Cookbook Giveaway: Heston Blumenthal at Home | Fig and Cherry

Posted on November 6, 2011 by ChristieCompetitions

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Update 14/11/2011. This competition is now closed. Congratulations to Johanna, Mary and Amy. 

This giveaway is exclusively for newsletter subscribers ONLY, so if you haven’t joined yet then please do so. The form is just there in the sidebar. The competition newsletter will be sent out tomorrow Monday 7th November. Prize details at the end of this story.

I lived in London for two years and never мейд the trip out to Bray to visit the the Fat Duck restaurant. Itand#8217;s quite shameful really. I donand#8217;t think Iand#8217;ll be going back to England anytime soon so Iand#8217;ll have to just cook from Hestonand#8217;s books to enjoy his food.

Iand#8217;m not a huge fan of eating or cooking fancy and#8216;Scienceand#8217; food, so his newest book featuring and#8216;home-styleand#8217; food is more up my alley. I put and#8216;home-styleand#8217; in inverted commaand#8217;s because although the food is less difficult than his restaurant fare, it is still fancier than your average home cook, ie. Me.

Saying that, there are lots of really cook-able (a word?) dishes in it that are presented in unusual and quite lovely ways. Take this Garden Salad with Sauce Gribiche above. Now thereand#8217;s a way to stop salad being boring! I bet kids would love this. Heck, even adults would eat their brussel sprouts when served in olive and#8216;dirtand#8217;.

{Above: Fish Pie}

There are proper, in-depth explanations of techniques for basic things like sauces, stocks and dressings as well as more and#8216;cheffyand#8217; ones like smoking, vacuum packing and poaching in unusual ingredients such as liquorice. There are special notes and anecdotes for each recipe, which I always find interesting, as I believe every dish has a story that needs to be shared.

{Above: Triple cooked chips. Recipe at the bottom of this post.}

Not every recipe has a photo, but the ones that do are beautifully and sparingly styled to make the ingredients of the dish really and#8216;popand#8217;. Plus, any cookbook with a chapter specifically for cheese, has got my heart.

{Above: Hot chocolate}

Heston has kindly let me publish his recipe for Triple Cooked Chips, so scroll down to check that out. For a sneak peek of a few other recipes from the book click here.

Competition Details

Prizes: Thanks to Bloomsbury, one lucky Fig andamp; Cherry reader will win a copy of Heston Blumenthal at Home valued at $65. Two lucky runners up will win a copy of his previous cookbook Fantastical Feasts valued at $55.

How to Enter: Make sure you are subscribed to my email newsletter. Follow instructions inside the email sent out on 7th November 2011.

Best of luck everyone!

Christie x

This giveaway is sponsored by Bloomsbury. Heston Blumenthal at home is available now in bookstores, RRP $65. Visit the Facebook fan page for more details.

Heston Blumenthaland#8217;s Triple Cooked Chips

I became obsessed with chips around 1992, before I had even opened the Fat Duck, and this was probably the first recipe that I could call my own. It has since cropped up in restaurants and pubs all over the place. Achieving the crisp, glass-like exterior depends on getting rid of moisture from the potato and creating little cracks in the surface where the oil will collect and harden, making it crunchy.

serves 6

Maris Piper potatoes, peeled and cut into chips (approx. 2 x 2 x 6cm)
Groundnut or grapeseed oil
Sea salt

Place the cut chips into a bowl under running water for 5 minutes to wash the starch off.

Place 2kg cold water into a large saucepan and add the potatoes. Place the pan over a medium heat and simmer until the chips are almost falling apart (approximately 20-30 minutes, depending on the potato).

Carefully remove the cooked chips and place them on a cooling rack to dry out. Then place them in the freezer for at least 1 hour to remove more moisture.

Heat a deep-fat fryer or deep pan no more than half filled with oil (to a depth of around 10cm) to 130C. Fry the chips in small batches until a light crust forms (approximately 5 minutes), remove from the oil and drain on kitchen paper.

Put the potatoes on a cooling rack and place in the freezer for at least 1 hour. (At this stage, if you donand#8217;t want to cook and serve immediately, the chips can be kept in the fridge for 3 days).

Heat the oil in a deep-fat fryer or deep pan to 180C and fry the chips until golden (approximately 7 minutes). Drain and sprinkle with sea salt.