Heston & The Fat Duck

[User482]

Fearnley-Whittingstall is an amateur cook, not a professional chef.

You pay to eat at River Cottage (and very good it is too) - he's a professional.

 

[User169]

Oliver's background is Italian peasant food (the River Cafe, IIRC). Fearnley-Whittingstall is an amateur cook, not a professional chef.

HFW was also a chef at River Café.

 

[Fnaar]

If Jamie Oliver = a regular magician, then Heston "Services" Bloomingflip = Derren Brown.
My own cooking is Tommy Cooper.

 

[srw]

So if you see "gravy" on a menu, do you assume it's made with bisto?

Yes. But then the sort of place I'm most likely to eat at is the sort of place where it could go either way.

 

[srw]

HFW was also a chef at River Café.

I'd forgotten that, but it was only very briefly - and it's his only professional training. He's basically a journalist and TV presenter turned entrepreneur. If you go to River Cottage it won't (usually) be HFW who cooks for you - it will be his professional chefs. His schtick on the telly is that he's an ordinary amateur.

 

[Archie_tect]

That pig can hold it's breath a long time DP...

 

[User482]

Yes. But then the sort of place I'm most likely to eat at is the sort of place where it could go either way.

If you start assuming that the mash comes from a packet with pictures of martians, it's time to spend a bit more on your grub...

 

[srw]

If you start assuming that the mash comes from a packet with pictures of martians, it's time to spend a bit more on your grub...

I do, as it happens, have very fond memories of Smash. But for many reasons, good and bad, our eating out has been fairly random and not organised in advance over the last few years.

 

[User482]

I'd forgotten that, but it was only very briefly - and it's his only professional training. He's basically a journalist and TV presenter turned entrepreneur. If you go to River Cottage it won't (usually) be HFW who cooks for you - it will be his professional chefs. His schtick on the telly is that he's an ordinary amateur.

That doesn't really stack up though - plenty of well-known chefs aren't actually behind the stove of their restaurant. And HFW isn't the only one to lack professional training - Heston Blumenthal is completely self-taught.

 

[User169]

I only hope Heston doesn't try making his own beer like his molecular gastronomist confrere, Ferran Adria.

 

[PK99]

1. I'm aware of the various frying methods. You'll note that chips are never described as "deep fried" because it's obvious that this is the cooking method. Similarly, in the vast majority of cases, it is obvious when food is pan fried. The description is superfluous.

2. Crème anglais and custard are the same. My Mrs Beeton (both), Michel Roux (crème Anglaise) and Good Housekeeping (custard) recipes are identical. Birds powder bears as little relation to custard as it does to crème anglais.

3. Jus without additions is jus. Jus with additions is a sauce or gravy.

oven chips? http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/home-made-oven-chips-791

actually mrs beeton uses whole eggs, recipe 1423 here > http://www.mrsbeeton.com/29-chapter29.html. All crème Anglaise recipes i have see including Micchel rouxs here> http://www.clarencecourt.co.uk/recipes/crme-anglaise/

 

[Large]

No more pretentious and no more bollocks than the highly priced cycling kit that is available and in which some on here indulge.

Is that Assos kit? Can't for the life of me see the value.

Anyhoo - back on topic. You can return bad food, you can't return bad service. I'd love to go to the Fat Duck for the experience. 40 chefs doing one service for 40 people will, of course, mean it's going to cost a lot of money.

 

[PK99]

So if you see "gravy" on a menu, do you assume it's made with bisto?

If i see gravy on a pub menu i accept it may well be made with commercial gravy powder

http://www.cateringsupplier.co.uk/shop/products/gr02800.htm

If the menu says Jus and they serve the above they are breaching description laws

 

[PK99]

Is that Assos kit? Can't for the life of me see the value.

Anyhoo - back on topic. You can return bad food, you can't return bad service. I'd love to go to the Fat Duck for the experience. 40 chefs doing one service for 40 people will, of course, mean it's going to cost a lot of money.

it's not 40 chefs on service - its 40 chefs employed across the restaurant and development kitchens - that's why the restaurant makes a loss

 

[Large]

it's not 40 chefs on service - its 40 chefs employed across the restaurant and development kitchens - that's why the restaurant makes a loss

Oops my mistake. I'll get my (gravy-stained) coat