Heston Blumenthal's BBQ Chicken Wings with Waitrose

This Summer in the UK has been a doozy so far, hasn't it? Lots of warmth, sunshine and hot days. It's just the kind of season you want to eat al fresco, or perhaps cook outdoors. 

Trouble is, I think that sometimes barbeques get a little predictable. Sure, burgers are classics, but can't we have something a little more original? Sausages make a great staple, but sometimes you want to be more adventurous. 

With adventure and flavour in mind, Waitrose have asked the legendary Heston Blumenthal to devise some barbeque recipes for the home cook. Better known for creations like his Snail Porridge (as served at The Fat Duck) or Meat Fruit (as served at Dinner), Heston is known for technically difficult and highly scientific recipes. How well would these recipes work for someone having a small scale barbeque with friends? I decided to investigate.

I had a browse through the variety of recipes written by Heston for this Summer Barbeque season. You will find them here; Heston's ultimate BBQ recipes

I selected the chicken wing recipe, which appealed because barbeques are really all about finger food, eaten in the garden, standing around, with family and friends. And because I think the meat on chicken wings is underrated and well worth the effort of nibbling around the bones!

The chicken wing recipe is here; http://www.waitrose.com/content/waitrose/en/home/recipes/recipe_directory/h/heston_s_barbecuechickenwings.html

My backpack barbeque (I can't post this the right way up)

Using a small "backpack" barbeque was going to test how achieveable the recipe was going to be. Not everyone can buy a large gas barbeque, either for cost or space reasons.

The barbeque was easy to assemble. The tray is deep enough for a good amount of charcoal, enough for one large helping of grilled meat at a time. The stand was stable, which is important to ensure the safety of the grillmaster.

Once that job had been done, it was time to start preparations. First up was marinating the chicken wings. 

The marinade itself was very simple indeed, the juice of 4 limes and 4 tbsp of oil. So simple, in fact, that I was sceptical about how much difference it would make to the taste of the cooked wings. But I decided to trust Heston and cook the recipe as written. 

The marinade was mixed thoroughly with the wings and left to stand for 45 minutes.

 
The grill was filled with charcoal (we used Supagrill charcoal).

Of course, as you will know, the coals have to be lit and allowed to burn yellow for a time, and food should only be cooked when the coals are white hot. 

The dipping sauce was easy to make, as it was just soured cream and soft blue cheese beaten together. I used Dolcelatte, as we like the contrast between its softness and tang. Heston recommends that you use a hand blender to do this. I do not own a hand blender, so I did this by hand, and it took a little while, giving me more of a workout than I am used to! I made the sauce a little in advance and put it in the fridge to keep it cool before tackling the next stages.You use the same weight of cheese as volume of cheese; 300g cheese and 300ml of sour cream if you are making the full amount.

Sour Cream and Blue Cheese Dip

The barbeque sauce was more of a challenge. 9 different ingredients, the necessity of making a caramel....  I took a deep breath, rolled my sleeves up and got going....


One criticism I have is that I had to weigh out liquid ingredients. Yes, the stock was bought in a 500g container, but having to weigh it again after reducing it was a bit of a pain. As was weighing out the ketchup and rice wine vinegar. I completely understand that Heston might have developed the recipe by weighing out the ingredients, but the amounts could have been translated into liquid measures by volume. I know that 1g of water is 1ml. But I was wary of assuming that vinegar and ketchup would be the same weight by volume. Still, never mind, I measured everything out in advance and started cooking.

So those sauce ingredients are:
500g pack Heston from Waitrose Chicken Stock
100g white caster sugar
100g rice wine vinegar
200g tomato ketchup
1 tbsp mushroom ketchup
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp Tabasco Pepper Sauce, to taste
2 tsp Cayenne pepper
  First I reduced the stock, as I mentioned above, and I am not featuring a picture as you all know what a pan simmering looks like! Next I had to heat up the caster sugar in a pan. Here it is beginning to soften.

This soon turned into a medium caramel. 

My next task was to pour in the vinegar, gradually, whisking to dissolve the caramel. 

PLEASE be careful when you do this! The caramel does not like the vinegar and bubbles, somewhat like when a dribble of water falls into a frying pan full of hot oil. Liquid caramel is hot, thick and clingy, if it goes on you, it will burn and keep on burning because you won't be able to get it off your skin. So take your time, whisking and adding the vinegar slowly. I didn't take any pictures because I decided I would concentrate whilst doing this to avoid accidents.

I then added all the other ingredients for the sauce; tomato ketchup, mushroom ketchup, sesame oil*, cayenne and tabasco. I mixed them all up and cooked gently until it started to thicken.

The crudite accompaniment was easy, simple and fast to prepare. 

But what about the chicken? After marinating and when the barbeque was ready for cooking with, the wings went on. We were able to fit all but 3 from our 1 kilogram of wings on the grill, which was pretty impressive given how compact the backpack barbeque was.

At the start of the cooking time:

 The first turning of the wings:

Getting near the end of the 20-25 minute overall cooking time (the wings need a couple of turns to cook evenly).

I put the still hot barbeque sauce into a my casserole dish, as it was the only container big enough to fit the sauce and the cooked wings together which would allow for the wings to be moved around in the sauce.

Since many people are unable to eat sesame seeds, owing to allergies (more information about sesame seed allergies here: http://www.allergyuk.org/sesame-and-other-seeds/sesame-and-other-seeds). So here is the finished dish without the toasted sesame seed topping. 

* - If you are allergic to sesame seeds, I think you could use another oil in the sauce, perhaps sunflower or rapeseed.

We are not allergic to sesame seeds and particularly love their flavour and crunch. I therefore toasted the sesame seeds in a dry pan. They are fussy things, cream coloured one minute, when suddenly they change colour. Look away for a moment and they go from tan to burnt! Beware!

Here is our finished dish:

And a close up.....

The taste verdict:

The wings were the right combination of slightly burnt on the extreme outside edges, but soft in the meaty parts. The marinade maintained the moisture during the grilling process. 

The barbeque sauce was the best I have ever tasted. It had a spicy kick and decent afterburn but was not so fiery that it took away from the enjoyment of the dish. Making it at home meant the flavours were much more vibrant and intense than shop bought, which can be too cloying, bland and over-sweet. 

The crudites in the blue cheese dip were a great contrast of texture and flavour to complement the wings, and being so simple, were ideal for this slighly fiddly and time consuming dish.

We were very impressed with the richness yet punch of the sauce, and it was a delight to nibble around the bones of the wings, savouring the succulent meat. 

An impressive barbeque dish for foodies to give a try. 

Snigdha would like to thank Waitrose for sending the barbeque and ingredients for the dish.

Anniversary dinner @ Dinner: A picture post

Him Indoors and I very recently celebrated our 2nd English Wedding Anniversary. You see, we had 2 weddings. For some people, this could lead to confusion and panic. After all, that is two cards which have to be bought well in advance, two dates which have to be remembered on pain of death! However, we have found this is an excellent excuse for having two BIG meal blowouts a year! Our 2nd Indian Wedding Anniversary was celebrated at Le Petit Maison, the superb Southern French restaurant which proudly declares "Tous célèbres ici" (everyone is famous/a celebrity here). So following that wonderful meal up was always going to be a challenge. We decided to haul out the big gun; Mr Heston Blumenthal. 

I've always had a soft spot for Heston. Maybe it's because I grew up in Heston, maybe it is Heston's utterly driven, borderline geeky pursuit of food perfection. I don't know. I always enjoy watching him create his masterpieces on TV. Especially his brave attempts to construct food equipment from the most unlikely objects. So when Him Indoors said he had managed to book us in to Dinner at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Knightsbridge, I was delighted. 

We arrived, and the place was animated and happening. It only got busier as our time there went on. This place seems to be a magnet! Tourists, businessmen, family groups and couples of all ages and races were there. It would appear that Heston's reputation and appeal has transcended all boundaries.

What did we eat?

Meat Fruit is described as "Mandarin, chicken liver parfait & grilled bread" and was inspired by a recipe from c.1500. Coincidentally, it costs £15.00! But as with so much of the molecular/super-innovative food of today, the description doesn't properly prepare you for the reality. What you get is a perfect, smooth chicken liver parfait, rolled into a ball and covered in mandarin jelly. How the jelly tastes so good, and yet manages to mimic the skin of a mandarin so perfectly is probably one of Heston's biggest secrets. And if he tells you, he may have to kill you! The grilled bread is a sweet toasted brioche. My only criticism of this super dish is why only the one slice? More bread, please!  

Rice and Flesh is described as "Saffron, calf tail & red wine", and is inspired by the oldest of the Old English recipes which influences the menu at Dinner (dating back from c.1390). To put that into context, Geoffrey Chaucer was alive then. And English was not English as we know it, but was 'Middle English'. If you want to have a look at how different the language was back then, check out Chaucer's Prologue to the Canterbury Tales here: http://www.librarius.com/cantales/genpro.htm (Good luck! I studied it for A level English Literature and spent a fortnight trying to translate it!)  The dish is a slightly al dente rice dish, made from a type of risotto rice, gently flavoured with saffron. It has the creamy taste and saffron flavour of a Risotto Milanese, but the bite left in the rice is intriguing and somehow (sacrilegious as this may seem to risotto lovers) totally right for this dish. The calf tail, stewed in red wine has been slow cooked to perfection. All of which will set you back £16.00.

The Roast Turbot, inspired by a dish from c.1830, is described as being served with "Leaf chicory & cockle ketchup" and is a steep £36.00. The turbot is superb quality, and perfectly cooked. However, I was slightly disappointed with the dish as for me the cockle ketchup was overly sour and did not go well with the leaf chicory. When eaten with some of your side dish, the ketchup is mellowed. But to serve something with such a strong tang with such a lovely piece of fish doesn't quite do it for me. It was totally edible, so don't get me wrong here. 

The Black Foot Pork Chop served with "Hispi cabbage, lardo, ham hock & Robert sauce" is from an original source recipe from c.1860. The on-the-bone chop was a lovely hunk of pinky meaty deliciousness. What is Robert sauce? I don't really know. It's thymey and mighty tasty! Compared to some of the other main courses, it is pretty reasonably priced at £30.00

When it came to puddings, I just couldn't choose. The menu is varied and everything sounds superb. Thankfully, my exceptionally polite and helpful waiter suggested I went for the Tipsy Cake. This is one of the dishes which has come to be commented on by quite a few other reviewers. Based on a recipe from c.1810, it is made from spit roast pineapple, lovingly cooked for three whole hours. Actually, when you arrive, before they take you to your table, check out the glass walled area where you can see the chefs at work. You will be able to see the precision built spit, rotating the 6 peeled pineapples whilst simultaneously raising and lowering them. It's mesmerising, and you could probably watch it for the 3 hours that the pineapples take to cook. Costing £12.00, this is a dish which delights with the boozy, sweet cake which I can only liken to a brioche, but seems almost to taste of custard, complimenting the caramelised pineapple beautifully in texture and flavour. 

If you want the Tipsy Cake, make sure you order it at the same time as your meal. The brioche is baked especially for you, and therefore takes time. 

The intriguing Brown Bread Ice Cream (inspired by a dish from c.1830), really does taste of brown bread, although sweeter and more satisfying. Served with salted butter caramel, pear & malted yeast syrup and clocking in at £9.00, is a great combination of crunch and slurp. Sweet heaven. The portion could be a little bigger, but perhaps I am being greedy!

To finish off came a glorious caraway seed biscuit with a ganache chocolate pot. I think if I had been able to sneak into the kitchens I may have slipped a couple of them into my handbag! Rich, indulgent, calorific and delightful.

After all that, I needed a lovely digestive pot of green tea. Because frankly, I was stuffed! 

Dinner has a very wide selection of wines available by the glass. This means with the help of the sommelier, you can match your wine with each course very precisely. It is worth bothering with this, particularly since you are likely to pick very different flavours (some of which can be very strong) in each of your courses. We found this really enhanced the quality of our experience. There is also a cocktail menu if you are that way inclined.

A word on the sides: if like me, you've read all about Heston's special 'triple cooked chips', you need to know that these are only available seasonally. So just like the true old fashioned chippies (the ones which don't buy frozen ready cut chips), the potatoes available in the Summer are not quite the right type for chipmaking. I remember having slightly lacklustre chips in the Summer at my old local chippy, and waiting for Winter to come again, bringing the tasty chips. The poor chipmaster had to put a note up in the window when the Summer potatoes came in, so many people would complain that the chips weren't quite right. Dinner have made the decision simply not to serve chips, substituting with twice cooked fries. Just so you know!

Dinner is an amazing restaurant. It IS expensive, I'm afraid. Particularly when you start to add drinks to the bill. It is the kind of place you go to for a special occasion, as we did. It is not an every day place. But we all need things to look forward to and to which we aspire. That is where this kind of 'uber-restaurant' fits the bill perfectly. If you love your food, you'll know of great local restaurants, pop-ups, street food and market stalls for ordinary treats. Save up for a trip to Dinner and it won't disappoint. Just don't expect to make it a habit. Unless you win the lottery.