socialgoat.in/BlackAndWhiteJournalOfSharing.
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