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Heston Blumenthal’s restaurant, the Fat Duck, is one of only four restaurants in Britain with three Michelin stars.
The man knows what he’s doing!
But the thing I find most interesting about Heston Blumenthal, aside from the fact that he invented triple-cooked chips (Heston, I love you), is that he advocates understanding the science behind cooking.
He calls his scientific approach “multi-sensory cooking”, arguing that eating isn’t just about taste; it’s about sight and smell in equal measure too. In other words, when Heston is cooking, his aim is to concoct something that stimulates the eyes and nose as well as the tongue.
More importantly when it comes to cooking at home, when you follow a Heston Blumenthal recipe he’s going to give you tips that ring true whenever you’re cooking.
We’re talking the kind of rules of thumb that other chefs are using, thanks to their wealth of experience, but it’s so ingrained in them that they forget to pass that knowledge on. Heston doesn’t because he understands the science behind it, so with him you’re getting an education, not just a recipe.
With that in mind, it certainly follows that the man knows a thing or two about soup, and indeed he does!
Here are 3 of my favourite Heston Blumenthal soup recipes:
1 – Mushroom Soup
We have, of course, covered mushroom soup many times here at SoupedUp, so why are we doing it again?
Heston claims that his Mushroom soup recipe is a great “template” for other soups. Well, that, and he’s “fairly generous with the butter” so that was me won over from the beginning!
You’ll also learn Heston’s number one tip for locking the freshness of the vegetables in when you’re cooking vegetable soups:
2 – Mock Turtle Soup
OK, just what on earth is Mock Turtle soup?
Well, it’s a Victorian recipe which was invented as a substitute for turtle soup, which was popular at the time. Turtle meat was extremely expensive, so chefs created “mock” turtle soup using much cheaper beef meat instead.
As Heston says in the video “this recipe became so popular that Lewis Carol named a character from Alice In Wonderland the Mock Turtle”.
You, like me, are probably thanking your lucky stars that you’ll be making the mock variety… I’m not particularly up for a real turtle soup either!
3 – Kale and Chorizo Soup
Whenever I’m visiting Spain, I basically live on Chorizo. I can’t get enough of the stuff, and the Chorizo you can buy in Spanish cities and towns is just so flavoursome and delicious.
But, hey… the stuff you can get over here in Tesco isn’t so bad either!
If you’re a chorizo fan too, or even if you’re not, you’ve got to try out Heston Blumenthal’s kale and chorizo soup. It’s wonderful.