Heston Blumenthal's new TV series started on Channel 4, with the chef's totally surreal take on a Victorian Feast.
Using Lewis Carol's tale of Alice in Wonderland, Heston set about creating his version of the Mad Hatter's Tea Party for six specially selected guests. The lucky six were Rageh Omaar, Dawn Porter, Jemma Redgrave, Richard Bacon, Toby Young and Kathy Lette.
Drink Me
The guests were served a "Drink Me" potion as a starter, which comprised a bubblegum pink liquid, served in a specially designed drinking glass. The idea being to surprise the tongue with six very individual tastes of toffee, hot buttered toast, cherry pie, custard, pineapple and turkey. Seemingly an impossible task, but after infusing each of the original constituents in milk, straining, and with the addition of gelatin and colouring, the six flavours were stacked on top of each other within the glass. Judging from the look on each diner's face, the effect of the distinct flavours, was amazing and totally unexpected.
Turtle Soup
One dish thought of by Victorians as the height of luxury was Turtle Soup. While it is possible to legally buy turtle in some parts of the world, Heston felt that this might be a step too far for his guests and so hit upon the idea of another favourite of the Victorians, Mock Turtle Soup.
Taking calf's head and making a broth to form the Mock Turtle Soup was not enough for Heston. He filtered, froze and whizzed the broth and then put into watch shaped moulds and then finally covered the "watch" in gold leaf. His idea being to recreate the part in the story when the Mad Hatter dipped his watch in his tea.
The dish was served to the guests with the gold watch in a tea cup, together with a pot of hot water and a bowl containing a selection of delicious looking tit-bits.
An Edible Victorian Garden
For the third course of his Victorian Feast, Heston Blumenthal decided to deliver a Victorian garden to his guests and so a large board was constructed, filled with "soil" made from black olives, dried and chopped, a variety of salad and miniature vegetables, "pebbles" of baked new potatoes, plus fried eel and waffle cones and topped with deep fried insects, stuffed with an onion mayonnaise.
Yet another bizarre sight for the six guests, but they tucked in with delight to each and every corner of the garden and even managed to stomach the insects, which obviously tasted hugely better than they looked.
Vibrating Jelly
The dessert course took yet another unexpected turn as Heston explained that the Victorian's love of drugs and sex caused him to invent an Absinthe flavoured jelly, mounted on a base containing vibrators to induce a wobbling motion to the whole dessert. Add luminescence to further enhance the mind-blowing effect and you have a perfect way to round off a Victorian Feast - Heston Blumenthal style!
Each course devised by the chef, showed a level of genius that bordered on insanity, but Heston's thirst for knowledge into the history of cooking and also the science of food enabled him to acheive the seemingly impossible. The expressions of delight, wonderment, fear and laughter on the faces of each guest was magical and I wished I was there to enjoy the tastes too.
I eagerly await the next episode when Heston attempts to put his twist on a Tudor Feast.
