The Big Fat Duck Cookbook Hardcover – November 16, 2008

The Big Fat Duck CookbookThis book is an accomplishment worthy of telling Blumenthal's tale of discovery and evolution. It is in fact exactly what I had been looking for every time I had previously purchased an overgrown coffe-table cook book... usually to be let down by the quality, format or content.Those three aspects: quality, format and content drive the perfect rating I served up. The book is weighty, with high quality paper so thick you will swear that two pages are between your fingers, not one. I seemingly always have trouble with book bindings that fall apart... not this time: the Fat Duck is quite well bound with marker-ribbons for placekeeping.The art inside is a blistering barrage of jazz-era, inked sketches of Blumenthal at various stages of discovery superimposed upon vividly colored, intriguingly compelling and sometimes darkly disturbing swaths of imagery. If asked prior to reading the Fat Duck, art in a cookbook would have been the component I consider least important to it's overall success. In contrast, here the art is an essential component, almost like theme music that drives audience emotional investment in a theater performance. The photographs are also of exquisite quality and sharpness, even when comprising the entire page.The Fat Duck is formatted into three sections: History, Recipes and Science. The history section (~125 pages) is a autobiographical tale that really emphasizes how unique Blumenthal's journey has been. His amazing priority of food exploration and inquisitiveness come across clearly in this section. The conversational, fireside manner of the discussion makes it eminently readable.The recipe section (~300 pages) has each item prefaced with a background tale of discovery and evolution. I found this to be fascinating snapshots of the creative process; they also provide some continuity if the reader elects to peruse the book from front to back instead of hopping from recipe to recipe. These prefaces were exactly what I had been hoping to find when I purchased the El Bulli cook book (latest one) some time back, only to be left lacking. Fortunately, the Fat Duck does give insight into the recipes, where El Bulli directs the reader to some incomprehensible series of images on a separate CD or to a complicated meal engineering schematic. Again, here Blumenthal's conversational prose and intuitive approach provide something that is lacking from many other cooking texts (I find Thomas Keller to also have a great writing style, if that helps you to gauge what I prefer). The recipes have lots and lots of information, and in this respect Blumenthal certainly lives up to his creed that a great recipe has all the pertinent info splayed out for the cook, so one doesn't have to imagine what takes place between the written steps.The final section (Science; ~80 pages)is a series of chapters describing in fantastic, but readable, detail such topics as Meat Cookery, Ice Cream Science, Fat Duck Restaurant tools/instruments and ingredients. Next comes a series of vignettes from notables and hoary scientists from the field of food science. In full disclosure, I am a scientist so perhaps I am not the best judge of how approachable these sections are, but I feel its about on the level of "Scientific American" articles; i.e. a reasonably intelligent, but unfamiliar reader will have no trouble. I think it speaks volumes that Blumenthal decided to publish a family/child cookbook as his first attempt; that fundamental priority to educate drives this publication as well.The table of contents is a fold out four-page peek into Blumenthal's brain (literally!). It isn't to be missed.Finally, the content: As a fellow who worked in restaurants for >10 years before returning to school and eventually becoming a scientist, I am ecstatic to see my twin loves, food and chemistry, brought together in such an over-the-top book. This book continues a recent trend toward popularizing and demystifying Molecular Gastronomy that includes such works as Grant Achatz' Alinea and Keller's Under Pressure: Cooking Sous Vide.In a nutshell, The Fat Duck is a grand attempt to capture a bold persona, a cooking revolution and a sensible approach to flavor design all in one book. In my opinion, it succeeds on every level.

As many other reviewers have noted, this is not a typical recipe book. Chances are you'll never cook anything from it, or at least not without a lot of modification. The majority of the recipes require specialised equipment (immersion circulators, centrifuges, PacoJets, etc etc) and are impractical for home cooks. Nevertheless it is fascinating to read not only the recipes but the descriptions of how they were developed. A typical recipe development seems to take years: kernels of ideas crop up sporadically (in Heston's brain) and patiently wait to be combined with other ideas into a recipe that continues to evolve and change over time. Heston's descriptions of these ideas and the process he uses are intriguing, and he explains everything with a palpable sense of excitement and enthusiasm.Of course, this is not just a recipe book. The first part of the book is a history of The Fat Duck and charts its transition from a 'typical' restaurant to one of the world centres of modernist cuisine. The next part contains dozens of recipes, unsimplified but easy to read, and amazing photography that complements the text. The final section is a long series of essays about subjects relating to modernist cuisine: food science, technology, the physiology and psychology of taste, and more than a little basic science. This part of the book is the heaviest going, but is accessible to anyone with a basic general science education. In addition, throughout the book there are fantastic cartoon-style illustrations that serve to underline key points and - perhaps most importantly - lend the book a whimsical tone and give an insight into the personality behind the book.I'm very glad I got this (boxed) edition rather than the smaller 'The Fat Duck Cookbook', which as far as I know has the same content but is not as weighty a tome. The Big Fat Duck Cookbook occupies pride of place on my bookshelf - soon to be joined by 'Modernist Cuisine', of course - and I take great pleasure in browsing through it, perusing the recipes, reading about the science, and admiring the photographs and illustrations. Highly recommended.

We looked at this book when it first came out - Neil Gaiman put me on to it 'cos Dave McKean did the illustrations - he and Mr Gaiman have done awesome work together.So I dragged my partner to this bookshop, and asked them to open the book - it's wrapped in plastic and covered with cardboard which is also wrapped in plastic and then in a cardboard box. Which - you guessed it - is also wrapped in plastic. Very recycling friendly.Anyway, way back then they opened up this book and we spent an hour or so looking through. It was amazing - I was blown away by the art, my partner was really into the science behind the recipes.We didn't buy it then. I wanted to but we were looking at $500+ and he wasn't that excited. So I bought The Complete Calvin and Hobbes (which is also awesome!).Then he started watching Heston on tv, understanding more about how chefs get their ideas, thinking about what he does when he cooks... So I finally got this for him and he was the most happy I've ever seen him. Seriously.This is something that he'll treasure for ever, drool over, wear gloves while he turns the pages and drip food over while he tries the recipes. And I love it because I think Dave McKean is AWESOME. And I like food that has been loved while it was built.Possibly a specialist book, but honestly your average food geek will love it!