Cooking Exploration ::: Crispy Salmon and Creamy Mashed Potatoes.

Watching cooking shows on the Telly can be very deceiving. The chefs make it seem like the easiest thing in the world to do, but often gloss over important details that the newbie, non-culinary-schoolgoing random Joe wouldn't automatically know. I've lost count of the number of times over the past decade that I've cooked up a dish that ended up being borderline inedible.

Practice makes perfect, though, so today I'm trying out some combined recipe from arguably two of Britain's most well-known chefs!

Heston Blumenthal is the owner of The Fat Duck - a three Michelin starred restaurant that only serves GBP180/cover tasting menus (equivalent of a degustation menu, I suppose). His mashed potato recipe involves half an hour of simmering at 72 degrees before boiling, mashing (twice) and adding butter with potato-skin-infused milk.


I didn't have a ricer, so I did the first mash with a fork before pushing them through a strainer, resulting in a recipe that works! The mash was uber creamy and delicious and totally worth the attention needed.

Moving on to Gordon Ramsay's Crispy Salmon. Ramsay shouldn't need any introduction by now - he's arguably one of the most well known TV Celebrity Chef's around now. Perhaps too well-known for some critics who'd like to see him spend less time in front of a camera and more time in his kitchens.


This turned out to be an awesome no-brainer recipe that anyone, even somebody who's never picked up a frying pan before, could pull off very easily. The results are pretty good, too! Skin of the salmon did turn out crispy as advertised.

Finally, a simple garlic-buttered Broccoli, sauteed/steamed in Olve Oil (with the lid on) over high heat.


So a nice dinner that costs about $7 per person, and tastes better than almost anything you'll get for under double that dollar amount outside the house. The tradeoff, of course, is the amount of prep work and washing up you'll need to do after :)

Incidentally, I'll be having lunch over the next two weeks at Heston and Gordon's restaurants. Couldn't get reservations for their flagship places though, so we'll have to settle for Dinner by Heston Blumenthal and Petrus. Stay tuned for the reviews!