When people find out you write about food in a blog like this, after some initial shuffling embarrassment the questions start: why do you do it? What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten?
Slightly easier to answer is: got any tips in the kitchen?
Because the best answer I can give is to get yourself one or two really good knives. Bin the ones you picked up in Matalan; save up a bit and buy a good brand (and a sharpening steel!). I probably only use a small knife for fine cutting, a large one for general work like dicing vegetables, and a bread knife. What’s the best brand? Like many of these things it’s personal preference; I really like Henckels, lots like Global, others swear by Sabatier. But what do the chefs use?
I was sent one of these Santoku knives, and they are absolutely beautiful. A lovely weighting, not too heavy but well-balanced. When I slid it out of the box after a quick sharpening I pounced on an onion, slicing, dicing and chopping. It cut through with no effort at all. If I had one criticism it is one common to many of this kind of knife, and that’s the steep angle of the blade encourages moist food to stick to it. As you slice through a cucumber for example the slices will stick to the knife and sometimes they roll off all over the place. What’s difficult to get across is just how much easier a decent knife makes things: you can cut quicker, cleaner and finer. You will genuinely save yourself time in the kitchen with a decent knife, and this blade is an excellent choice.
With thanks to Hannah for the knife and Helen for tipping her off!
This competition is now closed. Many thanks for all your entries, there were some really fantastic ideas! The winners have been notified by email.
Image copyright HestonBySalter.com
Like most people who love being in the kitchen, I enjoy a good gadget. But better than that is a good gadget you use more than once. There’s the key. And this digital measuring jug by those clever folks at Salter is the business. Heston’s seal of approval has made this a very canny device. Yes, yes, it’s a measuring jug, but it’s more than that. It’s a measuring jug that can gauge liquids of different types (milk, oil, etc.), but it can manage weight too. And in a bunch of different units. One after the other. Let me explain.
I’ve made a bunch of things with it recently, such as white chocolate and blueberry muffins. The cool part is making it all in the one jug. Add your flour, zero it. Then add your sugar, zero it, change to liquids and off you go adding milk, zero, etc. etc. Similarly chocolate and rosemary ice cream was made by measuring stuff as I went along, adding and pouring out, then zeroing and adding something else to the jug. Less washing up and the mixture’s all there in one pot ready to go. Put simply – it’s a measuring jug and add-and-weigh digital scale in one gadget. Genius.
The good folks over at Salter have kindly passed on some of these measuring jugs for me to give away. Want one? Enter below.
In addition to the current range, there’s a brand new selection of Heston Precision products coming very soon. I had a chat with Caroline from Salter who gave me an idea of what it’s like working with Heston Blumenthal and what new products we can expect to see:
How did Salter get involved with Heston Blumenthal?
When we first started thinking about working with Heston and his team, we felt that it was important to understand the brand values for both Salter and Heston to ensure that the partnership had integrity behind it. While Salter has been around for over 250 years, and Heston is very much a forward thinking modern chef, the good news was that our values of Precision, Trust, Excellence, Innovation and “Britishness” bought the two brands together and ensured that our collaboration would make sense to our combined audience.
We approached him with a proposal, and he was very agreeable to collaborating from the start as he knew the Salter brand and was comfortable with our values and ethics. It took a while to decide the range, as we wanted to make sure that it most definitely wasn’t just a celebrity endorsement, rather that it was a range that reflected the methods and tools that Heston would use in his own kitchen.
Heston and Caroline
To what extent has Heston and his team been involved with development?
From day one we have had access to Heston and his amazing team at the Fat Duck. The whole process has been remarkably easy as they are a truly passionate bunch, and Heston is a genuinely nice chap. He is both interesting and interested – he makes time for us, and I always look forward to our development meetings as we are always looking ahead to see what other products we could develop that would help people cook like Heston, at home.
What’s involved in developing one of these products and to what extent does Heston have sign-off?
Product development is a fascinating process as it involves a lot more thought and time than perhaps many people realise. If we know that we have a new category to think about, we will look at it from both consumer and catering viewpoints. We will get together to brainstorm new ideas and talk each one through – taking into account the brand values, and especially how true the product is to Heston’s processes. Once we have a firm idea of a product that we would like to bring into the range, I work with our in-house design team to come up with concepts, showing how the product could look and function. These are then taken to Heston and the team for reviewing and refining. Once we are all happy with the product concept we can get going on the manufacturing process. With any product that Heston is putting his name to, it is important that us that he is delighted with the product and that he has full sign off. Whilst people usually ask for his signature as an autograph, I ask for his signature in order to bring another great product to market!
There’s a new range coming in 2012, what can we expect to see in the future?
All I can say at the moment is watch this space… we are working on a 3 year product plan which will result in many more truly exciting products that will help people achieve great results in the kitchen.
Keep an eye on the HestonBySalter website for more info. Until then though, it’s competition time!
How to enter
There’s five ways to enter, and you can do all of them if you like:
Leave a comment below answering the question what unusual ice cream flavour would you like to make?
Sometimes I really can’t believe what writing about last night’s tea does for you. Imagine my delight at receiving a clutch of Jamie Oliver’s new Kitchen Kit. It’s a stunning set of utensils developed by DKB Household. It’s no slap-a-name-on-it-and-collect-the-royalty-cheque, there’s real craft in them.
First up is the 3-in-1 Peeler. I’ve used a vertical swivel peeler for years, and never used a Y-shaped one. But I found it much faster using this gadget. It also comes with a pair of julienne blades, for peeling things into a fine and wiggly mess. Great fun but not something I’ll use a great deal. For peeling though, it does just the job.
Next is the Garlic Press-come-Slicer. This was a twist of fate. I’d disregarded garlic presses years back, seeing loads of waste and poking at the teeth afterwards. Yet seeing Jamie use this same model on 30 Minute Meals had convinced me to try it again. This model has a real weight to it, and the brushed steel looks lovely. And what a joy it is to use one again. No peeling, and practically all the useful stuff passes through the mesh. It also doubles as a slicer, although I found this to have mixed results, so it’ll be staying as a press for me. No more stinky garlic fingers for me.
The Apple Corer is a neat gadget. I’ve never owned one but this one has neat gimmick: after coring you twist the handle and it pops the core out. Cool. I’m also thinking about using it for Michelin-esque potato fondant thingies. Not something I’ll use every day but good fun.
There’s also a set of hanging utensils – on the surface there’s not a lot to say but it has some twists. There’s a curve in the handle which makes a lot of sense to dangle it out of a pot, and the brushed steel finish is really functional.
Ah yes, the coarse grater. Not impressed with this at all. The angle doesn’t feel right – I can’t hold it in a place that is comfortable for both hands. The handle is curved away from the grater, so it’s a bit clumsy. Also both Mrs. RP and I have cut ourselves quite nastily on this, and I can’t recall ever drawing blood whilst grating before. On the positive side, it does produce the prettiest curls, perfect Fibonacci rolls.
Top of the heap is the knife set. These five knives are Japanese MoV steel with lovely weighting and superb balance. They come wicked sharp and make light work of all chopping jobs – I’m ashamed to say I haven’t used my Henckels since I started using these.
With many of these things, it’s not their function that strikes you, nor their form (which is all brushed steel and elegant lines). It’s the small details that elevate them above Matalan’s “2 for £3” range. Take the knives – each is emblazoned with it’s purpose on the hilt. Or the peeler – it snaps together with it’s spare heads to make a convenient stand. Or the hanging tools – bent in just the right place with a rubber end to stop them slipping into your casserole. It’s these little sparks of genius that show they’re designed by people who really care about the end result, and that’s what I like about them.
All in all a great set, and a wonderful Christmas gift for the Jamie fan in your life.
This competition is now closed. Many thanks for all your entries. The winners have been notified by email.
this image copyright HestonBySalter.com
Anyone that has read more than one post in this little recipe binder will realise I have more than a passing interest in the life and works of Heston Blumenthal. It’s fine to stare and snicker at his wackier side – “snail risotto, how quirky“, “bacon and egg ice-cream, who eats that?” – but that is to miss the point. It’s more about process – thinking about why flavour combinations work the way they do, and challenging preconceptions in the kitchen. By putting these things under scrutiny it opens up other pathways and leads to exciting new methods and tastes.
But I’m waffling. You came here for the swag, right? The fine people at Salter have devised a range of Heston Blumenthal kitchen tools. But this isn’t some Anthony Worral-Thompson slap-the-beard-on-it shovelware. This was researched over months with the great man himself hands-on. The result is a functional and stylish clutch of gadgets.
I’ve been using the digital meat thermometer for a little while now (such as for this recipe) and it’s a great piece of kit. It updates fast, has a clear screen and the ‘pen’ casing is very handy, so you can stash it in a top pocket while you’re cooking. It’s a great product that any Heston fan would chew their own arm off to have.
But guess what! No limb-munching required to get one of these superb digital meat thermometers. And they’re not even in the shops yet, so you can be among the first to have one. To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment below answering the question:
What is your one essential piece of kitchen gadgetry?
Competition closes 10pm 31st October. Comments posted after then won’t be counted.
I’ll pick the winners at random using some fancy random number generator.
Entrants must be 18 years or older.
If the winner hasn’t replied within two weeks, someone else will get it.
Only people from the UK please. Additionally, I’ll only post to a UK address.
PS. Want to win more stuff? Head over to Growing Direct where they are giving away a gorgeous notebook!
