Blumenthal himself is a unique figure in the Western gastronomy scene. Unlike virtually all other Michelin-star chefs, Heston never worked in another restaurant. An ardent free-thinker in his 20’s, Heston established the Fat Duck in his 30’s with the help of his father, and thus created what was regarded as the best restaurant in the world. 

One of the key elements in Heston’s work, both in this book and in his restaurant, is nostalgia. The “journey,” in either case, speaks to recreating lost memories, in the times before us and during our earlier days as well. His recipes draw upon historic culinary wisdom, mainly from the Middle Ages (and even earlier), particularly from the British Isles. 

However, he then infuses these ancient recipes with modern technology and best practices to arrive at novel fusions. The book Historic Heston builds upon that corpus of culinary works, and it is in my judgement a masterpiece. The book weighs about 2 kilograms and is filled with rich photography and visual elements. It is also rich in its historical analysis of the recipes and the culinary eras. 

The recipes aren’t for the faint of heart. I have tried to reconstruct some of them and found myself falling short of Heston’s oeuvres. I have some way to go before I can match up to a Michelin 3-star chef, it would seem. But the book is an extraordinary undertaking, and one that I would recommend to anyone interested in insights to a novel mode of cooking that blends historicity and modernity.