Notes about Recipes in this book

• Vegetable stock

  • cassiemcgannon on October 18, 2012

    My go-to method, although I sometimes skip the more exotic vegetables (e.g. fennel) and use what I have on hand. Makes a vegie stock that has enough oomph to be substituted for chicken stock if necessary, and is relatively quick and easy.

• Pumpkin soup

  • Melanie on May 24, 2014

    This soup was ok - I liked some aspects (e.g. roasting and sweating pumpkin to create two separate flavours; steeping rosemary in hot milk) however I thought there was too much dairy (250g butter & 400mL milk). Admittedly I didn't use the finishing touches suggested, which may have contributed to the dairy being overpowering. I think I would use the techniques from this recipe with different ingredient proportions next time.

• Red cabbage gazpacho

  • jbriceno on May 04, 2013

    Red wine mayo 1 large egg yolk 10 g Dijon Mustard 90 g Grapeseed oil 10 g Red wine Vinegar 15 g Re Wine Gazpacho 1 Red Cabbage 1 sliced of white bread, crust remove 20g red wine mayo ( above) 30 g Red wine vinegar Salt Served with peeled cucumbers and mustard ice cream

• Pea and ham soup

  • debkellie on April 13, 2015

    frozen peas missing from ingredients list!

  • debkellie on March 10, 2022

    Possibly the best pea & ham soup we've ever made.. Beautiful colour, nice "freshest" pea flavour and the mint oil is worth making...

• Chestnut velouté with duck confit

  • metacritic on January 17, 2020

    Duck confit takes three days but this recipe is an all-time great.

• Scallop tartare with white chocolate

  • dom_cr4teo on April 03, 2026

    Was great!

• Bagna cauda

  • tekobo on September 04, 2017

    Lovely, creamy sauce to go with raw and blanched vegetables. Used baby corn, baby carrots, thin asparagus and blanched baby fennel and purple beans.

• Green bean and radish salad

  • Charlotte_vandenberg on July 03, 2017

    Nice flavours, very nice dressing. Definitely making it again. Beans needed more time cooking, radishes a little less. Refreshing and colourful. very easy.

• Celeriac rémoulade

  • RosieB on August 02, 2015

    This was a great recipe which I served with braised duck to cut the fat from the duck. I made my own mayonnaise using Heston's recipe. A really nice mayonnaise. The combination with crunchy cornichons and capers with grain mustard was delightful.

• Prawn cocktail

  • debkellie on October 18, 2015

    I halved the chilli powder, and it still had plenty of bite. Did go the extra mile with the soy/mirin marinated salmon roe and that added a lovely touch to this classic!

• Roast chicken

  • twoyolks on January 01, 2017

    This was a very moist and flavorful chicken. I didn't have time to brine it so I just salted it several hours in advance. I had issues getting the chicken to brown well or evenly and it took longer than the recipe specified. I don't feel that this chicken was any better than one roasted at 350F until fully cooked. I used white chicken stock for the sauce as I didn't have any brown chicken stock. I liked the technique for making the sauce and I think that the mustard provided a nice tart compliment to the sauce.

• Braised chicken with sherry and cream

  • Caja on September 19, 2022

    He recommends brining the chicken for 4-6 hours before you start

  • Caja on September 19, 2022

    Great, but a lot of work

• Five-spiced duck breast

  • stufoster on November 13, 2019

    I personally can't find a pan and gas burner combo low enough to warrant a 16 minute cook time on duck breast - i go with 12 mins and it turns out perfect. Also, unless you have guests coming over, you can easily skip the garlic / milk step - it's a tiny teeny bit harsher in taste, but saves a decent amount of prep time.

  • twoyolks on April 18, 2020

    This was a fine way to cook the duck. I didn't really get a lot of flavor from the five-spice powder. My duck breast was large so two people split one and it took longer than 16 minutes to cook. I really liked the vegetables. I cooked my bok choy longer so that it got quite browned because it was larger and I wanted to make sure it cooked through. The frozen soy beans I had didn't seem fully cooked and could've used longer cooking. The sauce for the vegetables was really nice.

• Slow-roasted rib of beef with bone-marrow sauce

  • twoyolks on December 27, 2017

    My review is more for the bone-marrow sauce as I used a different technique for the beef. I omitted bone-marrow as I didn't have any. The sauce was nice with a good balance of beef flavor without being too strong. The mustard flavor is pronounced but not objectionably so.

  • tekobo on March 18, 2018

    I love this method for cooking beef. Used it on a whole, 75 day aged rump. Superb.

• Chilli con carne

  • Charlotte_vandenberg on February 06, 2021

    Very comforting dish, I will definitely think of this recipe again next time I feel like making chili. The end result was quite salty, which must have been from the beans in brine, since I didn’t add any extra salt. Served with extra spiced butter and a little grated cheese, as the recipe suggested, and some boiled potatoes I had left.

• Slow-cooked lamb shank and giant couscous salad

  • Melanie on May 24, 2014

    This is a warm salad - it heated up well on the second night (4 serves for us). I loved the different textures and flavours in this dish - the cold pomegranates and herbs playing against the warming spices and soft lamb. The method isn't the clearest so read through and reorder a few steps - eg make the spice mix and vinaigrette after the lamb is in the oven; think through the steps in the last 10 minutes of cooking (I managed to reuse a few saucepans to save on the washing).

  • jennycalling on April 08, 2021

    Amazing and one of the easier recipes in this book! Highly recommended.

• Shepherd's pie

  • metacritic on January 17, 2020

    Two-day recipe with astonishing results. Have cooked the lamb shanks in water rather than lamb broth without losing much.

• Roast leg of lamb with anchovy, rosemary, and garlic

  • agardenworm on February 20, 2013

    Deliciously tender - left out anchovies as I didn't have any to hand. Made lamb very tender but still pink in the centre. Scrum.

• Braised pork belly with crackling

  • volition on May 24, 2012

    Although Prep starts before hand. This is doable. I cooked it for XMAS '11. The Butcher was happy to take the skin off for me. It was a lovely dish yet not an absolute wow kind of dish. The Crackling was incredible. And i've kept all the fat to cook with which was a bonus. You can time the prep for say half an hour for 2 nights or a little more.

• Sea bass with vanilla butter

  • Stantonjulie on February 26, 2022

    Don’t use vanilla essence (as I had to when realised had no vanilla). It has sugar in!!

• Rack of lamb

  • Charlotte_vandenberg on July 09, 2017

    Delicious. Lamb cooked sous vide was perfect, tapenade was very tasteful. Easy to prepare the day or morning before a dinner.

• Cod with mustard and caper vinaigrette

  • twoyolks on January 20, 2017

    This is a great way to cook cod. It ends up perfectly cooked, moist and flavorful. When I removed the cod from the vacuum pouches, it did start to fall apart so, to have a nice fillet, one would need to be very careful moving it. I did brine the cod in a 3% solution for 20 minutes and it didn't provide enough seasoning. The potatoes were bland and boring. They didn't really go all that well with the cod.

• Scrambled eggs with brown butter

  • spiderknit on November 28, 2012

    It was nice, but we found his double boiler method gave a smoother result.

• Crab lasagna

  • firetriniti on September 30, 2023

    Made two small, half lasagnas: a cheese-free version for a friend and a regular one for myself. A lot of steps but absolutely worth it, and the tomato fondue can be made in advance and keeps well in the fridge. The fish cookery is bang on and will now be my go-to method for poaching cod. Used shellfish stock instead of fish stock and fresh pasta sheets instead of dried as a matter of personal preference. Had leftover tomato fondue which made for an excellent base for tomato soup.

• Cheese fondue with sherry and cloves

  • twoyolks on February 19, 2020

    I'm usually skeptical of the impact of a small amount of an ingredient on a recipe so, while I followed the instructions, I wasn't sure the sherry and cloves would really do anything. But the hint of sherry and cloves in the fondue are what make this exceptional. By far, the best fondue I've ever had. It was easy and quick to make. And the leftovers do well on a toasted cheese sandwich.

• Cauliflower macaroni cheese

  • kateastoria on March 22, 2015

    Not mac & cheese - just cauliflower cheese. Good flavors though the cold, marinated cauli is a little odd due to the temperature difference.

• Glazed carrots

  • twoyolks on January 01, 2017

    These did not cook fully at the temperature specified. They were also swimming in butter and ended up greasy.

  • pennyvr on December 30, 2021

    Made these for Christmas dinner and they were delicious. There was lots of butter in the saucepan which was delicious and could be used to flavour another dish.

  • fiona_qlcaud on May 15, 2026

    I can’t do carrots any other way now. They were so sweet. The butter can be reserved for basting a chicken

• Brussels sprouts with bacon

  • twoyolks on January 01, 2017

    These were a bit of work to make but they were quite good. I'd probably cut back on the bacon in the future as there was quite a lot of it.

• Roast potatoes

  • volition on May 24, 2012

    These Potatoes are wonderful. Crisp cracking outside and fluffy inside. It's a long time to roast some potatoes. But get them on first and you will enjoy them,

• Triple-cooked chips

  • StevieHolland on April 09, 2014

    Here's my attempt..... Bit of a faff - but v. nice http://shrestaurants.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/hestons-t-ripple-cooked-chips.html

• Pommes purées

  • twoyolks on January 01, 2017

    This was a very rich, very good mashed potato. The puree is very smooth and silky. I didn't add all the milk that was called for. I had to heat the mashed potatoes in a pot as they had gotten quite cold by the time the butter and milk were mixed in.

  • metacritic on January 17, 2020

    Incredible potatoes. The variation with mustard is beyond belief. Goes into the shepherd's pie.

• Lemon tart

  • agardenworm on June 03, 2013

    Delicious - think I have found my forever lemon tart recipe - the search is over! As NZ does not have double cream I used 10 whole eggs and 2 egg yolks instead.

  • mziech on May 07, 2016

    Perfect lemon tart. Typical Heston recipe where everything is measured exactly (heat the filling to 62 degrees on the stove and then to 70 degrees in the oven) but with excellent results. In my translated (Dutch) cookbook no double cream was used, but whipping cream, also with good results.

  • fprincess on January 11, 2024

    Try this updated version of the filling instead: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2003/mar/01/foodanddrink.shopping1

  • pia_xj0ne6 on April 06, 2026

    Best lemon tart recipe I’ve ever made. Would recommend starting day before serving.

• Pear and frangipane tarte Tatin

  • Charlotte_vandenberg on November 06, 2021

    Made one large Tarte Tatin, in stead of individual ones. The instructions are kind of complicated for the individual tarts, but an internet search showed some examples. It’s way too much frangipane, half would be good too. I left the large tart in the oven for 45 minutes. Delicious, but a lot of work.

• Arlette with pressed apple terrine

  • viv_fk2gkp on May 26, 2026

    If you want to impress and you have about 36 hours spare then well worth the efgort

  • viv_fk2gkp on May 26, 2026

    It is worth the effort, honestly just do it.

• Liquid centre chocolate pudding

  • volition on May 24, 2012

    WOW what a recipe. If you have this book or your hands on this recipe. Cook this tonight. It is fantastic. Though I think the Ganache amounts are about 2-3 times what you need. This recipe made our last party a huge hit. Cook this now and do not hesitate to eat it. Get some decent chocolate though.

• Chocolate tart

  • Charlotte_vandenberg on November 04, 2017

    Taste is fantastic, the orange in the base is very delicious. I’m not sure whether the recipe for the base is too much or the diameter of the ring is too small. Next time I’m making half the dough, or using a 20 cm ring. However the height of the tart was approximately 4 cm now, which looks beautiful. I advise you to really follow the recipe including the time used for chilling the base and the ganache.. I put the ganache in too early and had some spillage!

• Golden syrup cookies

  • Melanie on March 30, 2014

    These cookies were delicious - I might try the earl grey tea variation next time to change the flavour.

  • pinchvsdash on August 07, 2025

    These are exceptional.

• Chocolate biscuits

  • riapugh on December 06, 2022

    I have made these many times, they’re delicious and always very popular. However, recipe says they make 20 cookies- it is more like 10.

• Cornbread muffins

  • IvyManning on September 29, 2014

    These were awful. Sticky sweet, almost raw in the middle if you follow the instructions, and with a cake-like consistency. Don't trust a Brit with cornbread.

• Nic Cooks

  Is it really possible to cook like Heston at home? This is the question Nic asked herself.

  Full review