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Heston Blumenthal OBE (born May 27, 1966, in High Wycombe, near London) is the chef and owner of The Fat Duck, a three-Michelin-starred restaurant in the village of Bray in Berkshire.

In 2005 The Fat Duck was named as the "best restaurant in the world" by Restaurant magazine, having been runner up the previous year, Blumenthal was also named as the third most influential chef in the UK by CatererSearch, the website of Caterer and Hotelkeeper magazine. In 2006, the restaurant came in second again, which Blumenthal took in his stride, writing in the Guardian that he was glad El Bulli had won. However, both his eccentric culinary style and sudden media fame have met with scepticism in some quarters.

His fame is based upon his scientific approach to cooking which is often referred to as "molecular gastronomy" or "culinary alchemy". The phrase "molecular gastronomy" was coined by the late Professor Nicholas Kurti at University of Oxford and later promoted by the French scientist Hervé This. Kurti's original idea was that it is worthwhile for science to investigate the chemical processes that occur in food during cooking as well as the inherent physical properties of foodstuffs. Blumenthal has seen this idea as a way of making tastier food. While some are sceptical about the application of science to cooking, Blumenthal has remained a steadfast proponent, going so far as to open his own research and development kitchen in early 2004.

Blumenthal is known for cooking with a vacuum jar to increase expansion of bubbles during food preparation. This is used in such dishes as an aerated chocolate soufflé-like dessert. The low air pressure inside the jar causes bubbles to grow to a larger size. He also uses blowtorches for quick searing and has experimented with personal sound amplification systems to enhance the sounds, such as the crunch, created while eating various foods.

Blumenthal is a proponent of ultra-slow cooking, whereby a joint of meat is cooked for up to 24 hours at a low temperature in order to contain the fat content whilst preventing collagen molecules from re-forming within the meat - in his In Search of Perfection series, he cooks a Bresse chicken at 60 degrees. Blumenthal recommends the use of an oven thermometer for this process, as the heat control of most ovens cannot be trusted at low temperatures. Ultra-slow cooking produces no excess fat, making the creation of gravy impossible, to which Blumenthal argues that gravy is unnecessary, since the meat is sufficiently moist on its own when cooked in this way.

Over the years Blumenthal has collaborated with many scientists such as Dr. Peter Barham, Reader in Physics at Bristol University and author of the book The Science of Cooking, Dr. Charles Spence, an experimental psychologist at the University of Oxford, with whom he collaborated in experiments with the use of headphones during eating, Professor Andy Taylor at the University of Nottingham with whom Blumenthal has sponsored a PhD studentship, and Professor Don Mottram of the University of Reading, which recently awarded Heston with an honorary degree. Blumenthal's trademark dishes include bacon-and-egg ice cream, and snail porridge. Other examples are oyster and passionfruit jelly with lavender, triple-cooked chips, and poached breast of Anjou pigeon with pancetta.

Apart from a week's work experience in Raymond Blanc's kitchen, Blumenthal is self-taught. He even taught himself French while translating French cookery books. According to an interview with The Observer in 2004, he has only been cooking "seriously" for about ten years.

He is a regular contributor to The Sunday Times and formerly wrote for The Guardian. His book, In Search of Perfection, was published in 2006 and is tied in with a television series of the same name, in which he attempts to find the best way of preparing eight classic dishes, including fish and chips and Black Forest gateau.

He also has a cooking series on Discovery Science called "Kitchen Chemistry with Heston Blumenthal".

Blumenthal is a devotee of neuro-linguistic programming^[1], and lists kickboxing as one of his hobbies^[2].

• Official website of the Fat Duck restaurant
• Blumenthal's autobiography
• Heston Blumenthal recipes at www.bbb.co.uk
• An interview in the Observer newspaper, 2004
• Guardian newspaper article on Blumenthal's collaborations with academics
• Heston Blumenthal profile on CatererSearch (Named 3rd most influential chef in the UK in 2005)
• 'The Molecular Gastronomer to the Best Restaurant in the World' Rachel Edward-Stuart Freeview 'Snapshot' video by the Vega Science Trust.
• Heston Blumenthal's Desert Island Discs