Heston Blumenthal

[Batman]

I must be the only one on the forum who is not spending their evenings sausage making and who watches some television

Heston Blumenthal has a new series started this week on one of the Sky food programmes, UKTV Food, there seem to be 2 programmes each evening. So far he's done : Chicken Tikka Marsala, Hamburger, Peking Duck, Fish Pie, with Baked Alaska, Chili con Carne, Risotto and Trifle to come.

If you didn't see his first series, he essentially tries to deconstruct the dish and then reconstruct using his unique approach. Can be a bit OTT at times but very interesting at others. This series so far has seen him use quite a bit of brining (chicken), curing (salmon) and smoking (haddock in a fashion using straw!).

The making of the burger was particularly interesting . He finally came up with a mixture of chuck/brisket/short rib beef (50:25:25 I think), as the right balance of flavour/mouth feel, with the brisket more finely minced. He salted the chuck for a couple of hours before mincing.

The very interesting thing he did was that he kept the meat with the mince 'threads' in line, then rolled the mince up into a large cling film sausage before cutting burgers as slices from the sausage, if that makes sense. The 'science' behind this was to do with keeping the meat fibres in the same plane.

Maybe some ideas for Oddley to experiment with.

[saucisson]

It's also repeated during the following day The ratio of meats was 50:25:25 Tony

Just to add, he used seam boned chuck steak which was brined for one hour. The brisket and rib were pre-ground with a 3mm plate before regrinding on a coarse plate (he didn't mention what size) with the chuck. The idea behind keeping the fibres in the same plane was that when you bite into it (along the grain), they easily separate for that melt in the mouth texture.


Dave

[Batman]

Thanks Dave I had forgotten about the seam butchering.

I have to say I am a little dubious about the 'alignment of fibres' science, I think they showed some artists impression about this. I can see that keeping the individual mince strips running parallel and perpendicular to the burger and in line with the bite on the burger will make each initial bite easier therefore make the hamburger seem more tender but once its in your mouth the fibres will quickly get jumbled. (Is this becoming surreal or is it me)

To be fair, HB is trying to look at the science behind the dishes but occasionaly it seems to me to be pseudo science or plain mumbo jumbo.

[saucisson]

I also pondered on how the individual chunks knew how to progress in an orderly fashion down the grinder to the cutting plate so that the fibres all came out in a nice straight line

Dave

[Paul Kribs]

I saw it, and wondered why I bother watching the guy, he is way OTT as far as I am concerned, and I can be a real fussy s*d sometimes.

You hit the nail right on the head Dave.. I actually commented out loud.. and I was the only person in the room.. I won't say what the comment was..

If he was going to feed the meat into a grinder surely it should have been something with a straight push to ensure the fibres were all in line like good little soldiers.. He didn't appear to pay any attention to which way round the cubes of meat were dropped onto/into the wormscrew., moreover, I doubt it would have mattered anyway cos the action of the worm, dependant on the size of the chunk would probably have rotated it anyway..
Would you believe I thought all that in a split second during the program..

Am I cracking up??? not as much as HB..

Regards, Paul Kribs

[saucisson]

I can see some merit in the roll it and slice it approach, in that the strands are facing the same way, but think he is deluding himself if he thinks all the fibres in those strands are facing the same way as if magnetised.

And don't start me on the bun thickness saga, Was it 3 months research?

I nearly screamed at the TV, "just use some toast for goodness* sake!! You just showed us some at Louis Lunch 20 minutes ago..."

Dave

* actual word was slightly different

[saucisson]

If anyone is thinking of trying this, I should add that after rolling it tightly in cling film to make a giant sausage, he let it rest in the fridge for an hour to firm up before slicing it. Did anyone else notice that he started off each slice OK, but he then appeared to be slicing through a pre-sliced cut? perhaps some deft camera work/editing was used to cover up the fact it wasn't actually that easy to slice it, he declares cynically

I just come across this, originally posted by Adam:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/datab ... 7366.shtml

in which it states:
625g/1lb 6oz beef chuck
1.2kg/2lb 10�oz short-rib meat, minimum 30-day dry-aged
625g/1lb 6�oz beef brisket
Which is a completely different ratio to that stated in the program.

[Paul Kribs]

Dave, take no notice mate, it's aload of old ********.

Just my honest opinion.

Regards, Paul Kribs

[saucisson]

I'm inclined to agree, I bet he nicked the idea of using chuck steak off Oddley anyway

[Zulululu]

Found an article on the net describing the process. Would like him to post it here that would be fun! I could just imagine the coments on that one. Agree with both of you.

[johnfb]

For such a busy person I think he has too much time on his hands. He is without doubt the best chef in the world and his awards prove it...but get a grip guy....