The Heston Blumenthal Team

The Heston Blumenthal Team Follow us for a unique look at the behind the scenes of our Restaurants, Partnerships and Projects.

Christmas has always been about anticipation for me. When's the first time you start thinking about it? Here at The Fat ...
23/08/2026

Christmas has always been about anticipation for me. When's the first time you start thinking about it? Here at The Fat Duck, we're probably a little ahead of you. While summer is still here, we've already spent weeks developing our festive menu. And although it feels slightly strange to be tasting Christmas flavours while the weather is still warm, we have to start early. Every dish takes months of tasting, testing, refining, building and designing before it ever reaches the table.

This week, we were tasting:
• Seeds
• Festive Black Forest Gateau
• Roasted Turbot with Mussels and Pine

When we were designing Dinner by Heston in 2011, there was no shortage of historical inspiration to draw from. But for t...
19/08/2026

When we were designing Dinner by Heston in 2011, there was no shortage of historical inspiration to draw from. But for the private dining room, it felt only natural to look to the grandest banqueting hall in the country: Westminster Hall.

One of my favourite details is found at the top of each chair, where a carved gargoyle sits. They're inspired by the magnificent angels carved into the medieval hammerbeam roof of Westminster Hall. Richard II had each angel individually carved, bearing his royal badge.

Each of our gargoyles takes inspiration from an ingredient featured on the menu, and each carries one of the historical cookbooks that helped shape the dishes and stories behind them. They're small details that guests might not even notice, but they're part of what makes the restaurant what it is.

I can't believe it's The Fat Duck's 31st anniversary today. Here's a photo from the early days, when the bar occupied al...
16/08/2026

I can't believe it's The Fat Duck's 31st anniversary today.

Here's a photo from the early days, when the bar occupied almost a quarter of the dining room, with its large circular counter, and fridges and shelves behind it. The floors were bare wood, and the tables and chairs were... sturdy rather than comfortable.

It's incredible to look back and see how much The Fat Duck has changed and evolved over the years. Almost everything has transformed—even the chairs are now inspired by my dad’s car seats because, after all, the menu is designed as a journey and my childhood memories. We’ve come a long way, but the curiosity and the desire to create a dining experience unlike any other remain the same.

It’s said that the department store Fortnum & Mason invented the 'Scottish Egg' in the mid-nineteenth century as a ready...
13/08/2026

It’s said that the department store Fortnum & Mason invented the 'Scottish Egg' in the mid-nineteenth century as a ready-to-eat luxury food. While most modern mass-produced versions are dense and stodgy, the Scotch egg can be a supremely satisfying set of textural contrasts - a crunchy fried-breadcrumb exterior giving way to juicy meat and that final surprise of the egg with its still-runny centre. I like it served with a blob of mustard mayonnaise or sauce gribiche – a classic French sauce similar to tartare that’s great with fish or chicken or as a dip. (There’s a pretty good recipe for it in Heston at Home.)

Scotch eggs are great picnic food, and I’ve got a few tips for their preparation. To ensure runny yolks you can't really make them much in advance. To be at their best, they should be served as soon as possible after leaving the oven. And, while you can use any sausage meat, for me what works best is the kind used in a banger - something that has a bit of filler, to give a smooth texture, rather than pure meat, which gives a coarser, drier texture. It's a good idea, too, to keep the sausage meat very cold, as it will be easier to wrap around the eggs.

09/08/2026

There was always something wonderfully absurd about the things we did on television. It was never about being silly for the sake of it, although we certainly had a lot of fun. More than anything, it showed just how playful science and cooking can be.

I believe questioning and curiosity are what lead us to discoveries. So don't worry about looking a little ridiculous along the way. I certainly don't, and neither should you. Some of the most interesting ideas begin with a question that seems slightly mad.

05/08/2026

One of the things I most enjoy in the kitchen is a really in-depth exploration. And that's exactly what the TV show How to Cook Like Heston was about: in each episode I focused on a single ingredient and asked just how much there was to discover.

Take potatoes, for example. I spent years trying to figure out what makes the perfect chip, which meant investigating every aspect of the humble spud. Is it mainly fat, carbohydrate or protein? How does boiling, frying, roasting or mashing change its flavour, texture and structure? Once you start asking those questions, you quickly find yourself down a fascinating rabbit hole.

Eggs are perhaps one of the best examples of just how versatile a single ingredient can be. An egg can, among other things, be poached, scrambled, an omelette, custard, mayonnaise or a panna cotta, each offering a completely different texture and eating experience.

If you'd like to watch the Cook Like Heston episode dedicated to eggs, you'll find the link in the bio.

Bipolar UK has recently launched a survey to better understand how everyday routines and habits affect people living wit...
03/08/2026

Bipolar UK has recently launched a survey to better understand how everyday routines and habits affect people living with bipolar disorder. It prompted me to think about the small but consistent behaviours that can have the greatest effect over time.

One habit I've been paying particular attention to is sleep.

Maintaining a consistent sleep routine, and going to bed at roughly the same time each night, appears to be one of the most important factors in supporting good-quality rest. Our bodies thrive on rhythm and routine.

As someone who has spent much of his career exploring the science behind flavour and human perception, I'm intrigued by how these seemingly simple habits can influence everything from mood and concentration to creativity and decision-making.

Sometimes the most powerful changes come not from doing more, but from doing the basics consistently.

I’ve always believed food should be playful, but this time I took it literally. There we are, playing Jenga with Triple-...
01/08/2026

I’ve always believed food should be playful, but this time I took it literally. There we are, playing Jenga with Triple-Cooked Chips.

Joutes (c.1430) and the mysteries of the medieval diet – the theory of the humours, religious fast days and medieval cui...
30/07/2026

Joutes (c.1430) and the mysteries of the medieval diet – the theory of the humours, religious fast days and medieval cuisine.

In the medieval world, food was seen as a matter of both moral and physical health. Frequent fast days, when meat was forbidden, challenged cooks to be inventive, creating satisfying dishes within strict rules. (Some monasteries became remarkably creative in interpreting those rules, leading to lively debates about whether creatures such as beavers, which spend much of their lives in water, might qualify as fish...)

Joutes is a classic example of adaptable medieval fast-day cooking, with versions made using either meat broth or almond milk.

What fascinated me most was its extraordinary abundance of greenery. Inspired by the long list of herbs and leaves in the original manuscript, I created a vibrant green "Tonic" to capture that freshness. To balance it, I added a rich bone marrow royale, a frothy green velouté, and a Welsh rarebit-inspired cheese toast topped with bone marrow, pickled shallots, verjuice, fresh herbs and edible flowers.

Today, recipes are usually built around the flavours we want to create and the dishes we want to serve. In the medieval ...
28/07/2026

Today, recipes are usually built around the flavours we want to create and the dishes we want to serve. In the medieval world, however, cooking was a far more complex game. Every ingredient was believed to possess humoral qualities (hot, cold, moist or dry) and both the choice of ingredients and the method of preparation had to be carefully balanced.

Beef, considered dry, was often boiled. Pork, thought to be moist, was roasted. Fish, seen as cold and moist, might be fried. Even vegetables and fruit required specific preparation to achieve the desired balance.

Diet was also deeply personal. If someone suffered from an excess of melancholy, associated with cold and dry qualities, they were advised to eat foods that were hot and moist. Older people and children, believed to be naturally phlegmatic, were expected to avoid foods such as lamb, while those with a choleric temperament were encouraged to steer clear of foods considered too "hot".

The result was an intricate culinary system in which every ingredient, technique and meal played a role in maintaining harmony within the body.

Illustration by Dave McKean for Historic Heston.

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