Heston B takes on Sherry

Monday evening saw me rushing from a day of babysitting – I’m now in charge of the ‘school run’ for a family with three kids under 12 – and taking on the Central line at peak hour to make it to the ever-so-swanky Shoreditch House by 7 o’clock for an interview with award winning chef and culinary alchemist, Heston Blumenthal.

Blumenthal has been working with The Sherry Institute of Spain on his latest scientific-gastronomic experiment… the molecular pairing of wine and food.

Say what? Yes, that’s right, pairing aromas is so last century. The future is in matching molecules. Blumenthal has discovered a group of taste compounds known as diketopiperazines (DKPs) in Sherry – particularly dry ones – that enhance the flavour of ‘umami-rich’ foods.

Umami is the fifth taste sense following bitter, sweet, salty and sour… we lay people may have heard of it in relation to Chinese cooking, but it flavours-rampant in foods like meat, fish, cheese and shitake mushrooms.

Lucky for me it appears great chefs are among the fashionable set who like to start things late, so while my mad dash from Liverpool Street tube got me to the doors around 7.15pm, Blumenthal didn’t make it up to the press room before 8pm.

Utterly personable and incredibly engaging, this owner of Best Restaurant in Britain (two years running), the three Michelin-starred The Fat Duck, walked into the room of awaiting journos much like an excited kid eager to boast about his winning try in the footy grand final. Blumenthal’s passion for his food and research was clearly evident, as was his love of Sherry.

Now my editor was expecting a story on the pairing of white and reds, and while Blumenthal assures me that such combination analysis will be part of the next research phase, Monday night was all about, “your great aunt’s tipple”.

Question time was followed by a lengthy wait as umami-rich canapés were served alongside their perfect Sherry variety. Allegedly all the evening’s culinary concoctions could be replicated at home – sans the beaker, mortar and pestle – but I think the only one I’ll likely be able to muster is Blumenthal’s take on the toasted cheese sandwich: Gruyere melted with cloves and served with an ice-chilled Fino!